TLDR Version at the bottom.
This is some background and help for those breaking in a boar brush. The simple advice is just to use it everyday. Depending on the density of brush used, it'll take 1-3 weeks, and continue to improve over a couple of months. If you rotate it with others, and only use it every 3-4 days, it'll take 3-4 times as long.
The more helpful approach is a little bit more involved. But we all have our sanity, and I don't want to encourage any American forum-style OCD, overkill, and obsessive impatience. A practice lather each day doesn't hurt though, and can help you get familiar with it quicker. It can also help the brush to retain water better, which is the aim.
What is Break in?
For some it's just washing a brush and getting any funky animal smell out – something I personally haven't come across. For others it's seeing the tips split and softening up.
But the tips start splitting after the first wash; the softening comes a bit later. Boar retains water differently to badger. Badger traps it between the bristles – so exhibits little to no break in. Boar absorbs water into the bristle. It does this poorly to begin with, and to me, getting it past this stage is what break-in means. When you can soak your boar for a couple of minutes, give it shake and work up plenty of lather easily and consistently, plus it feels really soft due to copious tip splitting – then I'd say it's broken in.
By all means try some of the things B&B contributors suggest - like 4 lathers a day, followed by hair conditioner, and a hairdryer blow-wave. Don’t forget to take it for walk afterwards, or enter it in a show; lather it up and leaving it for hours, or soak it overnight. Perhaps drying it in a humidity-controlled industrial wind tunnel, complete with software controlled dryness sensors, callipers to measure tip splittage, and a small staff of labrats to collate the findings and make comparisons between boars and badgers (Believe me, there are a few labrats there that would actually contemplate this).
I don't know whether any of these things work, by all means try them. But while you do so, ask yourself what the normal people might be doing instead. No, saying that whilst writing a couple of pages about shaving brushes is an irony not lost on me either.
My opinion/theory is, given a dry boar is stiff and a wet one very soft, and given boar absorbs water into the bristle - it's in the expansion and contraction of regular soaking and drying where it 'learns' to absorb and release water during break in. That means letting the brush soak and dry well, and giving it some patience. Didn't we all get into this thing to slow things down, take our time a bit?
My anti-hate mail disclaimers are these; this is based on my own experience getting the better of 4 Semogue's of differing recalcitrance, but more specifically, face lathering the 1305/830 into submission. Sorry bowl guys, you'll have to adjust wherever you see fit. Other boars will need a little more, or a little less, of some of the suggestions below. I leave it up to your own keen intellect, common sense and observation, to tweak as you will. These are hints, not rules.
Get on with it already – how do we do it!
While the breaking-in is really simple, some brushes resistance to it is a twisted Portuguese mind game. One where just as you're ready to throw the damn thing out the window, shoot the dog, poison the town's water supply and go on a shooting spree at the mall - it decides to give up and come good. The 1305 was one such brush for me.
On a positive note, badgers aren't this much fun or this interesting. They turn up looking like supermodels and just get on with it, shake off the water and go back to looking pretty and expensive. Your boar will be more of an individual. Yes, it's reverse snobbery and I wallow in it.
Before you use your brush, give it a clean with shampoo or detergent. Banded boar will have some of the dye come out, some may have a funky smell, and others have just gathered dust. No one wants grey lather or a stinky brush.
1. The 830 – like many boars, is pretty useless at retaining water out of the box. Soak it well. 5 minutes is fine, or while showering is ideal.
It'll look wet, but it hasn't taken in a great deal of water, and what it has, it doesn't release very well when making lather. This is important, as cream and soap needs adequate water, and flow, to work up lather.
2. I'd suggest sticking with creams for a week.
I'd really recommend this with the 1305. It can quill up like a paintbrush. This can make loading soap a bit hit and miss, coupled with the need to adjust water constantly, and a brush that is literally 'pointy' on the face. It can be trickier to get the soap going, and can become annoying. If soap is your thing, stick with your favourite for a while, until you feel like you're getting familiar with the brush and soap working together.
1305 loaded with Cella
3. Use more product/load the brush more than you would usually do.
This is because of the poor water retention. The aim is to still get great lather, with a brush that is changing some of its properties slightly every few days. If you use more product, you just need more water – this isn't a problem. The worst thing that can happen is you make too much good lather.
If you don't use enough product, the brush can suck it in and you may get either thin watery lather, or good lather, but only enough for a pass. My 1305 was a bugger for the latter.
4. If you look at your lather, and think its crap. Start again.
It's not worth tearing your face up, and then wondering if it's you, the blade or the razor, and changing all sorts of things that may not be an issue. This is why daily practice lathering is good, and we all have jobs to get to in the morning.
Just writing about this stuff makes it look complicated than it is, or a major pain in the arse. It isn't. The fill-in stuff is relating issues I learned as I went. Hopefully, just by being aware of the things I highlighted, you'll avoid most of it, and just get great results sooner rather than later.
Some may experience something different or far more straightforward, and think I'm an over-thinking obsessive dork who has spent too long at B&B, and has no idea. If so, share your differing experience with others.
Boars, and the 830/1305 in particular, are superb brushes in my humble opinion; soft, user friendly and with great backbone for face feel and exfoliation. I'm not bashing badger; I've found one that suits me, but I think there is a much wider variability in these, with hair and specs that can often make finding the right one trickier. Too many are like pouty Supermodels - great to look at, but can be uninvolving to spend time with, and pampered beyond belief by some owners, because shedding can be an issue, and some think babying it will avoid or negate this. In my experience, it won't.
Boars are more like the girl you marry; you don't find something good without a bit of effort, and liking what you find beneath the surface.
TLDR Version:
1. The 830 – like many boars, is poor at retaining water out of the box. Soak it well for the first couple of weeks or so. 5 minutes is good, or while showering is ideal.
2. I'd suggest sticking with creams for a week.
3. Use more product/load the brush more than you would usually do.
4. If you look at your lather and think its crap. Start again.
5. Add a dummy lather each day if you like. Let the brush dry overnight. Use and repeat. Soaking and drying out well helps the tips soften and split, and improves water absorption and release.
6. Give it 1-3 weeks depending on the brush. You should see noticeable improvement in the 830 after two weeks. It should continue to get better and softer for a couple of months.
AN UPDATE...
...Is possibly helpful here. While I'd do this with any new boar, after they perform consistently, I prefer to back off the thorough soaking prior to use, because they soften up and prolonged soaking isn't needed to get them to take on water. That's the conventional wisdom on the big forums; a really wet brush and lots of loading. It works for some, but after having issues with mine, it's not a one size fits all thing. With the 2 brushes used here, they go too soft for me to load up enough soap, so I run thin on lather after a pass or 2. They also feel moppy on the face, and I like a firm feeling brush. I prefer to just give them a quick soak, enough to be wet enough to load up. Then they really lift the soap and you get plenty to work with.
This is some background and help for those breaking in a boar brush. The simple advice is just to use it everyday. Depending on the density of brush used, it'll take 1-3 weeks, and continue to improve over a couple of months. If you rotate it with others, and only use it every 3-4 days, it'll take 3-4 times as long.
The more helpful approach is a little bit more involved. But we all have our sanity, and I don't want to encourage any American forum-style OCD, overkill, and obsessive impatience. A practice lather each day doesn't hurt though, and can help you get familiar with it quicker. It can also help the brush to retain water better, which is the aim.
What is Break in?
For some it's just washing a brush and getting any funky animal smell out – something I personally haven't come across. For others it's seeing the tips split and softening up.
But the tips start splitting after the first wash; the softening comes a bit later. Boar retains water differently to badger. Badger traps it between the bristles – so exhibits little to no break in. Boar absorbs water into the bristle. It does this poorly to begin with, and to me, getting it past this stage is what break-in means. When you can soak your boar for a couple of minutes, give it shake and work up plenty of lather easily and consistently, plus it feels really soft due to copious tip splitting – then I'd say it's broken in.
By all means try some of the things B&B contributors suggest - like 4 lathers a day, followed by hair conditioner, and a hairdryer blow-wave. Don’t forget to take it for walk afterwards, or enter it in a show; lather it up and leaving it for hours, or soak it overnight. Perhaps drying it in a humidity-controlled industrial wind tunnel, complete with software controlled dryness sensors, callipers to measure tip splittage, and a small staff of labrats to collate the findings and make comparisons between boars and badgers (Believe me, there are a few labrats there that would actually contemplate this).
I don't know whether any of these things work, by all means try them. But while you do so, ask yourself what the normal people might be doing instead. No, saying that whilst writing a couple of pages about shaving brushes is an irony not lost on me either.
My opinion/theory is, given a dry boar is stiff and a wet one very soft, and given boar absorbs water into the bristle - it's in the expansion and contraction of regular soaking and drying where it 'learns' to absorb and release water during break in. That means letting the brush soak and dry well, and giving it some patience. Didn't we all get into this thing to slow things down, take our time a bit?
My anti-hate mail disclaimers are these; this is based on my own experience getting the better of 4 Semogue's of differing recalcitrance, but more specifically, face lathering the 1305/830 into submission. Sorry bowl guys, you'll have to adjust wherever you see fit. Other boars will need a little more, or a little less, of some of the suggestions below. I leave it up to your own keen intellect, common sense and observation, to tweak as you will. These are hints, not rules.
Get on with it already – how do we do it!
While the breaking-in is really simple, some brushes resistance to it is a twisted Portuguese mind game. One where just as you're ready to throw the damn thing out the window, shoot the dog, poison the town's water supply and go on a shooting spree at the mall - it decides to give up and come good. The 1305 was one such brush for me.
On a positive note, badgers aren't this much fun or this interesting. They turn up looking like supermodels and just get on with it, shake off the water and go back to looking pretty and expensive. Your boar will be more of an individual. Yes, it's reverse snobbery and I wallow in it.
Before you use your brush, give it a clean with shampoo or detergent. Banded boar will have some of the dye come out, some may have a funky smell, and others have just gathered dust. No one wants grey lather or a stinky brush.
1. The 830 – like many boars, is pretty useless at retaining water out of the box. Soak it well. 5 minutes is fine, or while showering is ideal.
It'll look wet, but it hasn't taken in a great deal of water, and what it has, it doesn't release very well when making lather. This is important, as cream and soap needs adequate water, and flow, to work up lather.
2. I'd suggest sticking with creams for a week.
I'd really recommend this with the 1305. It can quill up like a paintbrush. This can make loading soap a bit hit and miss, coupled with the need to adjust water constantly, and a brush that is literally 'pointy' on the face. It can be trickier to get the soap going, and can become annoying. If soap is your thing, stick with your favourite for a while, until you feel like you're getting familiar with the brush and soap working together.
1305 loaded with Cella
3. Use more product/load the brush more than you would usually do.
This is because of the poor water retention. The aim is to still get great lather, with a brush that is changing some of its properties slightly every few days. If you use more product, you just need more water – this isn't a problem. The worst thing that can happen is you make too much good lather.
If you don't use enough product, the brush can suck it in and you may get either thin watery lather, or good lather, but only enough for a pass. My 1305 was a bugger for the latter.
4. If you look at your lather, and think its crap. Start again.
It's not worth tearing your face up, and then wondering if it's you, the blade or the razor, and changing all sorts of things that may not be an issue. This is why daily practice lathering is good, and we all have jobs to get to in the morning.
Just writing about this stuff makes it look complicated than it is, or a major pain in the arse. It isn't. The fill-in stuff is relating issues I learned as I went. Hopefully, just by being aware of the things I highlighted, you'll avoid most of it, and just get great results sooner rather than later.
Some may experience something different or far more straightforward, and think I'm an over-thinking obsessive dork who has spent too long at B&B, and has no idea. If so, share your differing experience with others.
Boars, and the 830/1305 in particular, are superb brushes in my humble opinion; soft, user friendly and with great backbone for face feel and exfoliation. I'm not bashing badger; I've found one that suits me, but I think there is a much wider variability in these, with hair and specs that can often make finding the right one trickier. Too many are like pouty Supermodels - great to look at, but can be uninvolving to spend time with, and pampered beyond belief by some owners, because shedding can be an issue, and some think babying it will avoid or negate this. In my experience, it won't.
Boars are more like the girl you marry; you don't find something good without a bit of effort, and liking what you find beneath the surface.
TLDR Version:
1. The 830 – like many boars, is poor at retaining water out of the box. Soak it well for the first couple of weeks or so. 5 minutes is good, or while showering is ideal.
2. I'd suggest sticking with creams for a week.
3. Use more product/load the brush more than you would usually do.
4. If you look at your lather and think its crap. Start again.
5. Add a dummy lather each day if you like. Let the brush dry overnight. Use and repeat. Soaking and drying out well helps the tips soften and split, and improves water absorption and release.
6. Give it 1-3 weeks depending on the brush. You should see noticeable improvement in the 830 after two weeks. It should continue to get better and softer for a couple of months.
AN UPDATE...
...Is possibly helpful here. While I'd do this with any new boar, after they perform consistently, I prefer to back off the thorough soaking prior to use, because they soften up and prolonged soaking isn't needed to get them to take on water. That's the conventional wisdom on the big forums; a really wet brush and lots of loading. It works for some, but after having issues with mine, it's not a one size fits all thing. With the 2 brushes used here, they go too soft for me to load up enough soap, so I run thin on lather after a pass or 2. They also feel moppy on the face, and I like a firm feeling brush. I prefer to just give them a quick soak, enough to be wet enough to load up. Then they really lift the soap and you get plenty to work with.
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