Boar Brush Break in QUICK!

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4
I recently bought a couple of Boar brushes, a Semogue and an Omega and began studying ways to break them in rather than using the days long, soaking cold water, rubbing technique. I leave you with this and it WORKS.
1. Soak the brush in cold water in the fridge for 2 hours.
2. Remove brush and rub on towel until damp/dry.
3. Install a nylon wire brush bit in your Dremel tool.
4. Turn the tool on HI setting and run the nylon bit over the top and about a 1/2 inch into the top of the brush.
5. Do this for 5 minutes, then check the brush top with a magnifier while rubbing it on your face. You will notice split ends and the softness is there.
6. If this is not as soft as you like, run the bit again over and into the brush until the softness increases to your liking.
I did this today to 2 of them and I know have a soft as badger brush with more backbone, which is exactly what I wanted.
 
I had a process to break in a boar brush which involved the process of putting it in the fridge and drying it so on, but nothing seemed to work to get the ends to split until I used a hair dryer on the brush and all the tips split within seconds. I think actually the best part of owning a boar brush is the break in, I won't be so hesitant to speed up the process again though.

The next boar brush I buy, I will give it a clean with dog shampoo then give it a bit of time under the hair dryer then just use the brush!
 
You know, it never fails. As soon as a person joins a members forum blog of any kind and tries to add some information for people that might benefit them, some clown with a middle school mentality has to post a bunch of adolescent, mindless, prattle in response to what a person posts.
Well, I am not one to listen or read such sarcastic manure.
Moderator, remove me from this forum immediately, I no longer wish to participate within this forum on what I thought was about shaving.
I am outa here!
 
I recently bought a couple of Boar brushes, a Semogue and an Omega and began studying ways to break them in rather than using the days long, soaking cold water, rubbing technique. I leave you with this and it WORKS.
1. Soak the brush in cold water in the fridge for 2 hours.
2. Remove brush and rub on towel until damp/dry.
3. Install a nylon wire brush bit in your Dremel tool.
4. Turn the tool on HI setting and run the nylon bit over the top and about a 1/2 inch into the top of the brush.
5. Do this for 5 minutes, then check the brush top with a magnifier while rubbing it on your face. You will notice split ends and the softness is there.
6. If this is not as soft as you like, run the bit again over and into the brush until the softness increases to your liking.
I did this today to 2 of them and I know have a soft as badger brush with more backbone, which is exactly what I wanted.

Had you compared a Semogue to one you'd broken in one you hadn't? I've owned a lot of Omegas and they have a lot of variablity, some were fine out of the box others less so, and needed a breaking in process. Never owned a Smog though.

IMO, a break in process like yours can be a very good idea. I've owned a few boars which either didn't break in quickly or didn't hold lather, whilst soaking them/drying them for a few days worked a treat. I've read of quite a few reports of those having frustrations with S'Mogs where they'd take a huge number of shaves to break in, so if that can be speeded up it's only a good thing.
 
It's the wetting using and drying that breaks a boar brush in, I read about people smashing the tips with a hammer, rubbing the tips on a paving slab and other such tourture to a boar brush.
We seem to want fast food, news on demand, instant gratification, when there is no better and more satisfying way of breaking in a boar brush just by using it and feeling it break in, the only scrubbing is done on your stubble but this is only my opinion and I'm sure there will be many that will disagree and take the shortcut but I feel they are missing out on the joy of breaking a boar in naturally . P.
 
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You know, it never fails. As soon as a person joins a members forum blog of any kind and tries to add some information for people that might benefit them, some clown with a middle school mentality has to post a bunch of adolescent, mindless, prattle in response to what a person posts.
Well, I am not one to listen or read such sarcastic manure.
Moderator, remove me from this forum immediately, I no longer wish to participate within this forum on what I thought was about shaving.
I am outa here!
You don't have to leave, nor be so personal and insulting.

I will leave you in peace and note, for my records, that you are apparently humourless.

Have a nice day

Kind Regards
 
I am now endeavouring to ascertain which one of you was a "clown" and who asserted a "middle school mentality" was "adolescent" and "prattled" in their response to the OP, but I just can't determine who it was; can that member step forward :)
Well if it was my comment about just using it then I step forward!
However I'm not sure who the OP was miffed at. P.
 
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