Boar or Synth recommendations for face lathering?

Scotshave said:
the brushes need no soaking in; they take less time to dry; they have negligible bristle loss; and I get consistently good lathering with my soaps.
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+1

I own quite a few boars and synths. The boars I enjoy for the feel of them but for consistency, my synths seem to make the most lather from the least amount of soap with the least trouble, no issues with shedding as well.

As the OP said he shaves weekly, I'd recommend a synth with any of the brushes at Yaqi being suitable, but the Tuxedo with a black handle for $9 shipped to the UK is hard to beat for value and performance.
 
donnie_arko said:
+1

I own quite a few boars and synths. The boars I enjoy for the feel of them but for consistency, my synths seem to make the most lather from the least amount of soap with the least trouble, no issues with shedding as well.

As the OP said he shaves weekly, I'd recommend a synth with any of the brushes at Yaqi being suitable, but the Tuxedo with a black handle for $9 shipped to the UK is hard to beat for value and performance.
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Yes, I have just recently bought my first Yaqi synthetic a 26mm Rainbow
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My opinion is that the Synths I have (4 of them) all sit somewhere between the badger I have (which is a cheepo Annbas) and the Wilkinson sword Boar
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Sorry @The situational shaver if the stripe on the Boar offends.

Its true that the Synths don't provide the same scrubbing feel of a Boar, but they definitely have more backbone than a badger and they have, for the most part, very good lathering qualities. I do think there is also a dependence on the soap that you use and some soaps do appear to work better with different brushes, however I find I get a good lather from my synths no matter which soap I try.

My recommendation would be to buy a boar and a synth and put whichever one doesn't suit you so well on the BST that way at least you can be sure you have gotten the brush that suits your needs the best.
 
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Not a big synth fan, backbone might be ok but my problem is the transition to splay, not natural like on badger or boar but springy BOING!

edit: and I could not imagine myself using a synth in striped wannabe badger look so searching (in vain) for all black knots
 
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SteveD said:
My opinion is that the Synths I have (4 of them) all sit somewhere between the badger I have (which is a cheepo Annbas) and the Wilkinson sword Boar
View attachment 51646View attachment 51647

Sorry @The situational shaver if the stripe on the Boar offends.

Its true that the Synths don't provide the same scrubbing feel of a Boar, but they definitely have more backbone than a badger and they have, for the most part, very good lathering qualities. I do think there is also a dependence on the soap that you use and some soaps do appear to work better with different brushes, however I find I get a good lather from my synths no matter which soap I try.

My recommendation would be to buy a boar and a synth and put whichever one doesn't suit you so well on the BST that way at least you can be sure you have gotten the brush that suits your needs the best.
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No,no,no, no offense at all, and I do apologies if it was taken in that manner. Definitely don't want to come off as the
know it all, ugly American. I joined this site precisely to get away from that mentality. And I have to say, I have yet to
encounter it on this site, and for that, the right, good gentlemen of this site have my respect, and gratitude as well.
I myself have a boar brush with stripes (my first brush, a Van Der Hagen) nothing wrong with that at all.
But the only reason they are dyed, is to make them look like badger. Why, it's your brush, you know it's boar
why make it look like badger? There is absolutely nothing wrong with boar,and for certain situations, they out perform
badger. So show your boar with pride, leave the badger stripes for the badger!
 
Thanks for all the additional responses. In life my general attitude towards something if you can't decide between two things is to buy both :LOL:

However, having read through everyone's responses I think it's very much the feel I was looking for (the scrub and massage) which, lends to boar.

I'm only just beginning my DE journey, just a few shaves in and SBAD is already kicking in. I'm sure it won't be long before I'm making a further acquisition, likely along the synth lines but for now I'm very interested in some of these Omegas that have been mentioned.

I'm interested in people's thoughts between 11137, 011829, pro 48, number 98 etc for those that have experience using more than one. As situational shaver pointed out I realise a fair bit of this is subjective, particularly the handle and lengths etc. Lathering and scrubbing ability however is a little more objective I would have thought.

Does anyone think there's a better offering in the sub £20 price point than the 011829? That appears to be a strong suggestion so far.

Thanks again.

p.s. without wanting to go too far off topic here with the boar dying debate, I'd argue that dying them doesn't necessarily mean that people want to make them look like premium badgers - they may just think it's more aesthetically pleasing :)
 
After another hour or two of reading.....I'm going to rule the 48 out as the knot seems enormous. 98/49 have identical knots, won't rule them out as widely available. 11829 comes highly recommended.....10290 and 10066 under serious consideration owing to @Missoni 's superb thread about the smaller knotted Omegas. I'll read that through in it's entirety tomorrow. I appreciate all the information, advice and recommendations but Missoni and I think are on very similar wavelengths in terms of what I'm looking for out of the brush - i.e. massaging/scrubbing capability. Anything considered remotely 'floppy' I'd rule out as that's not really what I'm after.

I should also mention that I generally only do a few passes right now so a smaller brush not holding a full 3/4 passes worth of lather doesn't concern me.
 
I love that jade Omega 011829. It is an outstanding brush. It softens up a lot if you soak the whole brush in warm water. If you want more backbone with it, soak it in cold water but only 70-80% of the bristles. It retains a lot of backbone that way because it is very dense.
Having said that, a member here sent me the Razorock Disruptor 22mm synthetic (thank you very much @Ratty-Chewy) and it is quickly becoming my favourite. Super ready to lather, silky smooth tips and enough backbone.
 
I have the 48 and it is a monster. Tough to face lather with it. Makes quiet a bit of mess. It performs flawlessly however. There is a similar brush that is less expensive with a shorter loft. It is the Proraso brush that looks like the 48. It is made by Omega and gets a lot of positive reviews, alas I don't own it and can't comment. You will be hard pressed to find a better brush for that price than the Omega 011829. Good luck!
 
Rapid said:
After another hour or two of reading.....I'm going to rule the 48 out as the knot seems enormous. 98/49 have identical knots, won't rule them out as widely available. 11829 comes highly recommended.....10290 and 10066 under serious consideration owing to @Missoni 's superb thread about the smaller knotted Omegas. I'll read that through in it's entirety tomorrow. I appreciate all the information, advice and recommendations but Missoni and I think are on very similar wavelengths in terms of what I'm looking for out of the brush - i.e. massaging/scrubbing capability. Anything considered remotely 'floppy' I'd rule out as that's not really what I'm after.

I should also mention that I generally only do a few passes right now so a smaller brush not holding a full 3/4 passes worth of lather doesn't concern me.
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FWIW, I find the 24mm/55mm lofted Omegas to be a sweet spot brush for holding enough lather for 3 or so passes without much worry. I've owned quite a few of them and I've found a few were incredibly stiff and scrubby, and a few others still had good backbone but were much softer; not much exfoliation. TBH, I'm not sure why that was aside from boar hair being a natural resource and there will be variability from animal to animal I imagine.

If you want something a bit smaller, scrubby with a lot of backbone I'd recommend a shorter lofted Omega with a smaller knot. I have a 10075 which I could poke a hole in my cheek with, which has a 23mm knot/48mm loft.

There are some brushes at Connaughts, which are supposed to be scrubby with a smaller knot/loft, so shouldn't be floppy and enough to hold a few passes of lather.
The 10051, 10290, 40033 are all advertised at 24mm/48mm, but I think the first two of the list are 23mm/48mm, whilst the latter is 24mm/48mm, as sometimes measurements can be off by a 1mm here and there.
 
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10051 vs 49 in DIY handles, the small one is more scrubby so needs a longer soak for a comfortable face lathering shave
 
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My current favourite among synthetic brushes, at "normal" loft a supersoft make up brush but setting low and wide adds backbone, not like a boar or finest twoband badger but noticable and without springy feel when splaying, this in turn adds body transforming soft cloud into soft pillow, surprised me, not bad, not bad at all, but all black would have been nice.
 
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