To Soak Or Not To Soak

[plastic_paddy]

I soak my badger and he likes it

 

[SpeedyPC]

I soak my badger and he likes it
View attachment 26081

Smug Bastard

 

[plastic_paddy]

Sadly I could not find a suitable picture of wild boar!

 

[SpeedyPC]

Sadly I could not find a suitable picture of wild boar!

 

[plastic_paddy]

Super!

 

[plastic_paddy]

 

[culcreuch]

The repeated soaking and drying cycles are essential to break in a boar brush.The ends of the hair split. This makes the boar hair incredibly soft at the tips. A good quality boar such as a Semogue 830 can rival a badger brush for softness, but will have backbone and cost a fraction of the price of a badger

 

[culcreuch]

https://s20.postimg.org/yokywcavx/IMG_0157.jpg


https://s20.postimg.org/ue6b0r5st/IMG_0156.jpg


The first image is a never used Semogue SOC. The second is an SOC which has been broken in by soaking and natural drying. If you look
carefully you will see the split ends. As already mentioned....this does not happen with badgers or synthetics.

 

[Puffafish]

https://s20.postimg.org/yokywcavx/IMG_0157.jpg


https://s20.postimg.org/ue6b0r5st/IMG_0156.jpg


The first image is a never used Semogue SOC. The second is an SOC which has been broken in by soaking and natural drying. If you look
carefully you will see the split ends. As already mentioned....this does not happen with badgers or synthetics.

Thank you! Seems to explain it all.

So new boars need to be soaked, but that gets less important as they get broken in (explaining why I don't notice the difference with my 4 month old brush).

 

[David68]

I soak my Semogue brushes in warm water whilst i am in the shower. I tried soaking them in cold water but for me the performance was not as good

 

[pjgh]

I don't like badger, so don't have any. Boars, I pre-soak. Hot, cold, doesn't seem to matter to me. Synthetics, I actually keep dry, pour a little water onto the soap and go on with a dry synthetic. It seems to produce a thicker lather, or did when I could be bothered bowl lathering. Face latherer, now ...

 

[chrisbell]

I never use my natural hair brushes (boar and badger) dry or even just 'wetted'. I always soak, as it reduces the risk of the hairs breaking, and stops them soaking up the lather due to the bristles already being saturated.

This is my understanding - dry or even partially-wet knots tend to suffer from hair breakage.

 

[Bogeyman]

The repeated soaking and drying cycles are essential to break in a boar brush.The ends of the hair split. This makes the boar hair incredibly soft at the tips. A good quality boar such as a Semogue 830 can rival a badger brush for softness, but will have backbone and cost a fraction of the price of a badger

I saw on the Internet where an Italian Master Barber said to soak a new boar brush in cold water for 2 - 3 days before using it to break it in. I may try that in the future on a new one.

 

[Dule083]

I awyse soak natural brushes. I havw Wolf whiskers and I never soak it just wet befoer shaving

 

[lindyhop66]

In my experience, soaking making little difference in my shave experience, whether I'm using a boar, badger, horse hair or synthetic brush. I cold water shave, as well. I hold my brush under running water for a few seconds and then start lathering with it.