Wet Shave Showdown: Badger vs. Boar Shaving Brush 

Boar update. I got a nice Semogue Boar brush. It was terrible - wet, sloppy suds My cheap-o synthetic performed better. The Semogue was shelved, destined to be just another decorative shelf item. Eventually I read of other fellow crybaby whiners who had poor results with boar brushes. Finally, one particular Shaving Forum member posted the secret to making that Boar bristle brush a scrubby favorite: soak your Badger brushes in warm water for at least 5 minutes, BUT just dunk the Boar for about a minute. It makes a world of difference. The improvement was radical - enough that I expanded my Boar brush count by adding several Omega brushes.

Thanks for sharing. A variety of brushes always adds the enjoyment of the shave.

I’d probably go for the boar. I like that scrubby exfoliating feel. I like to mistreat my skin. I like it when it bleeds and tears pieces of flesh off 😊

I have all three types. A well broken in boar has the most salutary effect on my skin. The downside is that you do have to soak it for a minute or two before use and it takes a day (or maybe two?) to dry out so they don't travel well.

I just picked up an omega coming off badger. Love the boar hair.

I use just about any kind of brush, depends on my beard growth mostly. If I am daily shaving or up to 3 days out, then badger brushes are where I turn to, but past 3 days out, boar or horse hair brush. I only use synthetic brushes when I travel. When I headshave, I use my bigger knot badger brushes, as it seems to do the best job upstairs. The boar brushes seem to scratch the dome a little too more for my liking. Great video Matt! Plus, Mitchell's doesn't seem to get enough love like it should, its an absolutely awesome soap, one of my top 5 favorites.

Thanks Matt. I have both Boar and Badger brushes. I also have a mixed brush which is great. Overall I lean more towards Badger brushes. 👍🇺🇸

There’s nothing better than a well broken in boar brush. Just as soft as badger, but with backbone and it lathers better all around.

I have a lot of boar and badger brushes. My favorite boar brushes are Zenith and boar knots from The Golden Nib. Once soaked they are almost as soft as a good badger but with a little backbone. I also own quite a few synthetics. I suffer from SBAD...Shaving Brush Acquisition Disorder!!! One can never have too many shaving brushes.

Nice video. I have a merkur futur i dont like its to clumpy so im having problems getting all the hair especially around my lips. Im using feather blades and feel a little sore afterwards. Can you recomend a kind to medium aggressiv safety razor that works well with feather blades?

good video Matt,,,,boar brush is my choice

look like great products

You should soak both badger and boar brushes before use.

After only recently acquiring a boar’s head brush, I’m come to the conclusion that they’re inevitably BETTER for hard soaps, due to their inherent rigidity, which gives them an advantage in quickly creating a quality lather from a hard soap, vs. badger, which is, indeed, that much softer, and which I now reserve mostly for cream based shaves. Another plus of using boar - at that price point, you can beat the HELL out of it and not think twice about it, vs. using an expensive badger brush, which you’re liable to treat so much more gingerly. Now, will ya quit teasing me with the COOL T-shirt already? 🙄😆

When I'm in a hurry I almost always go to my synthetics, but I really love my natural hair brushes. Quite frankly, I use both with no preference one over the other. Yes, the badgers are a little bit better for softer soaps, but the boars are great for exfoliation when you have a lot of growth. My two favorite brushes of all times are a restored Ever-Ready Lucite handle fitted with a Maggard Razors SHD (Super High Density) badger 22mm knot. Some say is like Manchurian, but it has a lot of backbone, so it is a lather monster. And the other is my trusty Excelsior 830 by Semogue. Softest boar brush I've owned.

After seeing a video interview with an Italian Barber,4 th generation of his barber family,i started using Boar. First synthetic but i found out that very soft brushes just don’t do the job for me. I’m also a Barber student so it kinda of a obvious choice 😌😉. Here’s a little tip from the barber mentioned above : Soak your boar brush in water for 3 days.Start with warm water in the morning, and refresh before you go to sleep.Just let it cool down and the brush will soak in the cold water(doesn’t have to stay warm the whole time. repeat that process for at least 3 days.Lather your brush and rinse rinse your brush a couple of times and “you will have a brush for life”

He looks very much like Brian Goulet from the Goulet Pen co.

I have course facial hair and since switching to a boar brush after years of using badger I’ve had way less irritation and razor bumps 🤷🏻‍♂️really scrubs the hair follicles up . Haven’t ventured into synthetics yet but may try

I like boar personally. It's great for exfoliating the face and works well with both creams and soaps.

Great video I'm a Badger brush guy. Synthetic next. I unfortunately hate Boar brushes!!! I'm an odd guy out in this. Got a Semogue 830 and a Thater Premium White Boar. All broken in and still won't give up but still can't like Boar. Just a no no for me. No likey.

I have and like both. One thing to note is that boar brush tips do soften up over time.

I use both. plus horse hair brushes. like like all three. they make for a change every day. the only one I tried and did not like is the synthetic's. they just don't hold the water well. the best horse hair is a mix of horse hair and bristle's. this gives a better stiffness to the brush. but I do use a 100percent horse hair. also a mix of the tail and main. better stiffness. I like to change off brushes like I like to do with double edge shavers. and different blades. in them. breaks up the monopoly. also alternate between three different shave soaps. don't really care for the creams. just don't feel right one of my favorite soaps is the Michell. the one you use. find no problem with it. but to each his own. I kinda like the variety of brushes . soaps. after shaves. it comes down to the only things I don't like is the creams and synthetic's. really tried to like them. but not for me. always looking to try new razor blades that I have not used. found a lot of good one's on the cheap side. that work well. even better then some of the more expensive one's. I bought some really cheap double edge razors that work better then the expensive one's I bought. it's nice just to keep trying different items. and the one's that don't work . go to the garage sale.................................

To me, they will both make lather, but what I go by is the feel on the skin when applying to the face. Thats why I prefer a badger. It’s much softer on my sensitive skin.

Boar. I've tried synthetic and Badger but just prefer the stiffness of the boars hair. Also, I personally, find the boars hair produces a better leather.

I really love boar brushes because the bristles are harder and scrubby and when you apply it exfoliates and lifts those whiskers. Great video!

I have used boar for 35 years.....occasionally I tried badger.......but go back to boar .

Wow, has it been 4 years since they did this? Some time ago, (years ago at MY grandfathers house), I used a very short bristle boar brush. Very scrubby and exfoliating? I loved it. Now I'm trying to find one like it and there are none like it... Bristles were only about 1 and 1/4 inch long. Very short and stiff but it worked great. I use a badger soft one now. Question: Does anyone know of a very short bristle boar brush out there today? I've looked on Amazon and other sites but all of them look to be around 2 or more inches in length of the bristles.... Matt, do you know of any?

You must soak the boar brush for at least 5 minutes. Omega 10049 is one of the softest brush.

Matt, is that really all the cleaning/drying you do with your brushes after shaving?? I spend about a minute on my Simpson Commodore badger... first rubbing it against my hand under running warm water to remove all the soap... then shaking/squeezing and knocking it "dry" until it stops spraying droplets of water and after a couple of wipes on a towel, it is ready to put in the rack to finish drying. That's more care than I use to clean up my razor. 🙂

Mitchell's and Williams are both thirsty soaps as well as being hard pucks so boar works well on whipping the lather up nicely.. I prefer boar myself as I like the stiffness as it brings up the whiskers easier.

I started with a synthetic brush and I wasn't a big fan of it. On a trip to Italy a friend there gave me a boar brush and a tub of Proraso soap and I love both of them. I have never tried a badger brush and I do sometime, but I have been very happy with the boar brush the last 2 years.

I prefer a boar for hard soaps, and my badger for soft soaps and creams, you just have to remember to soak a boar brush at least 10 minutes.

Another great visual explanation 👏 I sprung for a white badger brush made in England for my first brush, I wish I saw this beforehand, I would've enjoyed the exfoliation and saving money of the boar brush 😆

Learn something today, that is good thing.🤭 Edwin Jagger 3D 89 is good Razor.

Great review Matt , I have Omega professional Boar and I like it

don’t use the towel to clean the dish and then your skin helps a lot

I mostly use pure badger. I like the way it produces soap cream and applies it gently to my face. I make my own handles. As a woodworker, it seemed like a good thing to do. Now I have a box full of brushes with exotic and domestic hand made wood handles. I enjoy making them, but, I’m no good at selling. I enjoyed your video. Keep them coming.

I have tried all animal brushes, different brands and sizes. Now I ONLY use a synthetic....can't beat it in quality of lather, ease of use and price. No animal killings. And you use LESS soap for good lather and it will last me 3 passes (face and head). Animal lathers for me usually don't give me so much lather

Double brushing makes you a multi tasking.

Be nice if you’d use a product a couple times and or show the irritation instead of having the video out before it even happens and just saying yep great review no problems immediately. Then problems we face are exempt from the video so you can pump them out considering you sell all the products you review.

Synthetics and boars for me. Badger is too much like a fluffy cloud no backbone or more like dense plush than spring plus I like a little scritch.

I've been on a boar kick lately. You break in a boar (when you get split ends on the bristles) and it's super soft while maintaining nice backbone. Only downside to boar is that they can eat lather but I'm positive we all have to many soaps so it's not a big deal to reload.

Boar (and synthetic) over badger. The difference in performance doesn't compare to the difference in price. Plus a boar feels as though it works lather under and around beard bristles more effectively. FWIW.

I have synthetic and badger in different variations and I like them all. No experience with boar or horse. Synthetic brushes are so good these days, and very soft. But sometimes you want a bit of scrubbing action so I’ll use a pure badger brush that has a very good backbone. Great comparison! I also have the Mitchell’s soap and since I used it first I never had any issues lathering, and I load it pretty dry keeping the soap in the ceramic container and add water while bowl lathering. It’s a great soap that will easily combine with any after shave since the sent is very mild.

I have been really enjoying a boar brush made by Semogue. The water here is a little bit hard so stiffer bristles are an advantage when lathering. I also like the invigorating scrubby feeling. So it is really working for me. That said, I lathered with the same badger brush for four years before I got the boar brush. I enjoyed the badger brush too.

My Boar is softer than my Badger. It was broken in correctly over time though. Soft as a new kitten on the tips.

Have you done a video on best way to trim and shape your goatee?

I've tried many brushes and settled on a nice synthetic. I was quite happy with it. Then, for no particular reason, when ordering some soap from Stirling I picked up their boar brush - the one that sell for less than $10. WOW. Just wow! It's been my daily driver ever since it's first use. It is that good. I was surprised that there was no break in period. It now looks like it is broken in but it works and feels the same as it did when new. Also, there was no smell. My experience has been that all brushes, other than synthetic, have an odor that is at best unpleasant at fist. This one didn't. Another real surprise was the handle. What a pleasure to hold. I can't believe that a handle could make that much of a difference. Why haven't other manufacturers used this shape? The tl;dr = Stirling

I tend to find most badgers too floppy, and most bores a bit to scritchy... synthetics are where it’s at (bonus: they dry super quick too)

whatever makes you squeel or snarl

First brush I got was a Cremo horse hair brush from Target. Still use it quite a bit. Very stiff compared to badger.

the best brush on the market today my Simpson Trafalgar's T-3 better then boar cheaper in the long run no break in, no need to soak it all day, ready to use, no weekly cleaning, no brush stand needed, easy on your face biggest brush at that price point .my I mic it its 29mm.' it's like buying a $275 badger hair brush, no cleaning the brush, no need for a brush stand, fast drying time, well not fall apart like a badger hair or boar can, cheap to buy, I have owned it for 5 years with no hair loss with no problems wheelchair Larry Merry Christmas

I really like the Omega 10098 boar brush, long handle long bristles. Softer than short bristle boar.

I prefer Badger & horse brushes

Kick ace shiaat!!! 😆

synthetic doesnt split at the tip

Good comparison. I have the SOC boar and badger brushes. Interestingly with these I found the boar to be softer (after break in) than the badger. But I tend to use the badger more because I do multiple passes and find the lather to be a little richer and longer lasting on the badger SOC brush. I didn't hear you mention soaking in water for a bit before using, which helps produce a nicer lather with the natural hair brushes.

People must be comparing Mitchell's to something from a can.🤦‍♂️ It is the best puck I've ever used.

Great shootout...Thanks! I have been using my synthetic brush for about the last 6 months because it is faster than soaking my badger brush in the morning. After your last video on cleaning the badger brush, I used mine over the weekend. WOW...I forgot how nice it feels and how it builds up such a big rich lather. Definitely a bigger lather than my synthetic. So on the weekends I am going back to my badger, after first soaking it in my vintage Old Spice Mug. Then shaving with my Fat Handle Tech with triangle slots. Hey...it’s the 1940’s again. And I Love it!👍

I only used 🐗 brush..

What is the best Fromm Boars brush in regards to quality? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Great idea for a comparison video! I use both types of brushes and really don’t have a preference. I enjoy the experience of both. I noticed you didn’t soak the brushes before using them which is something I always do. Soaking the boar in warm water really reduces the backbone and scruffiness (is that a word?). Some of the boar brushes even become floppy. I’ll have to try the boar without the presoak next time to see how that feels on my face.

I have a mix of synthetics, badger horse and boar, boar has always been my favourite but horse comes in a close second, especially if the hair comes from the tail opposed to the mane as I believe the tail hair is a little more scruffy and has more backbone than from the mane if I remember correctly

Absolutely right. I switch out to a boar brush about once every three or four shaves for the backbone and better exfoliation. And they do soften up once broke in. I enjoy mixing it up a bit, anyway.

There must be a reason why all the Italian master barbers use the boar. I’m not adept enough yet to know what that is, mind you.

I just got a badger/boar blend brush from semogue. I have such a hard time choosing between badger or boar that I hope this is a happy medium.

I don't have a Boar, however would love a 'Barber Pole' handle, and the only brush I see with that is a Boar (Omega).

I use an Omega boar brush at home for every day shaving. I use a handmade travel Clubman badger brush when I’m on vacation. After I broke in the badger brush, it’s been like butter. It’s a nice accoutrement when staying in a fine hotel. And I like the everyday exfoliation at home with the Omega.

Well that video wasn't a 'boar'... I actually enjoyed it, now I think I will 'badger' my wife into buying me a new shaving brush. But which one? .... Hmmmmmmm🤔

Every $10 boar brush I've picked up started falling apart within a month.

Thanks

I’ve never used a boar brush, but I’m not a big fan of badger brushes. Badgers have too much of an adjustment period. I much prefer synthetic brushes because I can get an almost effortless lather!

Enjoyed the video Matt. Very informative and always learning something new. Love both my boars and badgers.

Boar brush all day for me simply because boar is a much better value. As for softness, I find that a broken-in boar is just as soft as any badger and has more backbone (which can be nice when loading harder soaps). Of course, synthetics are probably the best of both worlds: the low cost of a boar with no break in period and very soft.

Boar is such a great value , can't believe I don't have one yet. Great vid!

Love all natural hair brushes

I will always prefer synthetic brushes, because of less maintenance. However, a gel tipped badger brush white mountain high/ Manchurian is a total luxury.

Interesting video. Thanks. I started out with a badger brush and enjoyed every shave until I saw a documentary showing how they are caged and slaughtered for their hair. That's when I began to discover that boar, horse and ultimately, (higher-end) synthetic brushes are all capable of delivering great shaves and have since never gone back to badger.

Why can't you use synthetics? You can. There are vegans in here with you.

The more you use a boar brush the softer it becomes, a good soaking in med hot water before use helps hydrate those hairs and soften the shafts. But you knew all of that already....😊 Nicely done Matt👍 Choosing a brush is a strange thing, you never know what it's going to be like until actually used. Synthetics are the rage, but I'll take my natural hair brushes any day. Enjoy!

I have that exact boar brush. It works well but took a long time to break in.

Synthetic is my favorite so far.

Very perfect video, everything explained in such detail.

I chose the DE 89 once Matt recommended it on his channel. Best razor so far. Very mild and very comfortable. Also, affordable for a college student!

Interesting video and sort of surprised to see up at just the right time. I ordered the same boar brush last week (awaiting delivery) as you seemed to be getting good results in your other videos. Thought it would make for a nice contrast with my silver tip. Also on a side note, would love to be ordering from you directly as you have so many tempting products on your website but shipping to Sydney, Australia doesn't really seem worth it. In any case, keep up the awesome content as you keep teaching me things I never thought I needed to learn.

Another nice job Matt. We are traditional shaving in “the best of times”! The range & variety of tools available boggles my mind. Bang for the buck is a big plus for Boar but it is nice to have a variety of tools. All the best, Zac.

Hi Matt, thanks for your succinct and informative comparison. I'll take boar over badger brushes every time, since I live in a hard water area & enjoy the scrub & economy of boar bristles. I've been thinking about trying Mitchell's shaving soap for a while & the high lanolin content has got to be very soothing...

Great video , I prefer my boar brush over my badger , after 2 years of use I think its actually softer than my badger

I like both Badger and boar. I think I'm a lean towards the bore just a little bit more, my semogue 1305 is about 3 years old and it's as soft as any Badger I own

Is that a chubby 1 that your using on the video? Thanks

I have a question about Badger brushes. Do you believe in soaking them in warm water for about 10 minutes before a shave. I heard that it is good for the bristles because they would be brittle if you don’t. Or is that an old wives tale? Thanks!

I like both (and my synthetic of course). I do tend to use my synthetics more often.

Great Video ! I love a boar brush shaved for years great presentation!

Hey do you have a video for guys that new to this world?

FOR ME....."BOAR FOR LIFE".....

I imagine newcomers finding this video and it will make them believe “the dual handed double brush method” is a normal thing 😅

Great shave and video Matt, I go between a badger and synthetic brush, never tried a boar brush yet:) what does the Proraso shave balm smell like?

Thanks for the video.Love the boars hair brush, I feel works the best for some of the harder soaps I use Williams soap alot and the boar hair whips it up fast and thick.After the brush is broke in just gets better and better .

Are you trying to start a brush war? I am badger fan, but use a hall pass every now and again to slip in a non badger brush.

Recently revisited my boar brushes after cleaning them for the first time thanks to your recent video. Love them even more now!