How to Choose a Shaving Brush: Boar, Badger or Synthetic

Boar, badger or synthetic. Three materials, three very different brushes, and the honest answer is that none of them is best. They suit different people and different soaps.

The short version

• Boar: stiff, cheap, needs breaking in, brilliant on hard soap.
• Badger: holds the most water, softest on the face, the most expensive.
• Synthetic: no break-in, dries overnight, no animal hair, holds the least water.

Backbone, and why it matters

Backbone is how much the knot resists being bent. A stiff knot digs soap out of a hard puck. A soft knot glides over it and picks up very little. If your soaps are hard and your lather keeps coming out thin, backbone is usually the thing you are missing.

Boar has the most backbone for the money. Synthetic knots vary enormously, some are floppy and some are very firm. Badger runs from the stiff black grades up to silvertip, which is prized for softness and is the least scrubby of the lot.

Water capacity

Badger holds the most water, which gives you the finest control over how wet a lather gets. Boar sits in the middle. Synthetic fibre holds the least, which is why a synthetic rinses out in seconds and is dry again the next morning.

Break-in

Only boar really has one. New boar is stiff, prickly and often smells, and it changes substantially over the first weeks as the bristle tips split. We covered that in how to break in a boar shaving brush.

Badger softens a little. Synthetic does not change at all, which is either the point or the disappointment depending on your temperament.

Drying and travel

Synthetic wins here and it is not close. It rinses clean in seconds, dries overnight and does not mind being packed damp. Natural hair wants to be shaken out and stood up with air around the knot, and it takes longer.

Who each one suits

Buy boar if you use hard soap, you want the most brush for the least money, and you do not mind a few weeks of break-in. The Omega 10077 is the cheapest sensible way in.

Buy badger if you want the softest face feel and the finest control over lather, and you are willing to pay for it. Grades matter: black badger is the stiffest, silvertip the softest.

Buy synthetic if you travel, you shave irregularly, you want no animal hair, or you simply want a brush that behaves the same on the first shave as the hundredth. The NATU synthetic and the Simpsons Trafalgar T3 sit at opposite ends of the price range and both change minds about synthetics.

Knot size

Bigger is not better, it is just bigger. A 22 to 24 mm knot suits most faces and most bowls. Larger knots hold more lather and feel more luxurious, smaller knots are easier to control and better for precise work. If you are unsure, 22 mm.

Maintenance, all three

Rinse thoroughly after every shave, shake the water out, stand it where air reaches the knot. Do not use boiling water, it can loosen the glue holding the knot. Do not dry a brush on a radiator. That is the whole routine, and a well kept brush outlasts several razors.

The Badger & Blade wiki on shaving brushes goes deeper on grades and terminology if you want the full picture.

Where to start

Browse the full Shaving Brushes range. If you are buying your first brush and cannot decide, buy a boar and a hard soap and spend the difference on the soap.