You carefully considered and researched your investment in a high-quality badger shaving brush. Lathering techniques are well on their way to being mastered; you have cast not one look back to the hissing of the abandoned aerosol can. Although the wet-shaving course you’ve so eagerly begun is becoming routine, your daily pleasure in the procedure grows as quickly as your new-found competence. That badger brush is your partner in this new adventure, caring for your skin in a way you’ve never before experienced. It is past time to learn how to keep your partner up to the challenge of smoothing your way through your daily grooming.
Lather with care, then rinse and dry properly to prolong your brush’s life. (Image by Luca Boldrini)
Badger brush care is not particularly difficult nor is it tedious, but its relative ease does not mean you should take the brush for granted. Incorporating proper shaving brush care into your daily wet-shaving routine is a matter of an appropriate lather-producing tactic followed by faithfully followed brush cleaning and maintenance practices. When proper brush care is followed after each use, your beloved brush can partner with you for more than a decade. Without such care, you may be retiring your grooming companion long before the relationship needed to be over.
First, look to your lathering. Even the best brushes will not survive aggressive lathering practices. Prolonged circular motion on the surface of the shaving soap combined with brutish pressure on the brush will damage the hairs of your badger brush. You want the hairs of the brush to catch and hold the lather so you can float it across your face, not become so saturated with water and soap that the brush is limp and unable to spread a rich coating.
Badger hair absorbs water in much the same way as human hair does, so less is more when it comes to water and soap. Use a gentle flicking motion to whip the later with the tips of the badger hairs. Back and forth, with an occasional turn of the handle to invite a different section of the brush to the party, gently urge the badger hairs to generate a light and creamy wonder in the bowl. This smooth, yet assertive, lather will lubricate your face and beard so that the hair is at attention, awaiting the razor, not soggy and sadly clinging to your skin. Your brush will survive this method with little damage to the tips or twisting of the hair-shaft in the handle.
Once the lather has billowed and been eased onto your waiting face, the razor ballet begins. A bit of additional lather here and there may be necessary to complete your shave, but once your face is soft and cleanly shaven, do not forsake your faithful brush. After each wet-shave your brush needs just as much attention as your razor for the two tools to provide a quality shave the next time it is needed.
Run some comfortably warm water through your brush, rinsing it clean of the lather. The need to thoroughly remove the lather is another reason not to overdo the soap and water while creating the lather: easy does it for easy cleaning. Avoid excessively hot water at all times on your badger brush, as you do not want to stress the natural hair or cause the tips to dislodge from the brush.
Once clean of lather, gently squeeze any excess water from the brush with your fingers. Use a gentle patting motion of your palm on the tips of the brush to fluff the tips, and then hang the brush to dry, upside down on a brush stand or holder. Later, when the brush is completely dry, ease a clean comb through the ends of the hairs to complete the return of the tips to an even shape. Treat your brush as you would any other quality, natural product and it will treat your skin well.
Further reading: How to choose your first shaving brush, Finding shaving brush care information on the web.
Browse the Shaving Brush selection at Fendrihan.
Do you know how Badger hair is collected? Are the badgers killed and then skinned or is the hair cut from a live badger and the hair is then allowed to re-grow?
The hair is not collected from a live animal. Most badger hair comes from mainland China, where the badger population needs to be controlled by means of culling. Badgers can also be farmed for this use. Their meat is also consumed as food both in China and in Russia (another source of badger hair). In this respect, the sourcing of the hair is similar to sourcing leather from cows.