The best shave-One for the guys! And one of my favourite reviews! Hail to the Badger!

Review of BOAR HAIR SHAVING BRUSH BY THE Gentlemens Face Care Club

So gentle reader-Full disclosure.  I ordered a jar of the Premium Shaving Cream from the Gentlemans Face Care Club GFCC (which I strongly recommend to my wet shaving community by the way-soft, thick and luxurious) and was contacted by them asking if I would review their Boar hair shaving brush to which I agreed without hesitation given that they would send me a free brush for review with no strings attached.

As a hardcore wet shaver guy of many years I research any advantages from new products in order to find the ultimate shave kit to leave me post-shave happy, energised and ready to take on the World.

One big hook was that the Company sell this little brush as an alternative to badger hair brushes and refer to the un-ethical farming of badgers to produce these products.  Now I have to say I was strongly motivated to find an alternative if indeed my badger friends are farmed to produce such brushes because I was completely unaware that such a vile practice could be considered.  The badger is a creature I particularly love and feel an affinity for.  Here in the UK I have protested strongly against a culling policy by the environmental agency of our government which state sponsors the destruction of badgers due to their tenuous link with contributing to TB in cattle.  A link I should say that is not supported by scientific research and appears only to be made policy to appease the farming community who are not known (with some heroic exceptions) for their appreciation of our wild creatures and their habitat.

I am also guilty as charged because I have used a super badger hair shaving brush for the last ten years and enjoyed it immensely and, therefore, inevitably use it as a comparison with the boar hair version.

First I researched the farming of badgers.  They are wild creatures and will not submit to domestication, wild creatures die when they are confined.  After a cursory internet search I can find no evidence that brushes are the result of farmed badgers.  So then the question becomes-where does badger hair come from?  I have to own to a degree of stupidity here.  I assumed badger hair came from roadkill, but when I thought it through, it was obvious that this would be ridiculous.  Are there teams of badger roadkill specialists helicoptered to fatal accident sites to remove the hair from dead badgers?  No there are not.  Such an enterprise would require electronically chipped badgers flipping a switch on a massive computer database resulting in a quick response team heading to the accident site, rappelling down from black hawk helicopters scissoring the required hair and high tailing it back to site to produce said brushes.  Ridiculous.  Silly.  It does not happen.  There is no Rapid Response Badger Hair Recovery Team, sadly.

It does however appear that most badger hair comes from China, where badgers are hunted and eaten.  (Thanks, I’ll have the Badger noodles and Salt and Pepper Badger ribs with Peking sauce please.  Is that Badger dim sum on the specials board?)

The brushes are gathered into knots of hair and shipped to be glued to their faux ivory handles in the UK and elsewhere.  There is something faintly unnatural about such an industry, like farming cats or pulling bicycle trailers with Llamas.

Boars on the other hand are hunted widely and spend their allotted time, one hopes, completely wild and snuffling in the woods for truffles, having sex and teaching their little ones general boaring skills.

So with a view to this actual review, how does badger fare against boar?  Well, a super badger brush is like being stroked with an angel’s wing, a soft enveloping massage, a gentle kiss on the face whereas the Boar bristle is a tad gristly, a wee scratchy.  The badger hair is much more expensive and it must be said that the Boar brush with the GFCC’s Face Cream was perfectly adequate and a splendid alternative to those awful aerosol driven gels from the supermarkets.  It lathers well and gives a good shave.

The super badger brush with the Premium Face Cream however lathers to peaks of soft fluffy meringues and enables the razor to glide effortlessly over the craggiest of jaw chops.

I’m sorry but there’s no contest.

If you want the best shave in the world, pair a super (or even silvertip) badger brush with the Gentlemens Face Care Club Premium Shaving Cream and some good quality shave oil and show the world a face as shiny as a newborn baby’s bottom.  Happy shaving mates!

ALL HAIL THE CHUBBY 2 SUPER BADGER BRUSH.  THE KING!

ON THE OTHER HAND DON'T BE DUPED BY OBJECTS AND THE PLAGUE OF MATERIALISM.

ON THE OTHER HAND AS WILLIAM MORRIS OPINED, HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR LIFE THAT IS NEITHER USEFUL OR BEAUTIFUL