So gentle reader-Full disclosure. I ordered a jar of the Premium Shaving Cream
from the Gentlemans Face Care Club (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 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!
