New boar brush drops two or three bristles every shave. Faulty, or is this just break-in?

First proper brush, a boar, about ten shaves old. Every shave I find two or three bristles in the sink and usually one stuck to my face. It also feels like scrubbing my chin with a yard broom.

Half the internet says shedding is normal break-in and half says a shedding brush is a dud and should go back. I can still return it for another week or so, so I'd like to make my mind up before then. How much shedding is too much?

Two or three a shave at ten shaves in is boringly normal for a boar. They're natural bristles set in a knot and the loose ones work their way out over the first month or so. What isn't normal is a tuft, or a number that's climbing rather than falling, or bristles coming out with a little bulb of glue attached.

The scratchiness is also normal and it's the bigger surprise for most people. Boar softens.

Keep a rough count for a fortnight rather than judging any single shave. Direction of travel is the whole answer. Mine went from about four a shave in week one to the occasional stray by week five, and now it drops maybe one a month.

One thing that genuinely increases shedding: mashing the brush flat into the soap. Boar wants swirling with the tips, not pressing the knot down until it splays. Same habit that shortens the brush's life also makes worse lather, so it's a two for one.

I nearly returned my first boar for exactly this and I'm glad I didn't. Week one it shed, it was scratchy, and it wouldn't hold water properly, and I was convinced I'd bought a lemon. By about week four it was a different brush, and it's still in the rotation years later.

The break-in on a boar is real: usually two to four weeks of regular use before it noticeably softens, and it carries on improving for a couple of months as the tips split. Badger needs little or none and synthetic needs none at all, so if you go on to buy a second brush and it feels lovely straight away, that's not proof the boar was faulty.

Practical things that help while it breaks in: soak it properly in warm water before each shave rather than a quick dunk, don't press, rinse it out fully afterwards, and stand it bristles-down to dry. Wet, splayed and jammed in a mug is what kills brushes. There's more on all of it in shaving brushes explained and how to care for your razor and brush.

The genuine return-it signs are the ones slantcurious listed. Clumps, an increasing rate, or glue coming out with the hair.

Didn't return it. Counted for two weeks like Rob said and the rate halved, then halved again. Last week it dropped one bristle total.

It's also gone soft, or at least softer, and it holds much more water than it did. I've stopped mashing it into the puck too, which I was absolutely doing without realising.

Still slightly scratchy compared to my mate's synthetic, but I've decided I like that.