Having been wet shaving for over 30 years I have found face lathering works best for me. And having over 25 brushes the Semogue 610 and 620 are the best. Just be patient with breaking them in.

I'm fairly new at this, and spent too much money on a silvertip badger brush. Good brush, but it's big and soft and feels something like applying later with a pillow. I decided to try a boar brush after reading a bit about the stiffer bristles and scratchier feel, and I like this one alot. It's relatively small, making it easier to apply lather around my ears, mouth, and nose, and it fits my hand very well (I like to hold the end of the handle in my palm and grip the base of the bristles with my fingertips). After breaking it in, this brush provides (for me) a much more satisfying scrub on my face when lathering. The acrylic handle should be very durable. Speaking of breaking in, I found a method discussed online involving soaking the bristles in cold water for 24 hours then scrubbing hard against a bath towel for about 10 minutes, until it's completely dry. After repeating that every 24 hours for 3 days, the brush is broken in enough to be satisfying to use.

Once broke in, boar provides the BEST lather! They hold enough water to make a 3 pass shave easily. As a big fan of "skritch" the 50 mm loft is about perfect. I'll use my new boar to wash (scrub) my face after work and kill 2 birds with 1 stone it provides exfoliation and breaks the brush in. You just can't go wrong buying one, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!