Ben, I'd say I've used it a solid 15 times. The hairs are starting to split, but many of them are still grouped together.
Great review, very professional and detailed...well im of to buy one on BST.I was asked if I would compare the 610 with the 620 given the quite similar look, and of course I would love to as it tickles my curiosity as well
The Semogue 610 and 620 looks similar but they have different hair grade. The 610 has Best 90% tops and the 620 has Extra 75% tops.
Apart from that the data is almost identical so if the brushes behave differently I think it would be a fair presumption that it is down to the difference in hair grade.
However, always take into consideration that even within the same hair grade you can find differences.
And here we go:
I soaked the brushes while showering and then lathered up with Truefitt & Hills Sandalwood Shaving Cream.
First pass: It was very hard to tell the two brushes apart from the feel, they felt equal in backbone and prickliness. However it was noticeable that the 610 splayed more, especially when using painting motions the fan it made was larger than that of the 620, but closing my eyes and concentrating on the feel alone, I couldn't detect a difference.
Second pass: For this pass I closed my eyes twirled the handles good while thinking of Monica Bellucci and Salma Hayek - almost got caught up in it- but one thing is sure I didn't knew which brush was in which hand when I returned to reality.
Lathering up using both circular and painting motions and trying to decide which brush I had in each hand.
I couldn't tell them apart based on firmness, so I took a decision based on the prickliness, assuming the 620 was more prickly but I was wrong, the one with the softest tips was the 620.
Third pass: Once again I did the closed eye test and this time I tried to really focus on my experience from the first two passes, and this time I could just detect a little more firmness from one of the brushes (left hand) whereas the other felt a little more prickly, so my guess was that I held the 620 in my left hand - and I was right.
However, I must say that I really had to concentrate and try to detect very minute differences. Had it been a normal paced shave I'm not sure I could have spotted the differences.
Fourth pass: This was just pure enjoyment of having the ability to lather up with two lovely brushes
Data:
610
620
Hair type Boar, Best 90% tops Boar, Extra 75% tops Handle Acrylic, red/clear Acrylic, black/clear Weight [gram] 62.4 60.0 Knot diameter [mm] 21.0 21.8 Loft [mm] 50.0 50.2 Total height [mm] 95.8 96.8
I thought the handles were identical, but a close inspection showed that although it is not by much, they are in fact different.
610
620
Top diameter [mm] 37.9 36.7 Bottom diameter [mm] 33.0 30.9 Handle height [mm] 45.7 46.6
I don't know how well the photos are showing this, but I have tried to capture the differences - for example the 610 has "wider corners" than the 620
Result
Taking a look at the two brushes and I would say; "They are identical apart from the handle colour and dyed hair, so they should perform identical."
Taking a look at the data of the two brushes reveals a difference in hair grade but otherwise identical numbers, so I would say; "This could show a difference in performance."
Now, I have to be honest and say that I thought the 610 had a higher loft than the 620 before I commenced the test, I didn't think they were that equal.
After the test I would say that they do perform almost identical - in this test. The 610 has a little more splay and feels a little more prickly.
In reflection I should have used a hard soap for the test, as this might have shown some difference in loading and lathering, but there you go
This test, as all my brush tests, have been done by bowl lathering as this is the only way I can be sure I am using the same lather for both brushes.
I have of course also used both brushes for face lathering and I must say that if I am comparing the two brushes in this area, the 620 is the winner.
The performance when face lathering is just better of the 620 than the 610. It is loading more willingly, it lathers up faster and it holds more lather.
I prefer bowl lathering, but I must say that the 620 has made me do some more face lathering lately as it is just perfect - I even think it does a better job at this than the Semogue 2011 LE Finest bristle 1 and Semogue Caravela.
Alex, you will love it, I have one of each of these and they are fantastic performers. I can also say that this great review by shm convinced me to buy my 610 and 620.
