Semogue Boar...I don't get it??

[todot62]

One of my first brushes was that Omega 48 so many people rave about. I still can't get it to lather well to save my life. Either I load too much product or not enough water. I'm no boar hater: I have the "stubby chub" Omega 10051 that is a beast and does me well, and in all fairness I ordered a SOC since it gets heaps of praise. "I want to believe."

Amen brother...Somebody show us a miracle here today...We all just want to believe

[maxzoran]

I have the SOC and I am a believer! My 1305 is breaking in nicely as well. I've actually sold most of my badgers because I am liking the Semogues so much

[Broogiedad]

I admit I love my badger brushes, but the 620 does a fantastic job!

[Piper Down]

Just recently I've been reading the religious fervor around Semogue brushes. . . . What am I not getting here? . . . .

As is sometimes the case with a particular brand here on the board, I think perhaps you've discovered that the emperor has no clothes.

[Rylos]

As is sometimes the case with a particular brand here on the board, I think perhaps you've discovered that the emperor has no clothes.

I hate it when he does that! ;)

[jdto]

All of my boar brushes do a great job. So do my badgers. I'm not wearing any clothes, but that's beside the point.

[johnnypipe]

all of my boar brushes do a great job. So do my badgers. I'm not wearing any clothes, but that's beside the point.

TMI

[Balj86]

I love Semogue Boar SB's. I think they are of high quality and exfoliate your skin very nicely prior to shaving. If you had any specific questions, shoot Leon an email!

[jwcarlson]

My 1305 will be picked up after work today at the post office!

[auk1124]

Loading a shaving brush is like making love - the less you think about it, the better the result.

[Reckoner]

Is it possible to load too much product? Not being a smart*ss, I would really like to know

Sure. Let me clarify what I meant.

I load Cella fine and dandy with three different badgers and two different boars and have no trouble whipping up great lather by face lathering. That soap is just plain thirsty, needs lots of water to work right. I never can seem to get the Omega 48 to hold enough water to make useable lather. It sorta goes on gummy or like a paste, almost the opposite of thin runny lather. I have to keep dipping the tips in the sink with this brush. I don't have that problem with any other brush. Same story for AoS and RazoRock soft soaps.

If lather is the combination of product and water, and I can't hold enough water, then doesn't that mean there's too much product?

[rajagra]

Loading a shaving brush is like making love - the less you think about it, the better the result.

Sounds like a Swiss Toni quote.
"Making a bowl of lather is like making love to a beautiful woman. It's got to be hot. You've got to take your time. You've got to stir gently but firmly..."

[SOS]

For what it's worth that's exactly how I shave with my Semogue... run some water over the brush, splash some on my face, and go... none of the hot towel, hot shower, soak my brush for 15 minutes and load my brush for 10 seconds each upside down, sideways, and both CCW and CW directions... It's shaving, folks...

I went from Tweezerman to TGN restores to a Semogue 1438.
And then I stopped.

That paint brush is the only other bush I've used in about a year.



:-D

Thank you!

[awa54]

Okay...I feel like that now I'm starting to get it

MY Key takeaways thus far (notice I said MY...YMMV):

1. Some folks are VERY passionate about making sure everyone is at least exposed to the option that boars are different but at least equal to a badger
2. The reverse does not seem to be true
3. "Easy" and "Fast" are not words even "boarites" or "Semoguetistas" use to explain the WHY of using one of their prized possessions, but "Feel" and "Experience" are important words
4. Many people are so busy defending (1.) that they completely overlook (3.)
5. Most (and I use that word intentionally) are in the same boat I'm in, and have trouble with boars...that leads us back to (1.) which is why this thread could conceivably go on forever

I'm starting to think that one of the draws to boars, and Semogue boars specifically is that they are a very good, well crafted product, at a VERY reasonable price. There is much to appreciate about a quality, no frills utilitarian brush (not that Semogues are not attractive, but that is not their focus). It actually plays right into what most all of us believe in, and what attracted us to this little hobby of ours to begin with...simplistic quality. At it's core our hobby is a brush, some soap, a blade, and a razor; all of which can be acquired for less than $10 and will give most all of us 95% of the satisfaction that we are looking for. If one wanted to acquire...collect...test...use the best badger brushes available, that might be a difficult task; however, with boars, and in particular Semogues...Well, you get the picture.

I don't think we can ever come to a resolution on this Republican vs Democrat debate of brushes (I'll let you decide which is which), but I do think, that I for one, understand "the reason for working at it" a bit better. If the discussion continues, great, if not, I still think I will continue to adjust my technique to allow a place in my heart for my 610 and 620. Sorry, you will not see either one on BST anytime soon.

Tod

Snobbery aside I think any *objective* shaving brush user would have to agree that with a difficult soap or bad water or poor/lazy technique (or Gods of shaving forbid, all three) the chances are you will get more lather with less product and get it faster using a badger brush. That said, I get great lather with ease from my $9 Omega basic boar, the lather has a slightly different texture than what my badger brushes give but it doesn't require wasting a ton of soap or three minutes of prep and careful water measurement to accomplish.

My reason for liking boar slightly more than badger (so far....) is that badger makes fantastic lather *but* it's stingy giving it out...lots on the sides of the brush and *in* the knot, but not so much out on the tips where I want it , where boar may not have quite the luxuriousness or speed of lather generation (although with the soaps I like best the difference is minimal) but it puts up almost all of the lather right on the tips so I can easily get it to where it's needed: my face!

I don't plan to get rid of either of my badger brushes, but I certainly wouldn't say they're "better" than my boars either! I guess that makes me a moderate in the politics of the Shaving Brush?

[Larsson_Power]

I love my 1305.. I'm not even using my badgers anymore.. =)

[Larsson_Power]

Sweeeeeeet, is the 620 like the 830??

[Mark_M]

That's Photo shopped! Just kidding! I have the same brush. Fantastic!

[Larsson_Power]

Mark_M : Hahaha..i love it, it just get softer and better with every use. I told my friend yesterday: If i had to choose ONE brush to keep, it would be the 1305!

[Grumpy_Bottom]

So after a few weeks of trying the Semogue, I think I finally understand a bit better why it's described as "soft"...there isn't a hint of scritch, with tons of backbone, and this brush is probably still a long way from being all the way broken in. But even with my nice badgers, which I never felt were rough, or scritchy in the past (and I do have some scritchy badgers, I just don't like or use them), now that the Semogue is getting a little more broken in, the feel of it as I apply lather, even after the 3rd pass on a particularly aggressive day, is like puffing clouds against my skin. I mean, it's just outrageously soft, to the degree that you don't even think about the fact that there are fibers under there, it just feels like you're dabbing mounds of lather onto your face even when aggressively face lathering on pass 3 and trying to work up a little extra lather for the ATG pass. I'm finding the badger gets increasingly less use. Granted, it takes a lot of extra swirling and product, and lots of water, and can be slightly dangerous when used with Arko on the noggin (http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...70#post3991570) but the fluffy feeling with serious backbone is pretty impressive. I see the light.