You can actually break one in pretty quick by doing a handful of test lathers and letting the soap dry on the brush each time. This both gets rid of any animal smell and also speeds up the splitting of the hair ends that is the hallmark of a well-broken in boar brush. This shortens the break in period from about a month of shaves to less than a week.
When I broke in my Omega 10098 it took about ten days and the wet hog smell went away. Another five or six and the hairs started splitting nice
In the immortal words of Sir Percival Blakeney, Baronet alias The Scarlet Pimpernel, "There is nothing that is quite so bad as something that is 'not so bad'." It sounds like your travel setup qualified. And TOBS is definitely great stuff, and many people consider the SuperSpeed to be one of Gillette's finest razors. Glad you're home safe. Hope you ditch that cold soon!
It is broken in nicely, Andrew. I does appear to be more of a bulb shape than many boars. Don't really have a comparison, though, besides my little boar travel brush.
Excellent article, Charlie. I wasn't advocating for using 100% Silicone Caulk for brushes, I was just pointing out that it has worked for me (so far...). I believe the sealant that Doug showed is probably a better product for this usage.
Eventually my time management skills will catch up with my big mouth and I'll chip away at a few '30 Day Crew' LE handles. I'll put this design forward as an option for folks, if you'd like.
April 7 - I feel Frozen!!!! Merkur 34C Vidyut SuperMax stainless blade French Vanilla brush(JR#72) Barrister & Mann Arctique soap DIY PSO Alum/Thayers/Nivea SPSB Today was my first time with the SuperMax blade and B&M Arctique soap. I have heard good things about both. I just had enough for barely one shave in the soap sample that was sent me. Looked to be about 1 gram of soap. Pressed it into my bowl and added about a teaspoon of water. As usual, I made lots of watery bubbles but in the end, it did thicken and with a few tuning droplets got a light lather with some shine. I was hoping for thicker but I felt this was more similar to how Jared would prefer it. Scent reminded me of peppermint Tic Tacs. It was nice and strong. Upon application, I determined whether any menthol was left. It took maybe 20-30 seconds when I suddenly felt my face quickly freeze over. This was nice!!!! If this is what strong menthol is like, I was able to handle it easily and did not have any negative reaction to it. B&M Arctique reminded me of my experience with Wheat State Soaps. Both created lighter weight, fluffy lather, almost cloud like. Both were very slick but less dense than Stirling. Very pleasurable soap. Now to see if the razor fairs as well. Right from the start of the WTG pass, this razor was louder than the worn out Feather. It was smooth but only so far as it felt like I wasn't cutting much. XTG and ATG indicated this blade was less sharp than a 3 shave old Feather. I had to resort to short strokes to get my usual 3 passes done. Feeling the results was disappointing. I ended up doing another ATG and then additional touch up on my neck and jawline to get a reasonable DFS. These blades are just too dull for my beard. I kept the pressure very light and accepted the final result. Immediately upon stepping out of the shower, I applied alum. To my surprise, my face was still freezing cold and sort of felt like I have spread nova-cane all over it. the alum was quiet. For a lousy blade that needed extra steps, my face did not bare the brunt of it. It seems the menthol quieted any razor burn. With my experience with Arctique, I definitely will be buying it when it becomes available. Unfortunately, there was only enough for the single shave. Having been successful with menthol, I will be looking at other vendors menthol soaps as well. I would suggest anyone looking for a good soap to try B&M and check out Arctique if you like menthol. Wishing everyone a great Friday and weekend ahead!!
I'm simply using my merkur progress. I can get bbs but many times at the cost of irritation. I'm trying to see if there is a replicatable way to gets bbs and no irritation. (I have multi-directional coarse grow.) I will be using Tabac, MWF Cella, Trumpers, and Arko/Derby if the spirit moves me. My brush is the mighty midget and Polsilver blades.
