My first boar.. A new design Semogue with Premium hair, cream, undied bristles, packed extra dense. The knot is 22mm with a 50mm loft, with the handle from the Semogue 830. Purchased as part of a group buy on another forum. I don't know a whole lot about the Semogue line, but I understand that it is the same hair as the 830 (higher grade than 620) at the loft of the 620. So basically a 620 with better hair I've lathered with mine a good dozen times.. consuming a fair amount of EJ Sea Buckthorne, MWF & VDH on break-in lathers. Before.. sitting in front of my favorite Super Badger... It is amazingly stiff in it's pre-lather state, almost to the point that one has to wonder how the heck it will ever be usable. As a test and for breaking, I did a few bowl lathers and a few face lathers and my skin is screaming now..talk about exfoliating! After an initial rinse and soak I was surprised to find that there was virtually no piggy smell. I am pleased with how easily it lathers with these soaps but taken back with how much of the product is being consumed by the stiff bristles. EJ Sea Buckthorne is a challenge to lather with a badger, but it whipped a decent lather on it's third break-in lather.. Clearly missing is the bloom I have come to love in my badger brushes, but I do see that already the bristle ends are starting to split, so I'm making progress! So far, I am pleased with all but the consumption rate of product.. hopefully it will reduce to a simmer as the brush breaks in further and lathers better!
Congrats on your first boar. she's a Beauty. As soon as the hairs split she will become soft. And it will feel like your face hit a wall of soft hair. Boars don't Bloom that much. But they do whip up some great lather.
Mike the new handle design is awesome, I don't have the boar, but I do have the LE Badger..... Hopefully your brush breaks in and stops eating soap...
Well.. I am hoping all the hype the boar-lovers raise turns out to be true. Not sure boar is for me, but I am going to see this through break-in and then decide if it stays or not.. I remember asking you about delivery on your LE and thought it was the 2010 boar.. I wish had grabbed one of the LE's as well. The handle is great. The loft is a little short, but only given how stiff the hairs are right now. I see the ends starting to split, but Silvertip this isn't. My face and palms are getting raw from break-in lathers..
Sent you a PM Aaron.. You have my attention. I really dig the handle design of the Custom Boar, but I am not lovin' the whole break-in thing..
Nice brush. The boar's are initially stiff until breakin vs a badger right? Have you continued to use it? How long did this process take?
I'm assuming that the pork hair will break in as any other. I have the Omega Pro and its been about 30 lathers into it now and it is nice and soft already. Still a bit stiff, especially juxtaposed with either of my badgers, but I wouldn't get rid of it without a fight. Keep at it, even if you just lather it from time to time and give it a chance to break in and you'll like it, if not love it, I'm certain.
How long did it take? Or, how long is taking? I am about a week into the break-in. It's getting better.. used it everyday, with one exception and that one day has created the doubt whether the Boar can ever be as comfortable as my favorite Badgers... I assume it will/can break-in, but seems like a lot of work to get to the same place I can be with a Badger out of the box. I am primarily a cream user. The two hard soaps I have (MWF & EJ Sea Buckthorne) both lather well enough with the Badger brushes.. so...not sure I see the light at the end of the tunnel... I have been lathering it three or four sessions a day.. palm lather with three lathers per sessions.. I suppose I have about twenty plus lathers into the brush..
Mike don't be discouraged, granted I don't use boar that much anymore, they can compete quite well with higher end badger. Last year on another site I referred you to in the past, a moderator had bought 12 Beechwood Omega boar brushes I believe it was, he gave one out to another moderator and in return Gordon gave Chris his Plisson. Both are naysayers towards the different hair types, at the end of 30 days, they both did concede the Plisson was clearly the better brush, however boar was not as bad as thought by Gordon, still the nod went to badger. Don't be put off by boar so soon, I can send you mine to try if you want just pm with your info again, regardless if you want the LE, boar isn't that bad but its still not badger quality in my mind. However when you take into consideration what you do get for a boar, its a very good bargain that's not far off, its just not the same though.
Thanks for the offer Aaron.. Last evening my daughter and I did a 'lather fest' with the boar.. we lathered every cream & soap I have (except the P.160...I won't waste that on break-in lathers), most of them two or three times, to accelerate the break-in. Well, for me it was to accelerate the break-in for her it was just fun to play with the lather.. Interestingly, the two best lathers were with a cream and a semi-soft... Proraso and Razo Rock. I did palm lathers since face lathering that many time would have been a mistake and the brush doesn't respond as well to bowl lathering. I was amazed at how much lather the boar could generate. For the Razo Rock and the Proraso, I used the tiniest dab of product and it blew up to mass of lather that filled both of our hands. The EJ Sea Buckthorne and MWF also exploded. It seems this brush will be a great latherer.. just needs to be a bit more face friendly. I am going to give it another week or two to make a final decision... I never expected it to eclipse my favorite Badgers, even given that none of my brushes are Plisson quality.. The LE.. that's not as hard of a decision... You've got a PM coming....
Gave the boar another go this morning with Proraso. I hadn't used Proraso in quite a while and I've forgotten how much I like this cream. Got the lather going with a small dab of product in my hand and then built it up with a face lather. The tips are beginning to get softer and I just might be turning the corner on this brush. Since it does such a fine job building lather, I might just have to hang on to it!! Today's shave is a five out of five... Gillette New Long Comb with an Ultra-Lite black anodized handle from Bob's Razor Works and a Personna Red.
Update.. As noted above I have lathering the Semougue numerous times, both for my daily shaves for the past week plus, as well as countless break-in lathers.. The tips of the hairs are starting to soften and split and though the bristles are unbelievably stiff when dry, they become much more pliable when wet; the notion that one could lather with this is beyond comprehension. But lather it does... Closeup of the hairs..
Mike, your brush does look like its starting to finally break in! I know people think Plisson's are over-hyped, but I tend to think this is the classiest brush I own, with EW finest hair.
Thanks... one day I'll graduate to a Plisson. For now, I just don't have the heart to tell my daughter she has to skip a semester because I bought a new brush...
Mike EW's aren't that expensive, these are :happy102 At the least try a Vulfix, they have less backbone but generally lather the same.
