Good point...I can think of many other analogies for things I'd like to rub on my face....but I digress
Boars are totally different from any badger brush you'll ever use. Different like Chevrolet Camaro, and Dodge 1 ton dually pickup truck. Try this with your Semogue. Soak the brush AND the soap you intend to use in warm water for 3-5 minutes before your shave. Remove the brush from the water, and give it 3 really brisk shakes. (you want to remove roughly 75% of the water) Now with the damp brush, begin loading soap. If you start building bubbly lather right away, you've still too much water in the brush. Give it 2 more brisk shakes. If not, then what should begin to appear on top of the soap and in the brush is a very thick, sticky slurry with very few bubbles, and no foamy lather. This is exactly what you want. Keep moderate downward pressure and the brush, and move it in circles, side to side, and even pump it up and down a bit. You won't hurt the brush. Don't stop short. Those videos you see on YouTube where some jamoke just touches the tips of his brush into the cream tub and then builds enough lather to 3 pass shave a Shetland pony just doesn't work with soaps. Load plenty of soap. You aren't wasting anything, you are learning. You know you've loaded enough when the brush is 2/3 full of this thick sticky goo. Now you're ready to move the brush to your face, or to a bowl or scuttle. I encourage you to try lathering your face with this just the way it is. You need to get a feel for what it's like. It's likely that you will find it too stiff and sticky, but how will you know if you don't try? At any rate, give it a go. If you don't like it, add water. Over time, I've learned to load all my boar brushes this way, be they large or small. This method also works with all soaps, hard or soft. The main difference between boar and badger brushes is that boar bristles are hollow, and if you let them soak in warm water for few minutes before shaving, they absorb water to the point of saturation. When you shake the brush, you're just removing the loose water that is clinging to the outside of the bristles. Some will argue, but I think badgers don't absorb much water. In fact, badger is most often referred to as "hair", not bristle. The badger holds water by collecting small droplets on the outside of each hair. It can hold plenty of water though, because size for size, the badger brush has many more hairs than the pig has bristles. Anyhow, grab hold of that Semogue and give it a good workout on whichever soap you like. I think you'll find if you just give yourself some time to experiment a bit, you'll get to like that brush. Best wishes to you FiveO, and Happy Shaving!!
I bought three new boars at the same time, semogue oc, semogue Italian barber and omega 11137. The omega 11137 is the best performing one of the three at the moment. It broke in fast the other two are not there yet
As for the paint chipping off, here's what I did with my Semogue 2000 ---> *click* HA! I just noticed I made that post five years ago today!! And the brush is still holding up fine, no cracks, peeling or wood swelling.
...my Semogue 1305; the topic of this post. No matter whether I use a soap or a cream, I cannot seem to get a good whipped cream type lather...but this Semogue is very floppy. I agree with the Semogue 1305 tending to be floppy. Like RaZorBurn said, try tubing it - just make sure it is completely dry! I have a few of them and they actually are great lather machines, withe right cream or soap. These brushes like water. A lot. Try this... use a good cream, like TOBS or Coates, etc. Soak your brush in a mug while you take a shower. Remove the brush and lightly shake once into your lather mug or bowl. Will be about a tablespoon of water. Shake out brush in sink one more time - lightly to remove excess water. Now, lightly roll the end of the brush in the cream, removing about a marble size amount and make like a baker and whip that stuff until the water turns to lather. Here's the trick - occasionally wipe the brush out on the bowl side to release the soaked in lather/water. When what you take out of the brush is thick and not runny, add a little more water. Keep whipping that thing! You WILL get more lather than you want - no doubt! I just got a new lathering mug/bowl to my design from an artisan on Etsy that is AWESOME! has contours in the inside that makes lathers like a bomb! Good luck with the 1305. I almost got rid of all of mine until I got this lather bowl. Now, they are in the regular rotation, ahead of a lot of badgers! BTW - try a B & B Essential boar by Omega - that's an amazing boar brush.
I PIF'd my Semogue 1305 to a friend who wanted to try wet shaving. It was an excellent brush especially with soaps, broken in perfectly. However, all the green paint chipped/flaked off the handle from soaking the brush during prep. Replaced it with a SOC cherry handle brush this week. I use Williams as my break-in soap and after 6 times, a great deal of the hairs are split. I love the painted Semogue's and have a 1438 (been careful with this one) which is a great face lathering brush.
To speed things up I lather the brush with an inexpensive soap like Williams and make a lather in my palm. Rise out and dry on a towel by using the brush like I'm painting. I do that about 5-6 times over a few days and the tips are usually split enough & soft enough to use it comfortably. It wont' be 100% broken-in so the rest of the break-in is just normal use. Works well for me
Mike, Thank you for not letting me give up on this AMAZING brush. I followed your instructions today and used RR Tobacco 1 soap. HOLY CRAP I had so much pillowy tobacco scented goodness I probably could have done 6 passes. I think 90% of my issue is not controlling the water AND I wasn't using enough soap. I swirled the snot out of that brush and Voila'! I finally realized, I have tons of soap tins, why am I being so stingy with the amount of soap I am using that, in the end, is giving me lousy results. I ended up knocking off all of the chipped paint this week, sanded and stained the bare handle about 15 times. I will post the photos of the brush restore as soon as I can. It looks pretty cool with this mottled , burl wood kinda look. Thanks again, Steve
Promised some restore pics so here they are. Man I am loving this brush... I probably should have sealed with marine varnish but honestly, I didn't want to spend $20 in supplies to restore/protect a $18 brush!