**Review Disclaimer** This review has been written after using this brush for 30 consecutive shaves and a minimum of 10 test lathers. Last month Vintage Scent ran a limited sale on Semogue SOC Boar hair brushes. I was lucky enough to snag one with a Cherry handle for $21.00 delivered. Right off the bat, I am impressed with the price. Delivery took about two weeks, but I have other brushes. The Semogue packaging is rudimentary; clear, inexpensive plastic tube. Not worth saving, IMO, so that got immediately recycled. Here it is right out of the tube: Here are the dimensions of the brush: Knot: 24mm diameter/57mm height Handle: 57mm tall/37mm at widest point. A word on the handle: Excellent ergonomically in my hand. Far better than the Semogue BC Mistura handle. IMO Right out of the box the bristles are extremely scritchy. Indeed, some of the hairs were so unkempt, that I was forced to pluck them out. Which leads me to hair loss...this brush loses a hair/shave. I think that qualifies as a shedder, or? More experienced boar users may disagree. Break-in was thorough. The bristles softened up nicely and began their splitting, all without sacrificing too much backbone. After 27 shaves: And finally, after today's 30th shave: There's definitely something attractive about this brush. It's has a wild side that is quasi-exciting. Compared to my Badger brushes, there isn't anything that this boar brush cannot do. The occasional wild hair may aggravate some. It did me. Positives:Inexpensive (In my case, very inexpensive) Excellent face latherer When broken-in, very soft Negatives: Not visually as pleasing (IMO) Wild hairs Shedding Final thoughts: I would recommend that every wet shaver try a good boar brush at least once. The SOC Boar is manufactured with high-quality bristles that do not have a funky smell (mine didn't). The ergonomics are excellent. The wood handles may be too light for some, but I found the handle to be perfect for my grip. The 57mm loft might scream floppy, but that would be untrue. Good backbone on this brush. It eats soap for breakfast. Recommended. BTW, Service from Vintage Scents was very good. Thank you for reading.
Nice review and field-testing! I do recall my Semo being a decent performer with the tendency for the knot to 'go wild' despite my efforts to contain the wild hairs. Mine also was a bit of a shedder. No funky smell. The tips did soften nicely making it a rather 'luxuriously feeling' boar brush. Comfortable wood handle, too. I believe it was sold off in one of my 'shaving purges' a year ago or so. Here was the Semo is in one of its more 'refined' moments when it didn't look like a troll doll....
Wooden handles without some internal ballast seems to be a little light when you are use to heavier solid resin handles. That boar is just now hitting its stride. Wait until another 70 shaves and when you reach 100 then those hairs should be splitting even better and it should get softer at the tips. Enjoy!
That would go a lot faster if I used the Boar exclusively, but after this initial 30 shave break in period, I am going back to my rotation. The Boar will now get used once/week. It has however gotten very soft already. BTW, I agree with you about the weight of the handle. I want to hollow it out a bit and add some fishing weights.
I have 2 Boars from Semogue, SOC and 2000 Not happy with both of them,the well known "no lather for the 3rd pass" issue.
I really like my SOC boar. Lost maybe 6-7 bristles over a year of use. It's very 'splay-y' now but a great performer.
I have the boar SOC, 2000, 1305, 1470, and SOC badger---------------not a shedder in the bunch. I think Semogues a wonderful brushes. All of my boars are broken in and with extremely soft tips and a beautiful bloom Semogues are noted for.
Thanks for the great review. I didn't think I would like mine at first but softened up nicely and I kind of like the wild look of this brush. I must be lucky as I have not lost a single hair out of Cherry or Oak handle SOC. My Cherry SOC has 33 shaves on it now and the Oak SOC has 10 so still not broken in yet.
Thank you for the compliment. There are many fine things to say about this brush. Very soft after broken in. Good backbone. Ergonomic, albeit rather light, handle. Wild and crazy when wet.
In the 30 shaves I never had that issue. I would be interested to know what your loading technique is?
The most common cause for this "well known" issue is not soaking your brush beforehand. If you soak your brush, it will absorb water into the bristles. If you don't soak your brush, it will absorb shaving soap, which is neither good for the brush or for your shave.
I bought one of these a few weeks ago as well. I felt like trying a boar brush, and was all set to pull the trigger on a Semogue 830 after reading many positive reviews. But the Cherrywood handle caught my eye and that's what I ended up buying. Initially I was very under-impressed. Compared to my badger brush, it felt like something Tom Sawyer might use to whitewash a fence. But I knew a boar brush needed a good break-in period so I gave it a fair chance before passing judgement. After about 6 or 7 shaves, I started to "get it" and I knew the brush would eventually live up to it's reputation. But the Semogue 830 kept gnawing at me to buy it. When a good price came my way, I decided to get that as well. It arrived yesterday. I de-funked it last night and had my first shave with it this morning. Even though it is not even close to breaking in, I somehow am getting a much better vibe from it than I did from the SOC brush. The handle seems to be more comfortable and fits my hand better. The SOC is larger. Even though I have a large hand, it just felt like a little too much brush. Between the two of them, I think the 830 will end up being my "go to" boar brush. So now I have five brushes, and I'm really a one brush kind of guy. I don't know how that happened!
I know ... BAD happens when you find out how your shaving experience is expanded and enhanced with each different brush. Variety is the spice of life!
