Thread: Semogue brushes? Any thoughts?

Paul,

I have three Semogues (two boar and one LE Badger). For soaps, the boars are beyond wonderful. For creams they are great. My LE Badger is taken over the spot for my favorite badger above my beloved ShaveMac. That, IMHO, is saying a lot.

I'm not sure why people would tell you that you will ruin your first brush. A strop, I can understand, but not a brush. A decent brush should last well through your lifetime (but that won't stop you from acquiring a few).

The downside to boars, in my experience, is that they take a bit of breaking in. That can be discouraging if you're just making the switch to soaps/creams because right out of the box you might not get the quality of lather you are hoping you'll get. With a bit of patience, though, you will find the boar to be a terrific companion.

If you are leaning towards creams, I personally suggest considering a badger. If hard soaps are more of your fancy, then the boar is most often the best choice because it offers a lot more backbone (stiffness) to work the puck of soap into submission. Either way you go, I wish you the very best of your new found grooming ritual!

Bill

@RayG: Dude, you're that guy from the Sopranos!

All fantastic advice. Now how does one deal with or break in a new brush that had what I've heard is a "smell"? Man, the things you learn about here. I'm glad because if I hadn't heard about it I may have thought I received a bad brush.

Again, I must say, very active and engaged community here. I'm hooked.

+1 on the Semogue 2010 LE. Best cream brush I own, bar none. No longer available new, but worth searching for on various forums' Buy/Sell/Trade.

I'm not well placed to comment on the standard Semogue models, but if the 2009 LE brush is anything to go by, the quality is very good. That's a boar brush, the nearest equivalent being the Semogue Owners' Club I believe. Mine did take some breaking in, but not so much as one might expect for a new boar: half a dozen latherings made a big difference, and by now it seems to have doubled in volume due to the splitting of the bristles. For my money, Semogue make some of the most comfortable and practical handles going, by the way.

Well, I received my Merkur DE yesterday in the mail. Now I will order a brush and shaving cream to get me started off. Will review some YouTube videos to see how to properly use a brush and shaving cream.

I think I will start with the Semogue or Omega. Affordable and great reviews.

Thank you all for taking time to assist.