Santa was very generous this year:
Semogue 1250 22mm boar in wooden handle
Muhle STF V2 21mm faux silvertip in faux horn handle
and hopefully either tomorrow or Thursday: Vintage Blades 20mm two-band badger in faux ivory
The 1250 is my first Semogue and even out of the box it wasn't terribly scratchy nor was there the expected funk. The bristles are thinner than than the boar in my Omega brushes, or at least they seem more flexible. I really like the look of the brush with white bristles and plain wooden handle. It will take several weeks in rotation to break in, but I am interested to compare with my Omega Pro49. The 1250 dimensions seem a little more in tune with face lathering.
Lots has been written about the Muhle synthetic. I have a WD synthetic which I like pretty well, and it taught me about how synthetics load and lather. The Muhle is beautiful and the knot is a new generation that responds much more naturally in terms of backbone and face feel. It doesn't have the elastic feel of the WD knot that stays pretty tightly closed and then springs open (splays) rather suddenly. The handle and knot size seem just about perfect to me for face lathering, and once I do my "synthetic loading two step" it feels and behaves more like my favorite badger (Berkeley in Best) than the WD synthetic. I need to do more comparison, but this brush is very promising and has real potential to be king of the hill around here.
Semogue 1250 22mm boar in wooden handle
Muhle STF V2 21mm faux silvertip in faux horn handle
and hopefully either tomorrow or Thursday: Vintage Blades 20mm two-band badger in faux ivory
The 1250 is my first Semogue and even out of the box it wasn't terribly scratchy nor was there the expected funk. The bristles are thinner than than the boar in my Omega brushes, or at least they seem more flexible. I really like the look of the brush with white bristles and plain wooden handle. It will take several weeks in rotation to break in, but I am interested to compare with my Omega Pro49. The 1250 dimensions seem a little more in tune with face lathering.
Lots has been written about the Muhle synthetic. I have a WD synthetic which I like pretty well, and it taught me about how synthetics load and lather. The Muhle is beautiful and the knot is a new generation that responds much more naturally in terms of backbone and face feel. It doesn't have the elastic feel of the WD knot that stays pretty tightly closed and then springs open (splays) rather suddenly. The handle and knot size seem just about perfect to me for face lathering, and once I do my "synthetic loading two step" it feels and behaves more like my favorite badger (Berkeley in Best) than the WD synthetic. I need to do more comparison, but this brush is very promising and has real potential to be king of the hill around here.