Help me choose a new Boar Brush.

[Dirty Harry]

I normally use a few badgers that I like but I'm intrigued by a boar bristle. I've not used one before.
I mainly bowl lather.

I've been looking at Semogues offerings and I plan on choosing one of theirs.

I really like the looks of the clear/black-red acrylic handles. They just look to me like a brush handle should look.
The natural wood ones just don't work for me. The painted wood ones are a possibility.

I've been reading up on the break in method for these brushes.

I'm sure there are as many opinions as there are users but I thought I'd ask.

My budget is around $30

Which of the Semogue offerings may be a good fit for me?

Thanks
Dirty

 

[JAHE]

It seems that a Semogue 620 or a Semogue 830 is probably just what you need... fits your budget, too.

Instead of doing a speedy "break-in" procedure, I would say lather the brush two or three times to remove any animal odor, and let the brush fully break in in a few uses on it's own.

IMHO breaking in a boar brush properly is part of the pleasure of using a boar brush. And it won't take long with a Semogue boar brush... 10-20 uses perhaps, if at all.

Cheers!

 

[JimL911]

The paint chips. For bowl lathering the 1250 is nice but the Owners club is a better knot. I found them easy to break in. Wet and let dry for 2 days. Repeat a couple of times and good to go.

 

[Mr00classic]

If you are open to the wood handles look at Zenith. I have a few Semogues and I like the Zenith knots better.

Dark Wood Boar Brush (Wenghe) Short by Zenith 24x52mm Knot. B24

This is a version of the short scrubby boar brush. It's a little classier with a nickel ring and is not so scrubby with a smaller knot (to fit inside the ring) and slightly longer effective loft. Still a great brush. Dark wood handle. Wood handle with a 22.5-23.5mm boar knot. Loft is set at...

www.thegentleshave.com

 

[EclipseRedRing]

I have always loved low lofted, scrubby, two band badger brushes, with strong backbone. I have one boar brush, a Semogue 610, and out of the box it is superb. When brand new it is everything I want from a brush and very close to the face feel of Simpson Manchurian, for a fraction of the price. Apparently, it will 'break in' with use, soften, and become truly wonderful. If only that were not the case, if only it would stay exactly as it is right now, then it would be the perfect brush and the only one I would ever need.

 

[Dirty Harry]

By the way... is it important to hang these boars upside down to dry? I've never done that with my badgers.

 

[SharpieB]

Semogue or Zenith. Both are amazing.

The Jade Omega from Connaught is pretty amazing as well but the break in is brutal IME.

 

[SharpieB]

By the way... is it important to hang these boars upside down to dry? I've never done that with my badgers.

Nope. I own many boars and badgers and have never hung them upside down. And never an issue.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Semogue 830.

I'm not quite clear on the difference between the 610/620 and the 830. Quality of bristle? Length?

Thanks for the help. I always know someone here is willing to help me spend my money.

Dirty

 

[JimL911]

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Semogue 830.

I'm not quite clear on the difference between the 610/620 and the 830. Quality of bristle? Length?

Thanks for the help. I always know someone here is willing to help me spend my money.

Dirty

Semogue Boar Brush Chart

I decided to compile some information on Somogue's boar brushes, as I've been searching for a dedicated face latherer, and kept getting confused about the different types of bristle. So here it is, let me know if anyone wants me to add any other info to it: align="left" width="700"...

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Well I just pulled the trigger on a Semogue 830.

I'm not quite clear on the difference between the 610/620 and the 830. Quality of bristle? Length?

Thanks for the help. I always know someone here is willing to help me spend my money.

Dirty

I believe the 610/620 have a shorter loft and are perhaps better suited to face lathering than the 830. Also the 610 is undyed whilst the 620 is not and there is a slight difference in the bristle used - the 610 has Best 90% tops and the 620 has Extra 75% tops. I do not soak my badger brushes prior to use as I find no benefit in so doing - my 610 boar brush however benefits greatly from a soak prior to use. I also found that for the first few shaves, the boar knot seemed to 'eat' the lather. What I mean is that after each pass, I would pick up the brush to relather for the next pass and find no lather remaining in the knot; I would have to load more soap. No problem for me as I have enough soap to open a shop, and after a dozen or so uses it seemed to stop happening. Good luck with your new brush

 

[Dirty Harry]

Slight change in plans (so like me). I ordered the 620 instead.
Dirty

 

[Chef455]

Enjoy your new boar brush. Remember, palm lathering is a legitimate tool for help breaking them in. I can't take face lathering with a boar until those hairs start to split.

 

[ivan_101]

What breaking in with Semogues? They are treated.
After 5-6 shaves they become very soft. Even earlier.

 

[Jens]

Hello @Dirty Harry ,

Well, so you pulled the tricker on the Semogue 620. Nice choice. That particular brush has a bit of a cult following, I was among them myself for a longer while, and I'm on my second 620 now (first one got worn out ..)

But now that you opened this can of worms ... I'm going to give you a few ideas in case you want yet a boar. Boars are quite different between one and another - and a nice thing with boars is that they are cheap. Not a lot of damage done by getting yet a boar brush.

I started out being a "boar man" when I first embraced DE shaving as a hobby. I eventually splurged on some high end badgers too, mostly to simply get some experience with badgers for the sake of comparison.
I do love my badgers, but, I just find myself going mostly with the boars for daily drivers. (synthetics just never appealed to me, at all, so I will leave them out here).

My favorite boars are those with 'natural bristle'. Apart from this grade hair (bristle) you can also get 'bleeched', and 'colored' bristle. I think it's just a matter of personal preference what to get, one kind is not better quality than the other.
Natural bristle tend to be a tad more scrubby than colored bristle perhaps, especially when new (see below). As they get well broken in, I find that natural bristle get incredibly soft and dense, the latter only matched by the density of 2-band badgers, and this is one thing I love about natural bristle (apart from the good looks).

The Semogue 620 that you have now, is colored bristle, and as was mentioned by someone else, 75% tops, which is a Semogue thing, unique to a couple of their brushes only, and making for a very nice and dense feeling small brush.

I have quite a selection of different kinds of boar, and I will just put some of my favorites on you radar here.

These days, I mostly run on Omega brushes. Omega is without contest the biggest name in boar brush country, if you ask me. Not in terms of price tag, to the contrary Omegas are mostly really cheap, but not inferior in quality to more expensive boars. If you want more fancy boars, look to Semogue or Zenith. But if you like to have a huge selection of designs (and natural bristle), look to Omega. The Omega brushes all have unique five digit numbers. Most of their brushes are natural bristle. The "classic" Omegas are the "professional" ones, big knots like the 10048, 10049, and 10098 (ca 28 mm knots, loft about 60-65 mm), used by professional barbers. Especially if you like to bowl lather, these are suitable.

If you like to face lather like me, a somewhat smaller brush is really nice. Omega make a bunch of these too. These days my daily drivers are the 10066, and the 10081, knots are ca 23 mm, loft perhaps 50 mm or so. These are some of my all time favourite brushes, even held up against premium silvertip and two-band badgers. And the cost of these small Omegas is less then ten dollars a piece. I got my 10081 in 2016, and it has just grown on my over the years.

One other, bigger omega that I would also recommend if you like really soft brushes is the 31064, also sold as 81064 (the only difference between those two is the packaging). It's a big "professional" size knot, with colored bristle, and the real prize here is the huge octagonal acrylic handle (transparent/black). Perhaps my overall favourite handle of all my brush handles.

If you want to stay with the Semogues, you have less choice in natural bristle (Semogue's biggest selection is in colored and bleached bristle), but their "SOC" (Semogue Owners' Club) and 2000 series are very nice flared handles, that also come with natural bristle, size (they only come in one size knot) in-between the bigger and smaller Omegas I mentioned above. You can also get these handles in plastic / acrylic designs, though they are mainly made in wood. You pay more for these, you can get three Omegas for the price of just one Semogue SOC boar.

I never tried a Zenith, they are supposed to be very nice, but also more expensive. Overall, I have tried enough boars to know that you don't need to pay a lot of money to get a really excellent boar. To my mind, that's one of the things which make boar so beautiful. Quality shaving does not have to be expensive. Instead, you know quality when you see and feel it.

a final couple of notes:
__ You ask if you need to hang a boar upside down to dry. Short answer is no. But shaking it out well, and lightly drying it on a towel, helps it dry faster.
__ This leads to an important thing to know about boars (perhaps you already know):
Boars keep getting better as you use them. This is because, in contrast to badger hair, the boar bristle will split as you use it more, just like "split end hair" on humans. This splitting makes for a wonderfully soft, and ever denser brush (as said above, like 2 band badgers, when well broken in). Repeated use, and drying out helps this splitting.
__ just on the aestetics of natural bristle: some people think the odd black hair is a sign that's something is wrong with their natural bristle knot. They are mistaken. Black bristle are part, indeed, of the 'natural' bristle.
__ on breaking in a boar: just use it for normal shaving routine from day one, break it in that way - period.
All the hype about special procedures to break in a boar, is utter balony, if you ask me. I've never done that, and my boars have worked just fine from day one. In fact, you risk destroying your new boar if you start to mishandle it to "break it in".

If you want to read more about boars, I can recommend one particular piece of "shavedom lore", a legendary manifesto of sorts on boar brushes, known as (something like) "Zach's guide to Boar Shaving brushes". Very inspiring and informative reading. I am sure you can find it if you Google around, it comes with some nice photos of "split bristle", so make sure you find a version with photos.

Happy journey...!

 

[Jens]

Zach's "A Beginner's Guide to Boar Brushes / The Science of Boar"

(which I referred to in my post above)

... Was originally posted on "ShaveMyFace" in 2009.

It was subsequently copied to various other sites, and has achieved legendary status as a manifesto on boar shaving brushes of sorts.

I just had a look around, and these days it seems much harder to find, than when I first read it some seven years ago.

Zach has also written other very read-worthy things, among them on "the Psychology of shaving brushes", and a great interview about his shaving biography, being influenced by his dad who immigrated to New York from Greece (I think)
Back then, "there was one kind of soap, and it was called "soap" ...." etc ....

Enjoy..!

 

[Dirty Harry]

That is some great reading! Thanks

Zach's guide to Boar Shaving brushes".

 

[Spy Car]

Hello @Dirty Harry ,



I never tried a Zenith, they are supposed to be very nice, but also more expensive. Overall, I have tried enough boars to know that you don't need to pay a lot of money to get a really excellent boar. To my mind, that's one of the things which make boar so beautiful. Quality shaving does not have to be expensive. Instead, you know quality when you see and feel it.

Great post. Agree with almost everything.

FYI, the Spanish shaving website Your Shaving has highly reasonable prices and an excellent selection of Zenith brushes, including many unbleached options, many of which are very inexpensive. Shipping is fast.

I 100% agree with you that boar brush does not need to be expensive to be good. In some ways cheap boars keep that stiff backbone that many of us savor, while the coarser ends split over time and get softer and softer.

I do think it is worthwhile to clean a new brush a couple times in water with a wee spot of Dawn. And to then rise the brush repeated in clean water to remove the detergent

Then soak the brush in 2/3 of the brushes depth of water (to avoid soaking the knot).

During the "soak" I try to to remove the brush, shake it out vigorously, lightly towel dry it (as one should after each use), and then absently-mindedly strop it on stiff towel for as long as I'm feeling it, at which point it goes back to soak. I think this very light "break-in" is warranted. Also reasonable to mix a small batch of lather and let the brush dry in the lather mix (again, I try not to soak knot, so emphasis on small).

The breaking-in of gear (that can last for decades, if not a lifetime) is part of the romance of wet shaving AFAIK. Not an element that ought to deter people from experiencing shaving connoisseurship.

I enjoyed reading your outstanding post!

Bill

 

[SharpieB]

All,

Don’t forget to participate in DecemBOAR this coming December. Lasts of fun and a great way to break in those pesky boar knots!

 

[rockviper]

All,

Don’t forget to participate in DecemBOAR this coming December. Lasts of fun and a great way to break in those pesky boar knots!

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