I don't get it. What's your experience?

[Foyle]

Everyone says that Semogues, especially brushes with the premium bristles have nice soft tips. To me, these brushes have a little scritch to them, but not the kind of scritch you get from a badger. Badger scritch is like needles on your face. To me a scritchy badger brush is totally unusable. Boar scritch is like a nice vigorous exfoliating scrub--totally non-irritating. I can face lather with these brushes and never irritate my face, but I wouldn't call them soft.

None of the Semogues I've used have what I call "soft tips". My Rooney 3/1, and my Duke 2 have really soft tips. My Semouges aren't anywhere near as soft. That's not a bad thing, but it is confusing to me. People keep saying that this or that Semogue has really soft tips. What to people mean by that? Is it fair to say that when we speak of a badger brush having soft tips, and a boar having soft tips we mean two different things?

How would you describe the difference between a soft boar and soft badger brush.

 

[talibeard]

A boar can get a lot softer with use; many claim a boar to be broken in after 20 uses or so but then the break in has really only just started. Yes they start to make a decent lather and some of the hairs will be split but the process doesn't end there. My oldest boars have about all their tips split in two and feel like cotton fluff with backbone, but depending on the thickness of the hairs etc, this can take quit a long time.

Right out of the box I would say Semogue is softer than Omega (in general) but not as soft as the Vulfix boars. But Omegas seem to split sooner than Semogue and for sure much faster than Vulfix so after some use the Omega might be the softest of the three. This might change with the years but I don't have my Semogues long enough to know what happens next.

Boar softness is different from badger softness; boar hairs are thicker and have more backbone so the sensation of the hairs on your face will never be the same I guess.

How much use did your Semogue(s) get btw? A few dozen or several hundreds will make a significant difference in feel.

 

[Foyle]

My 1305 has a maybe a couple of months worth of use. My 830 is just a couple weeks old. It's no where near broken in yet, but it's already softer than the 1305. I really like the 830 so far.

I've only had one Omega, a 31025, and I remember the tips of that brush being really soft almost right away. It has been a a couple of years since I've had that brush, so I could be remembering wrong.

 

[Dave_D]

Agreed with the comparison of scritch from inexpensive badgers to boar, the boars are much nicer on the face. The mid to high range badgers are very smooth tips but not enough backbone for my preference, the boars have a great combination of both and are truly affordable for most.

 

[deoxy4]

I am pretty much a dedicated boar user and a face latherer. I have two Semogue, a Vulfix, and a number of Omega brushes. All are approximately 22 mm knots and 50 mm short loft brushes. They all feel different to me. For me the Omega brushes break in the fastest, have the most backbone and softest tips. Omegas also have the worst handles in being cheap plastic with few exceptions. Boars are inexpensive enough to try one of each without breaking the bank. As stated I found the Semogue and Vulfix took longer to break in.