My Search For Smooth
- Thread starter TinyT
- Start date
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Wes, I've been watching your comments about the Semogue boars.
You probably know the bristles vary within the Semogue lineup.
I like my SOC boar okay, but wouldn't say it's my favorite boar. I've tried only a very few other Semogue brushes, and gotten rid of the the other boars which is not to say they were bad, but I like Zenith boars and Omega boars (some of them) better.
However, the Semogue SOC Mistura is a very very fine brush in my opinion. I'd say it's the very best straight out of the box new brush I've tried. Even better, it improves over time. Now that's not me saying it's the best brush ever because how would I know that. I'd prefer it to be larger - like 26 mm or 28 mm - but it's not a small 24 mm if you know what I mean. The photo above makes it look small compared to the boar; it doesn't have the boar's extreme bloom and splay, but the Mistura is not a smallish 24 mm brush by any means. I'd call it a medium sized brush (and some 24 mm brushes I'd call medium small).
Plus, the SOC handle has wonderful ergonomics.
Maybe you've tried the SOC Mistura or its smaller cousins (Cal @Cal likes them a huge amount, but I've not used 'em 'cause I think they're too small). I bet you might like the Mistura.
Anyway....
Happy shaves,
Jim
You probably know the bristles vary within the Semogue lineup.
I like my SOC boar okay, but wouldn't say it's my favorite boar. I've tried only a very few other Semogue brushes, and gotten rid of the the other boars which is not to say they were bad, but I like Zenith boars and Omega boars (some of them) better.
However, the Semogue SOC Mistura is a very very fine brush in my opinion. I'd say it's the very best straight out of the box new brush I've tried. Even better, it improves over time. Now that's not me saying it's the best brush ever because how would I know that. I'd prefer it to be larger - like 26 mm or 28 mm - but it's not a small 24 mm if you know what I mean. The photo above makes it look small compared to the boar; it doesn't have the boar's extreme bloom and splay, but the Mistura is not a smallish 24 mm brush by any means. I'd call it a medium sized brush (and some 24 mm brushes I'd call medium small).
Plus, the SOC handle has wonderful ergonomics.
Maybe you've tried the SOC Mistura or its smaller cousins (Cal @Cal likes them a huge amount, but I've not used 'em 'cause I think they're too small). I bet you might like the Mistura.
Anyway....
Happy shaves,
Jim
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- #1,083
Almost.
I was waiting for someone to spot that (somehow I knew it would be you, haha)
As good as it gets (so far), lol.
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- Thread starter
- #1,084
I may well do. I think I'd like any brush eventually. I'll be using my Semogue tonight and I'm looking forward to it. I know it's capable of satisfying me just as much as my Omegas, I just need to learn how to get the best out of it.
The Zenith brushes with copper handles in the hourglass shape are some of the best looking brushes I've seen. I think of brushes as a luxury more than anything else I shave with, the three that I rotate definitely being enough but I have a few ideas about additions I'd like to make at some point. As well as the Zenith I've had my eye on a Simpsons Trafalgar and a couple of the PAA synthetics.
The Fatip Piccolo will be added before anything else though. I'm within touching distance of a WTG BBS. That might just be the razor to get me there.
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- #1,085
Caught this movie earlier. I love Cary Grant. The conversation that starts at 1.42 sounds like us.
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- #1,086
RR Lupo
Semogue 1438
Gillette 7 O'Clock Green (5)
Proraso Green preshave
Proraso Green
2 WTG passes and a clean-up. Different soap, different brush. Same shave.
A couple of weepers on the lower part of my neck. I normally don't get any there. That's good, it means my neck shaves are getting really close. BBS is so near I can smell it.
Semogue 1438
Gillette 7 O'Clock Green (5)
Proraso Green preshave
Proraso Green
2 WTG passes and a clean-up. Different soap, different brush. Same shave.
A couple of weepers on the lower part of my neck. I normally don't get any there. That's good, it means my neck shaves are getting really close. BBS is so near I can smell it.
Are you sure that wasn’t the camphor?
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- #1,088
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- #1,089
RR Lupo
Omega 10051
Gillette 7 O'Clock Green (6)
Proraso Green preshave
Tabac
2 WTG passes and a clean-up
On the side of the Tabac box it says 'softens the beard hairs and facilitates an easy and particularly close shave.'
The upper parts of my cheeks and an area in the middle of my chin about the size of a tiddlywink - BBS. Borderline elsewhere. I almost didn't bother with the clean-up pass but I was glad I did. Tabac has the cushion of Proraso but the slickness is in a different league. Awesome post shave.
Omega 10051
Gillette 7 O'Clock Green (6)
Proraso Green preshave
Tabac
2 WTG passes and a clean-up
On the side of the Tabac box it says 'softens the beard hairs and facilitates an easy and particularly close shave.'
The upper parts of my cheeks and an area in the middle of my chin about the size of a tiddlywink - BBS. Borderline elsewhere. I almost didn't bother with the clean-up pass but I was glad I did. Tabac has the cushion of Proraso but the slickness is in a different league. Awesome post shave.
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- #1,090
RR Lupo
Omega 10066
Astra SP
Proraso Green preshave
Palmolive shave stick
2 WTG passes and a clean-up
I've read in a thread on the subject that the way to use shave sticks as shave sticks is with a wet brush. It was OK but I ran out of patience and ended up loading directly from the stick to get a decent lather. I got there in the end but what a palaver. This soap's getting pucked. The scent is strong and old school. I hope to get to like it.
First pass was so-so, the lather under hydrated, the second looked too thin but shaved like a dream. Great slickness. Good post shave, surprisingly.
Astra SP's are still in the maybe bracket for me. The month of March will decide it.
Omega 10066
Astra SP
Proraso Green preshave
Palmolive shave stick
2 WTG passes and a clean-up
I've read in a thread on the subject that the way to use shave sticks as shave sticks is with a wet brush. It was OK but I ran out of patience and ended up loading directly from the stick to get a decent lather. I got there in the end but what a palaver. This soap's getting pucked. The scent is strong and old school. I hope to get to like it.
First pass was so-so, the lather under hydrated, the second looked too thin but shaved like a dream. Great slickness. Good post shave, surprisingly.
Astra SP's are still in the maybe bracket for me. The month of March will decide it.
Any April announcements?
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- #1,092
When something interesting happens in my shaves I'll let you know, lol. Still using the Astra SP (on it's 20th shave last night) in the Merkur 34C, 2 passes WTG,XTG and sometimes WTG,WTG, either one followed by a clean-up pass and I'm back to rotating my soaps and brushes every shave.
At the end of each shave I keep thinking I need to get on-line and brag about a perfect BBS but it's never quite there in the end. My shaves are consistently very close, I need to apply pressure when stroking against the grain to feel stubble most everywhere apart from my neck and the underside of my chin but no genuine BBS just yet. Almost.
Looks like there was something to say afterall, haha!
Last night I listened to this very recording (I have the CD box set) at the perfect volume (loud) as I enjoyed a supremely comfortable post shave. This is the third and final movement. Amazing, no matter how many times I hear it.
Thanks for discovering this for me. A great musical experience.
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- #1,094
You're very welcome. I love the piano and Beethoven above all others. I also regularly listen to the piano sonatas played by Claudio Arrau which are possibly even finer than those by Paul Lewis, as outstanding as they are.
Schubert's piano sonatas are also an exceptional body of work. I particularly like Mitsuko Uchida in this repertoire.
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- #1,095
Last nights shave:
Merkur 34C
Omega 10051
Proraso Green preshave
Proraso Red
Astra SP (21)
WTG, XTG and a clean-up pass. An excellent shave, close to baby above the neck but, as per most of my recent shaves, my skin was a little dry post shave. I think maybe my lathers have been a bit underhydrated lately. Perhaps I was a bit quick to judge MWF.
The smoothness of this razor continues to astonish.
Merkur 34C
Omega 10051
Proraso Green preshave
Proraso Red
Astra SP (21)
WTG, XTG and a clean-up pass. An excellent shave, close to baby above the neck but, as per most of my recent shaves, my skin was a little dry post shave. I think maybe my lathers have been a bit underhydrated lately. Perhaps I was a bit quick to judge MWF.
The smoothness of this razor continues to astonish.
My Wes Face?
- Thread starter
- #1,097
Yep. Me after shaving. "I don't need no steenkin' mosturiser, haha!"
A bit later.....
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- #1,098
Merkur 34C
Omega 10066
Proraso Green preshave
Cella
Astra SP (22)
2 passes and a little clean-up. BBS, DFS on my neck. A lovely shave and best of all, no dry or tight skin post shave thanks to a well hydrated lather, courtesy of the old Italian barber method taught to us by our good friend @Marco . Grazie!
Omega 10066
Proraso Green preshave
Cella
Astra SP (22)
2 passes and a little clean-up. BBS, DFS on my neck. A lovely shave and best of all, no dry or tight skin post shave thanks to a well hydrated lather, courtesy of the old Italian barber method taught to us by our good friend @Marco . Grazie!
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- #1,100
Having just listened to Paul Lewis' version of the 'Hammerklavier' I feel like I need to apologise for suggesting that his performances of the Beethoven piano sonatas are inferior to those of Claudio Arrau in my earlier post. They're not inferior, just different and his reading of op.106 is as fine as any in the catalogue, individual and wilfully his, yet totally beethovenian. 200 years after being composed, the final movement still sounds completely avant garde to my ears. Incredible to think that Beethoven himself variously described this gigantically proportioned, technically demanding masterpiece as a 'breadwinner' and a 'scrawl'.
