- Thread starter
- #101
Mine looks similar, and the tops are splitting beautifully. I'll post a pic soon.
New Semogue SOC, thoughts?
- Thread starter RiderX
- Start date
Great brush. Going to be picking up another soon. Three kids at home and mine his been missing for some time now.....
Week 3 break in update. Not much of a change this week. I can see a little more blooming, but it’s still slightly damp from SOTD. Once dry I don’t think it will be a perceivable difference from a week ago. The ends are splitting very even and consistent. Had an excellent shave this morning, the brush was quite soft and I noticed it is yielding a little more or better lather In subsequent passes. For my break in progress check shaves I’m using the same brand of soap with the same base each week to eliminate variables. During the week I use whatever looks appealing.
Attachments
Week 4. This weeks progress was significant for blooming. After my Monday shave I let the brush dry out for 24 hours and when I picked it up next I though the dry brush felt softer overall. Then I shaved again Tuesday night, after which I noticed the brush seemed to be showing a much more open bloom, but I didn’t check against saturdays photo. Today I completed my shave and took the weekly photo and compared week 3 and 4, wow! What a noticeable difference. I am loving how this brush is progressing. The only thing I am waiting for improvement on is lather consumption. I will make that comparison tomorrow as I broke my testing constant and used Cella today instead of the soap base I had been using for the Saturday shave. Though the brush did seem to have enough lather to go 3 passes.
Attachments
Thanks so much for posting these weekly updates ! I have about nine boar brushes that I am bringing up all at once to be able to see how they change relative to each other . But as you can imagine, progress is very slow. I really enjoy watching your guy change from week to week !
Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
Sent from my phone using Tapatalk
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I've sometimes found it useful and helpful to the performance of my boars - particularly including the SOC - to wash all of them in Ship-Shape.
Mostly that means mixing up a gallon in my $1 pail from the auto parts store (marked at the gallon level, conveniently), and soaking the brushes en mass for a little while.
I'm always careful to thoroughly rinse them before letting them dry.
I've found that the SOC and some other boars really enjoy the bath and perform better after it.
I've noticed what's mentioned here ^, too, but only with the SOC. Ship-Shape has fixed my SOC, but why not let the other brushes have a nice bath at the same time.
Happy shaves,
Jim
@Chan Eil Whiskers Jim thank you for mentioning Ship Shape as I hadn’t heard of it. I’m glad you have had success with it and I’ll likely pick some up. Do you use it on your badgers as well?
I’ve only used water/vinegar or Dawn in the past.
My personal failure with the SOC may have indeed been a cleaning issue. It went in the trash, but from memory I believe it had been cleaned with dawn. I didn’t trash it solely because it was floppy. The major issue was that the hairs seemed to clump together when lathering and not separate.
I’ve only used water/vinegar or Dawn in the past.
My personal failure with the SOC may have indeed been a cleaning issue. It went in the trash, but from memory I believe it had been cleaned with dawn. I didn’t trash it solely because it was floppy. The major issue was that the hairs seemed to clump together when lathering and not separate.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Yes, I use Ship-Shape on all my badgers, too, when I think they need it.
What you just described is what I noticed with my SOC. Actually, I've had that happen with my SOC a couple of times; both times the brush was fixed with Ship-Shape.
I bought my Ship-Shape at Sally's, but Amazon has it I think. I believe it's just a detergent formulated to be just right for brushes. It's very cheap as a small box lasts a very long time.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I will pick up some ship shape to have on hand for when I notice a decline in performance.
I had been rotating brushes on a whim up until the arrival of the SOC. My first brush was rosewood Parker boar brush. I don’t think it’s a bad brush, more utilitarian than anything else I suppose. It had very little funk that dissipated two uses. Then I switched interests to synthetics then badger, after a month with my Parker.
I now have 4 badgers, all different grades. I’m largely underwhelmed by them with the exception of heat retention. I was also getting concerned about technique while loading and lathering that I might damage the knots. This is the reason I decided to get back to boar but wanted to try something a bit “better” than my Parker.
I wanted to perfect my technique with loading and lathering with a natural fiber brush and boar once again seemed a better and more tolerant candidate than the assortment of badgers on my shelf. In now way do I want to abuse any of my brushes, but I figured the boar would be a little more forgiving. I am now doing pretty well with a wide variety of soaps getting the moisture content of the brushes just so that I can load from the tub/puck creating more of a paste rather than overflowing lather from the container.
I recall my my father using a boar brush in the late 80’s and I think that’s why I also wish to use a boar brush and break it in from new. Sort of a personal right of passage, doing the same as the old man had done.
As for the break in process I am enjoying the whole process, and tracking the weekly process of the brush adds a level of interest as it continues to be noticeable. I have committed to using the SOC exclusively through the end of february, when I intend to switch over and do the same thing with an omega premium boar with the Jade handle. I am not sure if I’m going to be able to stick to that plan, as I am really enjoying this SOC I may run with it for a good while longer before I start adding another brush into my rotation.
Week 5 in the books. Back to the control brand soap base. Lather hogging/eating is improving, but at this point still might be a touch thin for a 3rd pass, and the second pass is not as rich as it would be using a synthetic brush. No noticeable difference in the diameter of the bloomed knot, but that’s ok by me. The brush is still quite soft, no significant difference from last week. This week I decided to take a pic of the tips. Plenty of split ends, up to 3 and 4 splits and not very long, just 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch down the hair. Probably the biggest difference I am noticing a this phase of the boar break in process is how much softer the brush is when completely dry. I will continue the exclusive use of this brush through the end of the month. I think at this state, 6 weeks will have been more than adequate to chart the progress. So 2/29 will be the final post/update.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I use only soaps and like hard soaps so I use hard soaps a good bit.
I almost never bloom the pucks. I always soak my brushes prior to loading, for at least a couple of minutes, usually longer.
I don't mash into the soap all that much, but I'm not careful with the knot while loading. Mostly there's just no reason to load with much pressure.
Mashing into my face is another matter entirely. I always splay the brush and do a bit of scrubbing. Not excessive maybe, but I'm certainly not babying the tool at all.
I always rinse my knots very well and let 'em dry between uses.
What I just said applies to my boars and also to my badgers. If you use a horse you probably know it behaves differently from boars and badgers, but I don't baby it either. I've seen zero evidence of damage to any of my brushes.
Some manufacturers act like their cars should be driven under 55 mph, and never taken out in the rain, and never loaded with luggage for a trip, but that doesn't make it realistic or even true.
Happy shaves,
Jim
My concern over damaging the knots was mostly due to new badger brushes that were shedding, and I have one synthetic brush I may have been a little hard on while loading and lathering in my first dozen shaves. I had a few WCS badger brushes that she’d like crazy and were pretty floppy. I was struggling to get a good load and lather due to the water retention and lack of backbone, adding to this the shedding I was concerned I was going to tangle the hairs loading instead circular motion on the puck/tub, or that lathering on my face in a circular motion was causing the shedding and wearing a hole in the center of the knot.
I feel a good bit more comfortable now and oddly, the boar brush has helped me along the way. I am able to load from the tub/puck more consistently now, I have the amount of water in a brush that I want, and can better gauge the slight amount of pressure on the the brush as I load.
The SOC boar, while not pricy in comparison to many of the badgers, is still a NICS brush and I didn’t want to risk damage. I have two badgers now that are at or above the $100 price point, I wanted to be able to enjoy them without issue. I feel confident about it now, but I didn’t a short while back. Though I will say, I think my SOC boar is every bit is nice as my pricy WCS silver tip. I am confident that my natural hair preference is boar, but I will still look forward to enjoying synthetics and badger hair.
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I had a more expensive (Thater) badger brush briefly but traded it as I didn't much like it. I also have an Art of Shaving brush which was given to me; I'm not entirely sure which AoS model it is, but it certainly cost over a hundred bucks as did the Thater.
My AoS badger is barely good enough to use.
Other than those brushes, my most expensive brush is the copper handled Zenith Manchurian. It's my very favorite brush by far for many reasons. Its backbone and scrub are wonderful.
The brush next to it in the photo is an olive handled Manchurian. Both brushes are great; they are both similar and dissimilar. The copper is a lot denser in its feel. It's possible, however, that the two brushes have the same knot which would mean the copper's knot is set lower. I've not measured them.
Both brushes have been used a good bit. Used hard. No damage. No shedding that I've noticed.
Both of these brushes are in my view of them much better brushes than the considerably more expensive Thater I traded after using it a couple of times (and which has since been sold or traded by the gentlemen who got it from me).
These brushes are a MS 30 mm silvertip (Maseto, sold by an eBay vendor) and a Yaqi two band.
How do they compare with the Zenith brushes?
It's probably not fair to compare directly a silvertip and a two band but the MS is a dense wall of badger, soft as a cloud but with decent backbone. It's a very nice brush.
The Yaqi two band is really not that much different from the Zeniths in its performance and feel. It's different of course, and the Zeniths (both of 'em) are better in at least subjective ways, but not by much.
The point I'm making is there's far less difference between the inexpensive Yaqi two band and the Zenith Manchurian than the price would perhaps suggest.
I have two or three Stirling finest brushes, too. They're much like the Yaqi two bands; some say Yaqi makes the Stirlings and I suspect that's correct.
I don't remotely baby any of them. None are any worse for it. I always soak my brushes before using them and I always rinse them quite well after using them. I believe both to be very important, but I know gentlemen who disagree and are lax in even that level of care. These guys report their brushes hold up for a long time having been generally ridden hard and put away wet.
Am I saying no brushes need to be babied or to receive special care?
This brush, the AP Shave Gel 28 mm, is another story. It is an exceedingly huge knot for a 28 mm. Very dense. Very large. It also has gel tips. I assume that means the tips are chemically treated which makes them gel tips (because that's what everyone says). The tips are super soft and I want to keep them that way.
The manufacturer of the AP Gel clearly states on the brush website that a degree of care is required with the brush particularly in how it is dried. There's to be no rubbing of the tips into the towel during drying. This means the brush takes at least two days to finish air drying. It would not be an everyday brush (in my view) because it's not dry by tomorrow morning.
Other than attending to the manufacturer's drying suggestions, I do not baby the AP Gel. There's no sign of damage or shedding in this brush either.
I am not saying as an absolute that none of my badgers (the ones mentioned) have never shed a hair. They've not shed enough hairs to be remotely a problem, but there might be an occasional lost hair.
Brushes are tools. They shouldn't be unsuitable for the task. Face lathering or bowl lathering shouldn't damage them. If they are damaged or fall apart or shed badly during the use they're put to by gentlemen using them to build lather there's something wrong with the brush or its manufacturing process.
There was a time when I thought I might one day purchase one or two of the very expensive brushes, the ones that cost a car payment, but the copper Zenith Manchurian convinced me otherwise. It's a BAD killer.
Well, that's not entirely true, of course, because there are still brushes I'd buy if I had the money and it didn't disturb my wife to see me spending it on more brushes. None of the brushes I even think about buying cost over a hundred dollars.
Perhaps car payment brushes are that much better than my Zenith, but I doubt I'd appreciate the difference.
Everyone has to find their sweet spot, but it shouldn't be brushes which fall apart or shed badly or won't perform.
Just for the record I like my boars a whole lot too.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Last edited:
I've been using SOC brushes for many years, put nothing on the wood handles and have never had a problem. It's absolutely my favorite handle.
below is a solo shot of the after today’s shave, the know has bloomed to a diam
below, for comparison is a shot of the brush at the end of the first week’s shave. To think about how excited I was at this point to see the knot opening up and the ends starting to split. I had no idea how much more to expect from this brush.
I am confident this SOC boar will only continue to get better with use. It will definitely holds its place at the front of the pack in my rotation.
I plan to revisit my synthetics and my NIB SOCBadger that has been sitting on the shelf untouched since this guy arrived. I may eventually try the same process with an omega or a zenith boar in the future.
Similar threads
