The puffy looking, cloudy, lather is very good for youtube videos, but you use a mild razor, it will clog the razor fast. I use mild razors, so i prefer wetter lathers.
Semogue 830 ordered
- Thread starter HiPowerRon
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The puffy looking, cloudy, lather is very good for youtube videos, but you use a mild razor, it will clog the razor fast. I use mild razors, so i prefer wetter lathers.
The break in period is related to the wet and drying cycles which causes the tips to split; round about 30 shaves. Here is one broken in, notice the tips (courtesy of another site).
You need more product with hard water for sure but triple milled soaps take more effort.
I have an 830. It was a long break in process....probably close to 90 shaves before it became consistent in feel and building lather. I do have hard water. The brush initially ate lather as well. I found that came down to the bristle not getting wet in the shaft/channel of the knot down near the handle. It was a combination of the thick waxy surface of the bristle shafts and the brush holding air in the shaft channel preventing the area from getting wet. Its not an issue now at all since the brush is well broken in. I initially over came it by pushing the brush up into the faucet of running water to force water into the shaft channel and by pumping the brush under water in a bowl after it was soaked for 10 to 15 minutes to splay out the brush and get the air out. I've lost about 8 bristles in 2 years that I'm aware of. The brush feels good to me and works fine with Arko sticks and Stirling soaps that I use. I face lather now but initially started out as a bowl latherer. I'm on the fence about trying a badger brush to rotate with the 830 but I'm honestly content with the 830 and its performance/utility.
You should have a 2nd brush (or a 3rd too), in rotation, if not for anything else, to help the boar dry completely between shaves. This helps the boar to break in faster too. Boar, badger or synthetic, doesn't matter for that.
Its not a huge issue for me. I'm 45 years old and I only have to shave 2 or 3 times a week and since I started working 3rd shift most times I only shave once a week now. The 830 gets dry between uses. A razor blade lasts me 2 or 3 weeks now rather than 1 week. My face doesn't like being shaved more than every other day anyway so its a good thing my beard comes in rather slow at first. So.....I've read some good things about the Stirling badgers as far as backbone and face lathering utility and the price looks good(I'm frugal....some would say cheap) but I'm still about a month away from a soap order so I'm gonna shop around a little more and see if anything else catches my eye.
The more i use this brush, the more i believe those who say it will get floppy. It is as if this was Semogue's secret project, to make a brush that could attract badger users that don't have the patience to break down a boar.
