Generally I have too much fun and am enjoying myself too much so I fail to see some obvious questions.
But then it is good that we in this community have some fine gentlemen who do see and ask those obvious questions
After comparing some of the Semogue boars, a gentleman asked what the differences are between the Semogue hair grades.
This is actually a very good question and as far as I know, it has never been explained or clarified - if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.
Curious as I am, I though it could be fun and hopefully enlightening to make a head-to-head comparison of (some) of the hair grades.
Semogue has six hair grades; Super, Best, Extra, Premium, mix of Extra/Premium and Special Grade.
And a table of the current production line.
In this test I have chosen four brushes which are as similar as possible in knot size and loft. This mean that I have disregarded two grades; Super and Special Grade and the reason being that the brushes with those two hair grades in my opinion are too different with respect to knot size and/or loft height to give a result that is comparable and conclusive.
The four brushes I have chosen for this test are: 820, 1305, 1520 and 1800
Data for the brushes
Test
For the test I chose to use Tabac shaving soap because it is a hard soap.
Loading: All four brushes loaded with ease. 45-60 seconds on a wetted puck picked up enough soap for at least a three pass shave and I would estimate that they actually held enough for a four pass shave with touch ups. I normally do a four pass shave, and it is rare that I don't have enough lather in one loading - but just to be on the safe side I will say three passes
First pass: Experience has shown me, that on the first pass for some reason it is hard to tell any difference in backbone, so I concentrated more on the tip feel. the 1800 has slightly softer tips than the other three, and those three felt similar, I couldn't really tell them apart. Backbone and splay revealed nothing in this pass, as anticipated.
Second pass: Differences are now starting to show. There is no doubt that the two brushes with most backbone is the 1520 and 1800, but taking a look at the data I am not surprised as they contain 75% tops and as such should be more stiff. The 1800 is still the most soft tipped of the lot, followed by the 1305 and the 820 (they felt similar) and with the 1520 as the most prickly which actually came as a surprise to me as it has the same knot as the 620 which I have found to be quite soft tipped.
Regarding backbone
Third pass: Pretty much as the second pass. The 1520 and 1800 feel quite firm in the knot and they don't splay as much as the 820 and the 1305. I don't know why, but I am little surprised of how "soft" the 820 is. It is hard to tell but I will go out on a limb and say that it splayed a tiny bit more than the 1305 in this pass.
I could feel a difference in the softness of the tips in all four brushes this time and the order was, starting with the softest: 1800 → 1305 → 820 → 1520.
Fourth pass: Nothing has changed for this pass, the differences are just a little more pronounced.
Starting with the softest; Tips: 1800 → 1305 → 820 → 1520
Starting with the firmest; Backbone: 1520 → 1800 → 1305 → 820
Result
The feel of the backbone just confirmed that the lower the tops percentage is, the more backbone the brush has (with the same loft height, which is why I didn't test the 2000).
With regards to the softness of the tips I was really surprised that the 1520 turned out to be the most prickly of the lot, it is not much that distinguish the brushes but it was enough to feel the difference in a head-to-head like this. Had I been using the brushes one by one on different days, I'm not sure I would have detected or noticed the difference in the tips.
Is there a firm conclusion; No!
The 1800 has the softest tips and it consist of a mix, and given the soft feel of my 620 the 1520 behaved directly opposite, so I don't think it is possible to say that one hair grade is more soft tipped than another nor that one grade has more backbone than another.
I think that the differences is just as much determined on differences in the batches of hair and maybe also in the way the brush is broken in.
The latter theory has arisen because the 620 and the 1800 are broken in by hand lathering once or twice a day for a couple of weeks whereas the 1520 has been broken in by shaving with it two-three times a week for three to four months. It could look like a vigorous breaking-in softens the tips more than a slow one.
If any one has a take or better yet an experience on this theory, please let me know as I am very interested to know.
And just to show the amount of lather I got in the test. This is taken after I had finished the test - I could open a barbershop
But then it is good that we in this community have some fine gentlemen who do see and ask those obvious questions
After comparing some of the Semogue boars, a gentleman asked what the differences are between the Semogue hair grades.
This is actually a very good question and as far as I know, it has never been explained or clarified - if I'm wrong please feel free to correct me.
Curious as I am, I though it could be fun and hopefully enlightening to make a head-to-head comparison of (some) of the hair grades.
Semogue has six hair grades; Super, Best, Extra, Premium, mix of Extra/Premium and Special Grade.
And a table of the current production line.
In this test I have chosen four brushes which are as similar as possible in knot size and loft. This mean that I have disregarded two grades; Super and Special Grade and the reason being that the brushes with those two hair grades in my opinion are too different with respect to knot size and/or loft height to give a result that is comparable and conclusive.
The four brushes I have chosen for this test are: 820, 1305, 1520 and 1800
Data for the brushes
| Type | Knot size [mm] | Loft height [mm] | Hair grade |
| Semogue 820 | 21.4 | 54.4 | Best 90% tops |
| Semogue 1305 | 21.4 | 54.1 | Premium 90% tops |
| Semogue 1520 | 21.6 | 49.9 | Extra 75% tops |
| Semogue 1800 | 21.4 | 54.7 | Extra 75%/Premium 90% tops |
Test
For the test I chose to use Tabac shaving soap because it is a hard soap.
Loading: All four brushes loaded with ease. 45-60 seconds on a wetted puck picked up enough soap for at least a three pass shave and I would estimate that they actually held enough for a four pass shave with touch ups. I normally do a four pass shave, and it is rare that I don't have enough lather in one loading - but just to be on the safe side I will say three passes
First pass: Experience has shown me, that on the first pass for some reason it is hard to tell any difference in backbone, so I concentrated more on the tip feel. the 1800 has slightly softer tips than the other three, and those three felt similar, I couldn't really tell them apart. Backbone and splay revealed nothing in this pass, as anticipated.
Second pass: Differences are now starting to show. There is no doubt that the two brushes with most backbone is the 1520 and 1800, but taking a look at the data I am not surprised as they contain 75% tops and as such should be more stiff. The 1800 is still the most soft tipped of the lot, followed by the 1305 and the 820 (they felt similar) and with the 1520 as the most prickly which actually came as a surprise to me as it has the same knot as the 620 which I have found to be quite soft tipped.
Regarding backbone
Third pass: Pretty much as the second pass. The 1520 and 1800 feel quite firm in the knot and they don't splay as much as the 820 and the 1305. I don't know why, but I am little surprised of how "soft" the 820 is. It is hard to tell but I will go out on a limb and say that it splayed a tiny bit more than the 1305 in this pass.
I could feel a difference in the softness of the tips in all four brushes this time and the order was, starting with the softest: 1800 → 1305 → 820 → 1520.
Fourth pass: Nothing has changed for this pass, the differences are just a little more pronounced.
Starting with the softest; Tips: 1800 → 1305 → 820 → 1520
Starting with the firmest; Backbone: 1520 → 1800 → 1305 → 820
Result
The feel of the backbone just confirmed that the lower the tops percentage is, the more backbone the brush has (with the same loft height, which is why I didn't test the 2000).
With regards to the softness of the tips I was really surprised that the 1520 turned out to be the most prickly of the lot, it is not much that distinguish the brushes but it was enough to feel the difference in a head-to-head like this. Had I been using the brushes one by one on different days, I'm not sure I would have detected or noticed the difference in the tips.
Is there a firm conclusion; No!
The 1800 has the softest tips and it consist of a mix, and given the soft feel of my 620 the 1520 behaved directly opposite, so I don't think it is possible to say that one hair grade is more soft tipped than another nor that one grade has more backbone than another.
I think that the differences is just as much determined on differences in the batches of hair and maybe also in the way the brush is broken in.
The latter theory has arisen because the 620 and the 1800 are broken in by hand lathering once or twice a day for a couple of weeks whereas the 1520 has been broken in by shaving with it two-three times a week for three to four months. It could look like a vigorous breaking-in softens the tips more than a slow one.
If any one has a take or better yet an experience on this theory, please let me know as I am very interested to know.
And just to show the amount of lather I got in the test. This is taken after I had finished the test - I could open a barbershop
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