After just a few shaves with the Mistura, I must say, it is a delight to use. I really enjoy the lush softness but nice scrub & backbone. Not much to report, just wanting to contribute my initial thoughts.
Semogue SOC Mistura | Your Impressions & Mine
- Thread starter Chan Eil Whiskers
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- #442
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
I was asked how long misturas take to break in. I answered (in a PM) but I'm also interested in your thoughts about the matter.
Good questions.
Remember that it's half boar. Boars develop split ends which are visible to the naked eye. The split ends are the sign the boar is breaking in.
I think there are variables. One is how many dry to wet to dry cycles the brush goes through. It's gotta get, in my view, dry. Another is whether the ends of the bristles are towel dried which is a mechanical stress which increases, I think, the rapidity of the break in process.
I have four mixed knots. The one in the very back is synthetic/badger so it doesn't count. The black handled beehive is Maggard 70/30 and has been a real problem child; I don't know if it will ever break in to my satisfaction. The Oumo on the far left came to me as a broken in gift.
The two Semogues seem to have broken in pretty quickly. I'd say maybe 30 dry to wet to dry cycles for the SOC. The Spanish Shavers LE has not had that many cycles yet, but it's a nice mistura.
I think they vary.
I hope the Mistura thread will live on.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Good questions.
Remember that it's half boar. Boars develop split ends which are visible to the naked eye. The split ends are the sign the boar is breaking in.
I think there are variables. One is how many dry to wet to dry cycles the brush goes through. It's gotta get, in my view, dry. Another is whether the ends of the bristles are towel dried which is a mechanical stress which increases, I think, the rapidity of the break in process.
I have four mixed knots. The one in the very back is synthetic/badger so it doesn't count. The black handled beehive is Maggard 70/30 and has been a real problem child; I don't know if it will ever break in to my satisfaction. The Oumo on the far left came to me as a broken in gift.
The two Semogues seem to have broken in pretty quickly. I'd say maybe 30 dry to wet to dry cycles for the SOC. The Spanish Shavers LE has not had that many cycles yet, but it's a nice mistura.
I think they vary.
I hope the Mistura thread will live on.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Rhody
I'm a Lumberjack.
I’ve had plenty of boar brushes and badger but my mistura seemed to take no time at all to break in. I think that the first shave was fantastic so I never looked back in terms of when is this going to break in and feel good. A possible fluke or just that I had high expectations (that were met) I’m not sure. I’ll see what my new taj has to say for itself. The Portuguese folks apparently work on the weekend and I gut a shipping notice already. Fingers crossed as to the actual shipping.I was asked how long misturas take to break in. I answered (in a PM) but I'm also interested in your thoughts about the matter.
Good questions.
Remember that it's half boar. Boars develop split ends which are visible to the naked eye. The split ends are the sign the boar is breaking in.
I think there are variables. One is how many dry to wet to dry cycles the brush goes through. It's gotta get, in my view, dry. Another is whether the ends of the bristles are towel dried which is a mechanical stress which increases, I think, the rapidity of the break in process.
I have four mixed knots. The one in the very back is synthetic/badger so it doesn't count. The black handled beehive is Maggard 70/30 and has been a real problem child; I don't know if it will ever break in to my satisfaction. The Oumo on the far left came to me as a broken in gift.
The two Semogues seem to have broken in pretty quickly. I'd say maybe 30 dry to wet to dry cycles for the SOC. The Spanish Shavers LE has not had that many cycles yet, but it's a nice mistura.
I think they vary.
I hope the Mistura thread will live on.
Happy shaves,
Jim
Mistura butterscotch fantastic today. Rr plague doctor. Lupo dc. Stirling almond cream aftershave.
I don't recall my butterscotch Mistura having a break in period like a regular boar requires.
Same. Mine was surprisingly good right out of the gate and is getting better with every use. Nothing like a 100% boar knot IMO. Behaves more like badger.
I would have to second (third?) the experience here that the Mistura needed no real break in. I've beeen rotating it along with a few others and it just whips up gobs of lather in one or two swirls of the brush in a bowl. Feels perfectly soft on the face with a strong backbone behind it, and can face lather just fine even though the handle is more suited to bowl lathering imo.
Okay so I was the question asker mentioned above, I just didn't want to zombie this thread. But here we are!
Yes, I agree: the Mistura feels good out of the box... even before the boar hairs start splitting and doin' their magic thing. That's not even in question - we all agree it feels good from day one! But at some point as the boar bristles break in the knot should start to feel different / even better, yes?
That's what I'm curious about - have people noticed any change as the boar bristles break in, and how long did it take to be noticeable?
Yes, I agree: the Mistura feels good out of the box... even before the boar hairs start splitting and doin' their magic thing. That's not even in question - we all agree it feels good from day one! But at some point as the boar bristles break in the knot should start to feel different / even better, yes?
That's what I'm curious about - have people noticed any change as the boar bristles break in, and how long did it take to be noticeable?
I've realized none of my mixed brushes have been sufficiently broken in to honestly evaluate them, yet. So I'll be using the Mistura May to use my SOC Mistura, Torga C5 Mistura, & Omega Mixed Midget quite a bit. I won't be using those three exclusively, but I'll start using them more regularly to speed up the breaking in of these, to date, wonderful brushes.
I've learned a great deal from this fine forum, including all I know about boars. Thank you @Chan Ell Whiskers for pointing out the obvious, Misturas have boar, & boar needs time to get split ends to be broken in. So off I go to get mine broken in!
I've learned a great deal from this fine forum, including all I know about boars. Thank you @Chan Ell Whiskers for pointing out the obvious, Misturas have boar, & boar needs time to get split ends to be broken in. So off I go to get mine broken in!
- Thread starter
- #449
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Yes, the boar/badger misturas are great from the get go. Yes, they break in and improve.
I've used none of mine a million times. I'm not entirely sure the process time is known to me. Nor am I sure the process time is consistent from knot to knot although it likely is within the SOC mistura knots.
I've been fooled by boars which I thought were fully broken in continuing to break in and improve. Pleasantly surprised might be a better description.
I kinda think this Oumo mixed knot, which was given to me so I don't fully know its history might be fully broken in. I can't say for sure it's changed since I acquired it.
Other than my one problem child mixed knot, this Maggard 70/30, which may never break in, I enjoy the ride.
The 70/30 has over a hundred shaves on it. It's certainly not where I want it to be. I've been told most gentlemen's 70/30 knot are to their liking so I assume mine might in theory one day shape up. Most of my misturas have been much better than this knot after they were used only a very few times.
Happy shaves,
Jim
I have had my SOC mistura for one (1) month now and have only used it once but after reading here and looking at all of the great photos I will get this into regular rotation. Have mostly been using the Zenith boar every shave to speed up the break-in.
Do brush choices run in cycles? I've only been here since March 1st.... boar brushes and Mistura brushes are showing up regularly the past few days....
What I mean is.... do new brush threads run in cycles? If you get my drift? I might be having a communication problem this morning... so keep your decoder rings close by.
What I mean is.... do new brush threads run in cycles? If you get my drift? I might be having a communication problem this morning... so keep your decoder rings close by.
I've probably only used my Mistura less tha 30 times. So, even though I have not noticed that it needs a break in time, I doubt that the boar hair has fully split yet and I'm sure the brush will probably change yet still fir the better and maybe not feel as identical to a badger as it does now.
@Phoenixkh If you're trying to ask (not sure) if this forum has seasonal darling brushes, the answer is a definite yes. But some have longer darling seasons than others. I think the SOC Mistura has proven that it will be an enduring favorite.
@Phoenixkh If you're trying to ask (not sure) if this forum has seasonal darling brushes, the answer is a definite yes. But some have longer darling seasons than others. I think the SOC Mistura has proven that it will be an enduring favorite.
- Thread starter
- #453
Chan Eil Whiskers
Fumbling about.
Misturas have been I think gaining in popularity as folks have found out about them, read the reviews, and decided to see for themselves whether the mixed knots can deliver the best of both worlds.
That tends to snowball maybe?
Boars, not so much. Too many people think they not so good because they're not so expensive. At least that's what I think people think.
Happy shaves,
Jim
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Also the alliteration nerds are celebrating Mistura May, so there's that right now 
Just used it this week after a month with one of the cheapest Omega boars available. As always the Mistura fully delivered.
Thank all of you for participating in this very informative thread and thanks to Jim for starting it. These are the last days of Mistura May and I'm using one of my SOC Misturas later this afternoon for the first time. I have used the Maggard 26mm 70/30 and have found the same issue as Jim... it's a bit scritchy.... And really hasn't improved with repeated wet/dry cycles. I will probably take it out of rotation and just do a wet/dry cycle every day, aided by a hair dryer (far enough away so as not to damage the bristles).
I'm really looking forward to the Mistura trials. As I've mentioned in other threads, I'm also breaking in several boar brushes, based on recommendations from December Boar month and the Brotherhood of Boar.
I'm really looking forward to the Mistura trials. As I've mentioned in other threads, I'm also breaking in several boar brushes, based on recommendations from December Boar month and the Brotherhood of Boar.
Just a thought, may help or may not; but I've liked the results just the same.
I've been using MWF during the break-in of my boars and Misturas.
My rationale is to create nice heads of foam to remain on the brushes allowing for the lanolin to soften the tips.
I probably allow a couple hours of treatment prior to a thorough rinse and dry at my office window.
I've done this to my Omega Pro49, Connought Jade, and Zenith B34 boars; as well as to my Torga C3 and Butterscotch Misturas.
A few cycles of this has gotten them right where I like them to be to face lather.
I have a bottle of high quality lanolin... would it benefit me to use just that?
Trusted the Mistura for an inaugural use of a highly anticipated soap. Did not disappoint.
I want thank everyone here for the valuable information about the Semogue Mistura brushes. I used my SOC Taj for the first time this afternoon.
It was lovely. I had wet/dry cycled it three times before I used it. I don't really what effect it had but it wasn't scritchy at all.
Now, as Chan Eil Whiskers (Jim) have mentioned too many times, if only the Maggard 70/30 was as cooperative. I think I'll have to wet/dry cycle it for ages before it softens up, if it ever does. I don't want to get drastic on it... yet. I'll just keep working on it until it shows improvement... or not.
It was lovely. I had wet/dry cycled it three times before I used it. I don't really what effect it had but it wasn't scritchy at all.
Now, as Chan Eil Whiskers (Jim) have mentioned too many times, if only the Maggard 70/30 was as cooperative. I think I'll have to wet/dry cycle it for ages before it softens up, if it ever does. I don't want to get drastic on it... yet. I'll just keep working on it until it shows improvement... or not.
