Continued problems with my semogue 1305

pyrokov

pyrokov

Member
Joined
Sep 4, 2015
Location
South-West Sydney
So I've had this brush for a while now, and it's definitely improved with use. However due to a lack of experience with anything but STF2 I'm wondering whether I'm still using the brush wrong.
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The bristles are floppy while face lathering even if only soaked for under 30s, bending all manners of directions while it contains lather. Feeling like soggy hay, i can't even get to experience the "scritchy" feel that some boar fans enjoy. It doesn't feel like the bristles want to go back to their original shape at all, compared to how my STF2 is always the same shape no matter how you bend it against your face. Once I get a nice lather, it paints on for the first pass with ease.
Starting on painting for the second pass, the bristles clump up on the outside leaving a huge gap in the middle of the brush, where i can easily see that absolutely no lather gets held on the inside of the brush which isn't a bad thing, I just found it peculiar. In this state I cannot use the brush in any way other than back and forth strokes to paint it on, and on top of that it seems to have a little bit of trouble giving the lather to my face without repeated strokes.
My experience with this brush is quite a mess. I don't get a bad lather, not at all. In fact I'd say the lather is perfectly acceptable. It just seems like the soggy bristles and split middle thing has something to do with an inferior technique. Any tips or is this just how boar is?
 
This is not my experience with my Semogues....or any other boar for that matter. I believe the hair in Semogues knots are set outwards - so not straight out - but I still recall substance of the knot remaining in the middle. I'll use the 1305 specifically tomorrow for my morning shave and take some photos. Is there anything you would like me to focus on in particular?
BTW: how many lathers have you had with it?
 
Sounds like every Smog I bought and then flogged off. Turned into a wet noodle after a couple of months. No, they don't splay as brushes usually do, it's the way they're made.

While synths don't really offer much resistance, they make up for it by lathering like beasts. My Smogs were wildly inconsistent at this day to day. I owned too many to put this down to one bad purchase.
 
Also to note, the brush dries with its hairs in clumps too. I have to violently shake the brush to get finer clumps so it can dry a little better, and once it does dry it's still in clumps! I have to run my fingers through the brush to separate the bristles and it doesn't become evenly separated without a bit more fiddling.
stillshunter said:
I'll use the 1305 specifically tomorrow for my morning shave and take some photos. Is there anything you would like me to focus on in particular?
BTW: how many lathers have you had with it?
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Aside from the soggy hay-like bristles while it contains lather, and the strange splay, i don't think so. Maybe mention how much water is in the brush before you take it to the soap? Perhaps i need the brush to start a lot drier? I give it two good shakes and it's basically only damp at that point.
The brush has gone through 40ish uses by now, including dumped hand lathers. It splayed like this from the day I got it, and I think it was also a little rebellious while i made lathers with it too, but now the bristles are beyond rebellious, i simply cannot get the tips to point at my face.
 
pyrokov said:
Also to note, the brush dries with its hairs in clumps too. I have to violently shake the brush to get finer clumps so it can dry a little better, and once it does dry it's still in clumps! I have to run my fingers through the brush to separate the bristles and it doesn't become evenly separated without a bit more fiddling.
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It not you, or your technique it's the brush. My opinions on these are pretty firm after buying 8. They're shit.

That's not just militant preference - they all splayed weirdly, lathered inconsistently and turned into noodles after regular use.
 
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As I often say (but nobody listens because they are so cheap): boars are the trickiest brush type, especially for newbs.

See the problem is, the hair actually soaks up water (not the knot like badgers) - that's why you have to soak them to get them soft.

Semogues splay a lot (as @Drubbing already said) - they are made like that.

Try to squeeze out ALL the water from the knot after you soaked it, then load a bit longer, but don't press too much. As I can see from you picture, you have the lather all the way down, but you should try to keep it only at the top. There you will create some great lather, with the consistency you like. If you press too much, you will get more of the water (that is in the bristles) in, so you have to load even longer...

Hope I made some sense
 
Don't get me started! It's not how a boar brush is or should be, it's how Semogue construct their brushes. They deliberately splay the knot. The cup, the top rim of which is hidden beneath your lather, has got in internal diameter of 20-22mm (or something like that) and at the bottom of the cup it's 16-18mm. You've basically got an 18mm knot pretending to be a 22mm knot. Semogue do it because it gives the false impression that the knot and hence the bristles it's made from is soft. It works too unfortunately. Plenty of poor, deluded Semogue fanboys out there. If you want a decent boar brush get an Omega, if you want a fancy handle get a Semogue. There's nothing you can do about it I'm afraid.

I've actually stripped a few of them down and replaced the knot. Same with every model.
 
Spreadsheets at 40 paces is the only logical way to resolve this!
 
alfredus said:
As I can see from you picture, you have the lather all the way down, but you should try to keep it only at the top. There you will create some great lather, with the consistency you like. If you press too much, you will get more of the water (that is in the bristles) in, so you have to load even longer...
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I only load at the top, however, this brush has a bad tendency to immediately create a tonne of lather in the soap tub. The brush is already loaded with lather when i bring it to my face, not loaded soap if you get what I'm saying. From there I actually cannot even work to improve the lather because the brush immediately flops when i put it to my skin. The bristles bend and I'm actually using a mop that wipes my face pathetically unless i bring it closer to my skin. I'll have to try tomorrow to see if starting with a really squeezed brush would improve its feel.
 
I've a Wilkie, Omega and Smoggie boar, they all display similar tendencies.
 
pyrokov said:
I only load at the top, however, this brush has a bad tendency to immediately create a tonne of lather in the soap tub. The brush is already loaded with lather when i bring it to my face, not loaded soap if you get what I'm saying. From there I actually cannot even work to improve the lather because the brush immediately flops when i put it to my skin. The bristles bend and I'm actually using a mop that wipes my face pathetically unless i bring it closer to my skin. I'll have to try tomorrow to see if starting with a really squeezed brush would improve its feel.
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Try the Body Shop Synth. It's only $12. A bit too firm and springy so it flicks a bit. But it will lather like a beast, work like a brush, and dead easy to do it .
 
Drubbing said:
Try the Body Shop Synth. It's only $12. A bit too firm and springy so it flicks a bit. But it will lather like a beast, work like a brush, and dead easy to do it .
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I had 2 of these at the recommendation of @Mark1966. Both gone now as I gave them to new shavers. They make a great lather. My face and soft do not get uttered in the same breath so a slightly firmer brush was not a problem.
 
borked said:
I've a Wilkie, Omega and Smoggie boar, they all display similar tendencies.
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I know what you mean but constructing a boar brush for the sole purpose of trying to make it look and bloom like a badger doesn't help. On the whole I tend to use my badgers a lot more.
Drubbing said:
Try the Body Shop Synth. It's only $12. A bit too firm and springy so it flicks a bit. But it will lather like a beast, work like a brush, and dead easy to do it .
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Yeah, out of curiosity I've been tempted but then sabbaticalistic (why is that not a word?) principles kick in. They're also fairly big and I like small brushes. And of course I've got six other brushes.
 
Pjotr said:
I know what you mean but constructing a boar brush for the sole purpose of trying to make it look and bloom like a badger doesn't help. On the whole I tend to use my badgers a lot more.

Yeah, out of curiosity I've been tempted but then sabbaticalistic (why is that not a word?) principles kick in. They're also fairly big and I like small brushes. And of course I've got six other brushes.
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They're not big at all. The firmness make them play small anyway. And it's not 2016 yet. You need to get into double figures with brushes before you've got a problem.
 
OK this is probably for nought, but I thought I'd give a pictorial of a usual lathering with the 1305 at Casa de la Stillsy.
NB: this is going to be pic heavy, if this is an issue don't bother scrolling and even better don't bother commenting! I'd have opted for video, which would have been easier and more economical, but you know how the more whingy of our members get about moving pictures)

here's my 1305 dry (just in case yours looks any different @pyrokov )

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little 5 minute bath before work

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sopping wet out of the bath, hasn't lost a drop yet

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charged

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30 seconds into the lather

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almost there

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after my usual first pass

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after an unusual second pass (pressing hard for a vicar's daughter splay on the face)

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pressed stupidly hard against the face...so it us doable, but this isn't how I lather.

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..work done, ready to dry (nothing special here but no clumping)

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Drubbing said:
Way too sudsy for my preference. Though your restraint at posting a vid is noted.
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He's using a straight, so glide is a high priority.
 
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