The good thing about this trad. Shaving lark is you keep learning as you go. Recently I've had issues with both my well-used boars. They just stopped delivering decent amounts of lather - often running out or thin after 1 or 2 passes. This wasn't replicated with the two that get less love.
I did post on B&B and got some advice there, but some posts suggested the boars had just dudded out. Does anyone really believe Semogue sell brushes that only last 3-6 months? No, I didn't either. Of course I tried different lathering techniques, but no change. I was never of the belief they'd dudded out, so I turned here for advice too.
Luckily, Teiste helped out, and it's good to have someone of his experience posting here. For those who don't know, Teiste has had input on a number of Semogues designs, has posted widely on the net, and also put out a number of vids on You Tube, reviewing brushes, soap and cream products. He's one of the people you can put in the reliable category for advice, and good to see him posting here.
He also suggested only soaking broken in boars for 30 or 40 secs, as they can soak up too much water and go a bit flaccid. I must admit, I'd taken too much of my own advice and fallen into the break-in habit of soaking my brushes while I showered - sometimes a lot longer if I end up feeding the kids brekkie before getting shaved. During this testing I'll be treating them like badger and going back to just getting them wet enough to use.
I never considered my brushes need a thorough cleaning, as they were only a few months old. But Teiste believes the premium hair in the 830 and 1305 is more sensitive to hard water. I never really knew how hard my water is, but given my taps struggle with it, it's probably pretty hard. I did previously give them a wash with detergent, but not much changed.
He suggested borax, followed by detergent, then a water/vinegar mix. I didn't do any research into quantities, I just put a teaspoon of borax in a jug and put 3 brushes in there, left them to soak for 10 minutes, then a bit of a lather up and soak with detergent, then a bit of vinegar and water. I'll probably use more borax and vinegar next time, now I know it's safe. Borax and white vinegar are available in any supermarket; oil section for the vinegar, and laundry for the borax. Both are very cheap.
The brushes came up very soft and I never realised how clumpy they felt previously, so they obviously needed a proper clean.
Results so far are very encouraging. I've been using a boar and soap every day for shaving and a practice lather, to see what happens. I usually do a two pass shave with touch ups, but whatever lather I have left I'm slathering on to see how far it goes, even if I've finished shaving.
Sunday: Shave. 830 + Speick (milled). Terrific lather and enough for 5 passes. I did 3 plus a couple of touch ups. I find Speick always lathers up really well.
Practice: 830 + Cade. 3 passes worth. Not a favourite soap, and lather quality isn't terrific, but in my experience that's more to do with the soap.
Monday: Shave 830 + Valobra (milled). Very good lather 2 passes and struggled with a touch ups worth. Possibly an anomaly, the soap, or poor loading. We'll see.
Practice: 1305 + Valobra. Top lather, 3 passes and a good touch up worth. Things are looking good.
Tuesday: Shave 1305 + Speick. 3 decent passes. Third pass was definitely thinner, but easily still good enough to shave with. So I did.
Wednesday: Shave 1305 + Tabac. 4 decent passes. Enough left for touch ups if needed.
Practice: 830 + Tabac. 4 decent Passes.
I've never done anything as systematic as this before, but it does throw up direct back to back impressions. I suppose it all depends on what product you're using with your brushes, and the quality of your water. Throw creams in there and all my impressions are moot anyway.
I initially thought there was quite a difference between the 1305 and 830 in improvement, but I think the Valobra threw me, as both brushes dropped in delivery with that one. The 1305 has become very useable again though. The 1305 has many more shaves on the board and is a few months older, so would probably have benefited from a better clean, or cleaning on its own. I'll probably do this and see how it goes. I think the 830 may deliver more consistently across products, although again, the Valobra seems more finicky than others going on the amount of lather it coughed up, so that may have skewed my perceptions. Anyway, I don't want to bore myself or anyone else with such introspection. I'm pretty happy to conclude the cleaning, and being less fussy on the pre lathering soak time, has sorted everything out.
Unless anything weird happens, I'll leave it there. I think that's enough to see that cleaning was needed, and made a huge difference. Now if I'd only been more patient and spent the $4 on the borax and vinegar first, instead of buying a Simpson Chubby...
I did post on B&B and got some advice there, but some posts suggested the boars had just dudded out. Does anyone really believe Semogue sell brushes that only last 3-6 months? No, I didn't either. Of course I tried different lathering techniques, but no change. I was never of the belief they'd dudded out, so I turned here for advice too.
Luckily, Teiste helped out, and it's good to have someone of his experience posting here. For those who don't know, Teiste has had input on a number of Semogues designs, has posted widely on the net, and also put out a number of vids on You Tube, reviewing brushes, soap and cream products. He's one of the people you can put in the reliable category for advice, and good to see him posting here.
He also suggested only soaking broken in boars for 30 or 40 secs, as they can soak up too much water and go a bit flaccid. I must admit, I'd taken too much of my own advice and fallen into the break-in habit of soaking my brushes while I showered - sometimes a lot longer if I end up feeding the kids brekkie before getting shaved. During this testing I'll be treating them like badger and going back to just getting them wet enough to use.
I never considered my brushes need a thorough cleaning, as they were only a few months old. But Teiste believes the premium hair in the 830 and 1305 is more sensitive to hard water. I never really knew how hard my water is, but given my taps struggle with it, it's probably pretty hard. I did previously give them a wash with detergent, but not much changed.
He suggested borax, followed by detergent, then a water/vinegar mix. I didn't do any research into quantities, I just put a teaspoon of borax in a jug and put 3 brushes in there, left them to soak for 10 minutes, then a bit of a lather up and soak with detergent, then a bit of vinegar and water. I'll probably use more borax and vinegar next time, now I know it's safe. Borax and white vinegar are available in any supermarket; oil section for the vinegar, and laundry for the borax. Both are very cheap.
The brushes came up very soft and I never realised how clumpy they felt previously, so they obviously needed a proper clean.
Results so far are very encouraging. I've been using a boar and soap every day for shaving and a practice lather, to see what happens. I usually do a two pass shave with touch ups, but whatever lather I have left I'm slathering on to see how far it goes, even if I've finished shaving.
Sunday: Shave. 830 + Speick (milled). Terrific lather and enough for 5 passes. I did 3 plus a couple of touch ups. I find Speick always lathers up really well.
Practice: 830 + Cade. 3 passes worth. Not a favourite soap, and lather quality isn't terrific, but in my experience that's more to do with the soap.
Monday: Shave 830 + Valobra (milled). Very good lather 2 passes and struggled with a touch ups worth. Possibly an anomaly, the soap, or poor loading. We'll see.
Practice: 1305 + Valobra. Top lather, 3 passes and a good touch up worth. Things are looking good.
Tuesday: Shave 1305 + Speick. 3 decent passes. Third pass was definitely thinner, but easily still good enough to shave with. So I did.
Wednesday: Shave 1305 + Tabac. 4 decent passes. Enough left for touch ups if needed.
Practice: 830 + Tabac. 4 decent Passes.
I've never done anything as systematic as this before, but it does throw up direct back to back impressions. I suppose it all depends on what product you're using with your brushes, and the quality of your water. Throw creams in there and all my impressions are moot anyway.
I initially thought there was quite a difference between the 1305 and 830 in improvement, but I think the Valobra threw me, as both brushes dropped in delivery with that one. The 1305 has become very useable again though. The 1305 has many more shaves on the board and is a few months older, so would probably have benefited from a better clean, or cleaning on its own. I'll probably do this and see how it goes. I think the 830 may deliver more consistently across products, although again, the Valobra seems more finicky than others going on the amount of lather it coughed up, so that may have skewed my perceptions. Anyway, I don't want to bore myself or anyone else with such introspection. I'm pretty happy to conclude the cleaning, and being less fussy on the pre lathering soak time, has sorted everything out.
Unless anything weird happens, I'll leave it there. I think that's enough to see that cleaning was needed, and made a huge difference. Now if I'd only been more patient and spent the $4 on the borax and vinegar first, instead of buying a Simpson Chubby...
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