SMF

After reading many good posts on this brush I ordered one.

This brush is great right out of the box!!! I like to use boars with my soaps and the 2000 is wonderful with Tabac, MWF, and Cella. Dollar for dollar, IMHO, it cannot be beat. This brush only reinforces my preference for boar over badger for soaps.

With regard to my fellow DE/wet shavers, I can respect use of a Savile, Shavemac, or Vulfix badgers and super badgers. However, I recommend that folks keep an open mind to brushes like the Semogue 2000, especially when using soaps. I also have a Semogue 1305 that I love.

Also, I have Vulfix and Omega badgers in the ~$35.00 price range that work very good with my creams. One of my projects is to start using the boars with creams.

Guess I am doing some wandering. But the bottom line is that the Semogue 2000 is a wonderful brush and feels most comfortable on my face.

Ed

Ed, I share your enthusiasm for Semogue boar, and I'm also enthusiastic about Semogue badger.

What's interesting is how much individual mileage varies. Some say that boar excels with creams, while others insist with equal conviction that its advantage is with soaps.

I can's speak to creams, as I only use soaps. I find that Cella soft soap (which behaves like a soap) and the Semogue 1305 are a match made in heaven!

- Murray

Can't argue with success Ed.

Ed- I use my Semogue 1305 with both soaps and creams and find that it works wonderfully with both. Since I much prefer boar to badger, my next brush is sure to be the Semogue 2000. Hmmm...gotta go check the balance in my checkbook

stagger wrote:Ed- I use my Semogue 1305 with both soaps and creams and find that it works wonderfully with both. Since I much prefer boar to badger, my next brush is sure to be the Semogue 2000. Hmmm...gotta go check the balance in my checkbook

Mark,

Glad you did a post/reply. It has been awhile since I tried cream with a boar. This morning I set out my well broken in Semogue 1305, TOBS Eton College cream, and a DB shave bowl. To my surprise, I was able to get very good lather....I guess the difference is the broken in brush. I lathered up and got a great shave with my '59 Fatboy and a Personna Red.

Reckon I'll start making the 1305 with a cream part of my shaving.

Do get the 2000 if you can...you will not regret the purchase.

Ed

A Semogue 2000 just arrived from Portugal. I was shocked that the boar bristles are stiff as Hell compared to a new Badger. Do they soften with use? How long does its break in take? I soaped it up a few times to get started on the wild boar smell and it did not assume a bloom like my Badger brushes did after the first use. If it eventually going to bloom or stay stiff and straight up?

Cicerosecundus

Cicerosecundus wrote:A Semogue 2000 just arrived from Portugal. I was shocked that the boar bristles are stiff as Hell compared to a new Badger. Do they soften with use? How long does its break in take? I soaped it up a few times to get started on the wild boar smell and it did not assume a bloom like my Badger brushes did after the first use. If it eventually going to bloom or stay stiff and straight up?

Cicerosecundus

Boar and badger each have their own unique characteristics and their own strengths. If you soak a boar brush before using it, the bristle softens up considerably, becomes flexible, and is soft at the tips. As it breaks in, it will bloom more and the tips with split and become softer still.

A boar brush will never bloom as much as badger, and I consider this a great advantage. My complaint with silvertip brushes (until Semogue) was always that they bloomed into unwieldy amorphous blobs. A little bloom is good, but I expect a brush to hold close to its normal shape when in use. I'm guessing you like more bloom than I do.

- Murray

Boar brushes soften A LOT. You will likely be pleased with it in no time. A few soaks in hot water and a few weeks of use and it's a totally different brush.

What Murray and David said. Soak the bristles for about five minutes before use and you will find the bristles to soften up considerably.

It is now broken in and it whips up a creamy pile with shaving soap - better than my high end badger brushes. I am surprised at how much I like this very inexpensive brush. Highly recommended. Cicerosecundus

It is now broken in and it whips up a creamy pile with shaving soap - better than my high end badger brushes. I am surprised at how much I like this very inexpensive brush. Highly recommended. Cicerosecundus

Cicerosecundus wrote:It is now broken in and it whips up a creamy pile with shaving soap - better than my high end badger brushes. I am surprised at how much I like this very inexpensive brush. Highly recommended. Cicerosecundus

No need to start a new thread, when this one will serve the purpose just fine. Very slowly but surely, I have come to the realization that the Semogue 2000 is one of my two favorite brushes. I agree with Cicero's statement. It's packed more densely than the Omegas of similar dimension, and I'm told this brush has the tallest loft of any of the Semogues. I have read that the boar bristle they use in these brushes is the best, and I have no reason to doubt that.

notthesharpest wrote:Boar brushes soften A LOT. You will likely be pleased with it in no time. A few soaks in hot water and a few weeks of use and it's a totally different brush.

+1

I enjoy my boars as much as my badgers for their unique reasons. My Semogue 1305 produces prolific lather with little effort from any soap I own.

Today I decided to pull out the Semogue 2000 boar brush. It's been a while since I used it, and I like it a lot. It's a bloomin' monster after the shave. A thing of beauty! I think I'll use it much more often than I have been lately.

Now that I've face-lathered using the Semogue 2000 a couple of times, it seems to have been at its best (for me) when building the lather in the bowl. Not so much for face lathering. It takes too long to build the lather, but when the lather eventually appears, it's good. I think I have been spoiled by the synthetics and the Thater badger brush in this regard.