Boar Bristle Shaving Brush by Semogue

Great little brush, very straight forward. The bristles are always a bit stiff at first for boar but as long as you soak them in nice hot water every time you shave they soften up beautifully. The wood handle is smooth and heavy which I love, the whole thing has a quality feel. I took the sticker off because I was worried the bathroom steam would mess it up and it came off easily and did not leave a residue. On the bottom of the brush, the flat bit it does say semogue but as I stand the brush up to let it dry I don’t see it ever. It doesn’t detract from the brush at all I just personally do not like branding on products.

This is a decent quality brush, especially for the price. I saw a review that complained about the handle splitting after a year of use. I suspect the user left soaked the handle as well as the bristles before shaving. When soaking the brush, only allow the very warm water to come up to the base of the bristles otherwise, the wood will eventually absorb water, swell, and split. As with all boar brushes, this one will need to be washed thoroughly with warm water and shampoo or soap before using to remove the boar smell. Then use a highly scented shave cream like Taylor o Old Bond Street Sandalwood the first couple of times the brush is used to mask any remaining odor. It will take a while for the brush to be fully broken in.

These hog hair brush's are really well constructed. Inexpensive, but generating massive amounts of lather. At first the brush is a little stiff, but in only 1-2 weeks it softens up with use, and becomes a pleasure to use. Made in Portugal, I've had several of these brushes and loved each one....all costing less than $20. It does the job!

I was told this would be a quality brush, and it is. Some boar brushes have an initial odor to them, but this did not. I've also noticed no hairs coming out like most affordable brushes I've tried. The bristles are firm but not scratchy, they easily load soap well and work it into a lather in the bowl. I've used it for bowl lather and face lathering techniques and it did well in both. Great brush without breaking the bank - highly recommended.

YMMV. The brush is good quality, but the bristles are too stiff for me. My face stings for the whole day after using this brush. Used it twice on my face and never again. Also note that I soaked and dried it around 30 times before using it a second time and it still was too stiff and sharp.

This is a nice brush, it's comfortable to hold and the face splay is good. I think it's a great beginner brush. It's taken me longer than expected to break in and I've had to work harder loading soap which is the reason I've gone three stars rather than four.

I have 4 Semogue brushes with this being the least expensive. This runs a bit on the smaller side. It's perfect for loading the brush out of a smaller 1 or 2 oz. Soap container. (It will still work great on the standard size tubs...you might just have to load it one time more.) Performance is excellent right out of the box. It will also get better with age as it continues to break in. In addition, whichever Semogue you get, they all look great,with the appearance of excellent workmanship. If your tired of the run of the mill generic looking brushes, check out Semogue. They'll add a little pizazz to your collection.Whether this is your first or fiftieth brush, you'll like it.

Great brush. Lathers well and has great backbone. Only reason I gave it four stars instead of 5 is that the picture shows a nice stained handle. The handle you will get is the same color as the boar bristles. All in all great brush and still beautiful, but just not exactly what I was hoping to get aesthetically.