I've spent the morning examining my
Semogue 1250 under a magnifying glass. After about twenty-five shaves nearly half of the bristles have begun to split. Now, split bristles are a good thing, right! The more teeny tiny tips you have in your tuft, the finer your lather turns out. I'm as impatient as the next shaver. I want good lather now! So how can I speed up the process of tip splitting? I asked my wife, whose long blonde hair is always a little frizzy at the end. She says she's spent a lifetime dealing with split ends and qualifies as an expert in the field. "Use a
blow dryer!" she cried. "That thing will bust your tips like nothing else."
So, it's time to break out the blow dryer. I'll set it to as cool as possible so as not to loosen the glue, and then I'll gently coax my tuft into a state of perfect aridity. And the truth is, my boar brushes take days to dry. We're coming into the heart of the rainy season here. Everything here is dripping wet all the time. I think a good, thorough dry from time to time is beneficial to our naturally fibered brushes.
And many, many thanks to all of you who helped me identify the wood in this handle. I'd say mine is
Portuguese oak. But from what I gather, similar brushes are made with ash and birch handles too.
Oh, and one more recent discovery: a
mascara brush is really handy for cleaning your brush's ferule and the base of the tuft.