A month ago I introduced an Omega 10048 to my den. It had a piggy smell, it was not overwhelming. Within a week the smell had become milder. Withing two weeks it was gone and it had absorbed the smells from the soaps it was lathering. In week three it began to blossom out to a fuller bloom. At a month Piggy 48 has blossomed out, the hair tips have began to split open, the brush is becoming softer. I think every newbie would benefit from starting with a boar brush. I have been traditional wet shaving for a year now. I thought early on that a Badger Brush was the best way to lather soaps and creams. I pursued and bought a badger early on. Learned how to lather with a badger.The Piggy 48 has brought my lathering to the next level. It has improved my lathering using the Badger too. A boar brush has fine tuned and has improved my lathering. Great lather improves your shave, allowing the razor to glide across the face. A quality boar brush is a great investment and most can be had for under $20.00. A quality boar is like a Timex watch, it can whip any soap or cream in mounds of rich lather. After a month with Piggy48, it has become my go to brush. Each lathering just improves the overall quality. It generally holds enough lather for three passes.The scratchy felling has yield a softer supple feeling. I would highly recommend this brush to both newbies and veteran shavers alike.
Yeah i got my 48 pro red a last wk for my bithday (but the gf let me break it in the wk before to get rid of the piggy smell.) I love it its a great brush great lather with the kent soap. Its not blossomed as much as yours yet but its getting there.
I've used a variety of the Omega boars for years . I think what happens is guys don't stick with the brush long enough to really break it in and really see how a broken in boar can feel as soft as a high end silver tip. I have had a 49 since 2009 it is nicely broken in and amazingly soft brush to use.
I still prefer my silvertips, but that's just a personal preference. A good boar that's broken in is certainly on the same level as a good badger. I think the silvertips are just a hair nicer, but at a relatively high cost. Even so, I do break out my vulfix boar on occasion (my favorite boar).
Very nice. A well broken in boar is a treat. I have found that after about a month a boar is broken in and very usable. It will keep improving until about month 6 when it is as good as it is going to get. Soft tips, but with more backbone. Although I have a few nice badger brushes, I find myself reaching for my boar of choice much more frequently. Enjoy your brush.
There is much to be said about a good boar. There are shavers out there that use nothing but the highest end badger and think they have found Nirvana, and that may be true for them. The most important part, regardless of class warfare is that you are enjoying your shave time!
My Omega 49 gets better every month. I love it. When I first saw pictures of the chrome 48, I used to think the plastic chrome was kind of corny. After seeing more pics like these, I'm starting to appreciate the blinged out look of the big chrome brush.
I agree 100 %, I've got a Semogue 620 I don't think it will ever break in. I just can't bite the bullet and stick with it long enough to break it in.
My daily go-to brush is the lowly and humble Omega 66 (10066), which is the same brush as the 10005, but with the faux-ivory handle as opposed to the blonde wood handle. I love it. It's soft, yet with a firm backbone. Just the way I like it. I have a nice, well broken in Pro 48 as well. I find the 48 just a wee bit "floppy" for my taste, although I do use it regularly. It certainly holds enough lather for several dozen passes. And then some. I'm seriously considering getting a Pro 98. The one with the long handle. The loft is just slightly shorter than the 48, so I'm hoping that it will have a wee bit more backbone to it. I just really like the vintage look of it. My first boar was the inexpensive Wilkinson Sword Pure Bristle brush. It doesn't get great reviews on these forums, but it served me faithfully and well for almost 20 years.
A good broken in boar has great face feel indeed... My only issue with boar is water retention and flow through, I always need to reload my brush. Boar repels water and doesn't like to hold onto lather like badger, it has nothing to do with $$$ as you use both.
I've found a little extra time initially on the puck helps from having to return to it and reload. I often wind up with enough for 4 or 5 passes from the start.
Very true, extra product usually fixes this, but I find I need to thin it down if I use to much, otherwise the lather likes to dry out. It could be because I like short lofted brushes, but the same size badger makes for less work and usually keeps a pretty even lather through out pass 1-3. I'm not knocking boar, I use mine all the time
Of course water hardness/softeness is going to play a part in this, as well. Bottom line, as I've said before, you gotta know how to use the tools you have. Sounds like you've mastered 'em!
