I understand YMMV. I have been doing a lot of lathering this weekend, trying new soaps and giving old soaps I have a fair shot. I have an Omega 10049, a WSP Silvertip and a midgrade Vulfix. My omega is beginning to break in and I can't fight that feeling anymore..... I know I am supposed to love the badger and how soft and plushy and luxurious it is, but I continually find myself reaching for the the Omega. I defintely prefer the size of the Omega, but as it breaks in there are other things I enjoy. 1) It holds more product. I shave my head and face daily, so that matters to me. I have to reload a badger 3 times to finish face and head passes. 2) I like the stiffness and some scratch. I feel it prepares my face better to scrape a thin piece of metal over it several times. 3) As it breaks in, most of the hairs are as soft as my mid grade badger now (of course there are still some of those real course hairs on it, that maybe help provide the scratch) 4) I don't feel like I have to baby it like I do my "nicer" (read more expensive) badger brushes. 5) It was 11 dollars shipped on amazon. So i will still have badgers in my den and if anyone knows where I can buy one comparable in size to my board I would appreciate it, but man my boar brush is becoming... Well, do you remember when you were in high school. Every year you had at least one class where all of the girls in that class were, lets just not the best looking. As the year went on though, and you spent every day staring at these girls as a teenage boy, at least I inevitably would find the prettiest ugly one. For whatever reason, as I stared at her everyday, she would grow and grow and grow on me. That's my Omega boar. It has become the prettiest ugly girl in my class. I may even ask her to the prom.
Let me just clarify, Im no Brad Pitt myself . Im sure I have been part of some girl's ugly class as well.
it's ok to like even love the boars, but( to stick with your analogy) the home coming queen is always gonna be a badger.
Although I'm ancient and its been quite a while since I was in any kind of school, I do remember what you talking about and those girls. I'm pretty sure they also remember me one of the ugly, awkward, pimple faced, fumbling, non-athletic guys. So IMOH "eager beats pretty everytime". You won't regret choosing the boar over the badger. Now if you'd like to try a really unattractive, but great preforming and very inexpensive prom date try a #6 horse(?) from bestshave, she's MY home coming queen!!
Having dated the eventual homecoming queen in high school, let me be clear: looks ain't everything! It is is easy to fall for the alluring beauty and luxurious promise of a pricey badger brush, but I've had some of my best shaving lathers created by the simplest boar brush. Now I do like my badger brushes—soft, plush, lather-generators that feel sinfully good on the face—yet I find myself gravitating towards the coarser, stiffer boars for face-lathering.
Although I prefer badger brushes, there's a reason I have several boars in my rotation - they're a darn good brush!
I own an Omega and I have a Semogue on the way (Both boar) How long should I be expecting for the Semogue to break in?
Badgers, and I have several different grades and makes, are a distant third in my rotation. Synthetics are king and boars are second.
mine may have been broken in, but it didn't feel really good till about six months. now I rotate a bunch, so it's not used daily. but there seemed to be a change in the brush or my preference. one or da utter.
I have always thought I'd get a badger in the end and be happy about it. So I went out and got one for many $$. Now it just sits in my closet while I use my #6 boar from Turkey, 5USD shipping included. Go figure.
I love my Omega Pro too! It's one of my favorite brushes and is great with both creams (love it with Proraso) & soaps. The only drawback is that it's a little big and can be somewhat messy. But hey we're shaving, right! Just clean up after yourself so SWMBO won't get angry..........................
It's not up to the point where it bugs me, yet! But I've had some rough times understanding and accepting that I like a $5 brush better than a $85 brush. Now I alternate between two well broken in #6's to let each dry out 112% between use, and occasionally I mix in my cheap Omega also. But the badger.. nah. It's like it doesn't load the soap in the same amounts.
