I bought this and it was delivered today. I intend to break it in tonight when I try out my Oleo Very Cherry that also came today. What should I expect? The only other boars I tried were the cheap, shedding VDH that came with my Luxury set and a generic one that I gave away as part of a PIF. (I gave away the VDH brush and apothecary bowl to a friend.) Never having tried something from Omega, I'm curious to know what your thoughts are if you've used one of theirs.
I think you'll like them. Having a couple Omega's myself, they work fine after breaking in. You could soak and rub them a little with hair conditioner to speed up the process.
Yeah, I have a bar of brush soap I got from Phoenix Artisan Accoutrements. Typically I just go all-in using the brush right out of the box and break it in through usage, but I decided to splurge one day and get the soap and comb kit so I can extend the life of my brushes.
I own three Omegas. A #20248 - big fat chrome colored plastic handle. Used thinned down apple cider vinegar to clean the soap build up and it softened the bristles a little too much for my liking. My #10098 has the Pro barber handle shape and almost as large of diameter as the one above. Very comfy shape to hold. The bristles have softened so much I miss the scrubby feeling from when it was new. Like the feeling of a new Omega knot so much I bought a new Pro98 and trashed the handle to harvest the knot. It's in a threaded ferrule for quick swap on a Rubberset 400 type handle that Tom @twhite made.
I, too, have an Omega Pro (here it is before first use) in my Rubberset 400/3, professionally installed by @Jayaruh I love this knot. It stunk for quite a while, but now it is incredible. 63mm!!
So, I broke my boar brush in this evening with my Oleo Very Cherry duck-base soap. I am impressed with the performance combination. The boar bristles, after soaking in warm water for a few minutes, really whipped up a good lather. I have a fully BBS shave for the first time in a long while. I think the duck tallow edges out the mutton used by Stirling—not by much, but nevertheless... I have to wonder if it's the boar bristles to thank in part for tonight's lather. With my Vie-Long horse hair, I don't get any real volume. My Stirling synthetic can do it, and now my Omega boar, but yeah, weird...
I think that "softness" is not the opposite of "stiffness". Softness is all down to how the tips of the brush feel on your face. Personally, as I mostly palm lather, I don't really care too much about softness. The tips of Simpson best badgers are the softest of any brush I have, while my boars are scrubbier. They're all fine for me. Stiffness is down to the amount of backbone in the brush. Boars all tend to be stiff but I think with badger you generally have to go to the better manufacturers and higher grades to get a lot of stiffness. A stiff badger with very soft tips is a (usually expensive!) delight to use.
I bought an Omega 40033 about four years ago and it's travel the world with me. From the African bush country to the ritz, it has served me well. I don't use it as often as I use to, but it's earn a permanent place in my cabinet.
My one complaint so far about this Omega brush is that it sheds a few hairs every time I use it. I hope it doesn't continue to lose bristles because after spending nineteen dollars plus shipping and handling on it from Shave Nation, I really hate to think I'll have to replace the knot sooner rather than later. I find this disconcerting coming from a product made by Omega, which I understand has a fairly decent reputation. The brush performed so well in whipping up a great lather for my Oleo Very Cherry canard base.
I would contact Shave Nation ASAP. A few bristles at the beginning is not unheard of, but is should subside quickly thereafter.
My Omega 10066 was $14 with free shipping from Amazon. The handle is a little cheesy but who cares as the knot is simply terrific. And $19 plus shipping is still probably an absolute bargain, compared to say a Simpson Chubby 3 in Super for $314. I really want that Simpson though!
Yeah this is the beauty I got from Shave Nation: It feels good in my hand and I like the finish—certainly a lot better than that on my two Vie-Longs, which is already wearing off after only six months.
