Got this brush last week and am in love with pig again! I dabbled with boar a couple of years ago, nearly gave up, belatedly found how to lather them (quite differently than my badgers or synths), then the Semogue 830 I had went a bit floppy so I reverted to my badger and synth stable.
After reading a few threads here, I decided to give boar a go again, also seeing other comments about both a tendency to floppyiness for the 830 and that it is one of the badgeriest boar out there, with soft tips from the off. Given the price point of omegas, I went with the Semogue's competition, and pulled the trigger on a P49.
First impression - great, no stink, and big (but I was expecting that from the reviews). Second impression after soaking - wet dog. Or pig. Or wet pig that ate a wet dog. Quick lather in dishwashing soap, let it sit overnight, then tried the rapid break-in method of leaving in cold water in fridge overnight, then stropping on a tea towel, then repeating. Looked broken in with a nice splay. Time for a test face lather with a hard soap. Result: lovely lather, lovely face feel - firm but very soft already. Honestly as nice an experience as my Paladin badger and Yaqi synths. If it gets even better with more use, it'll be incredible for the price point.
Yesterday I took it for a proper test drive - face lathered Haslinger and shaved two days growth off. Again, lovely face feel, plenty of lather for my 3 passes with no lather dissipating like I used to get with my other boar till I figured out the technique. Not sure if the fridge genuinely sped up the break-in or not, but this brush is performing right from the get-go.
Now I don't know if it was the different brush, or just a good day, but when I take down 2 days growth normally with my other brushes, I feel it via the razor. Simply that there is twice as much stubble as normal and it is thicker. Results are still great but I can tell there is more stubble to cut through. Strangely, with the boar, it felt like a one day stubble shave - there was no resistance at all. Maybe the lather was better, maybe the brush lifted or coated the hairs better, maybe the blade was at it's smoothest/sharpest sweet spot, maybe a bit of all these and none of these. Result was the same, but the feel was a bit different. I'll look out for that on my next shave tomorrow (2 days growth, then daily next week).
The brush is big, but very manageable on the face, the handle is a little light and cheap feeling (hollow black plastic), but that is the only small downside so far. One hair shed, and for 9 euros, this thing is a steal! I'll now likely have to bolster my boars to include at least one nicer, heavier handled version - perhaps a Zenith. The Semogue wooden handles for some reason don't do it for me.
My lather method with boars is to soak the brush, extract, then let whatever drips out drip out but don't shake or squeeze, then I gently load the tips on a soap for 100 or so swirls. Yesterday didn't look very loaded, but I decided to try anyway, and started building gently on my face, to avoid the water running out or suds flying around. Slowly, I added a tad more pressure as the lather started thickening up, and by the end (2-3 mins), I could mash and splay the brush fully to finish the lather. Despite the big brush (and associated big amount of water inside), I managed not to throw soap/water around the bathroom via this method and didn't need to add any more water on passes 2-3, though I think I could have dipped the tips ok.
My badger method is to soak brush, shake out all the excess water and start with a pretty dry brush, load up, then add 5ish drops to the tips every 20 or so seconds while I build the same way on my face for about 2-3 mins again. This never used to work with the Semogue - I'd do one pass fine, then go back to re-lather and find a half empty brush. To push my new Omega, I actually tried this today with a test lather, and I was able to get what looked enough for at least 2 passes. However it felt much less slick than the wet technique when I felt it. So I'll stick to that method. The only issue I have is that it works well when I have a nice deep soap container, but due to the wet, foamy proto-lather when I start loading, it seems a waste of soap using it on a new, fuller puck as the excess runs down the sides and into the sink. Anyone got a solution to that tiny problem, beyond smearing that foam on as pre-shave?
After reading a few threads here, I decided to give boar a go again, also seeing other comments about both a tendency to floppyiness for the 830 and that it is one of the badgeriest boar out there, with soft tips from the off. Given the price point of omegas, I went with the Semogue's competition, and pulled the trigger on a P49.
First impression - great, no stink, and big (but I was expecting that from the reviews). Second impression after soaking - wet dog. Or pig. Or wet pig that ate a wet dog. Quick lather in dishwashing soap, let it sit overnight, then tried the rapid break-in method of leaving in cold water in fridge overnight, then stropping on a tea towel, then repeating. Looked broken in with a nice splay. Time for a test face lather with a hard soap. Result: lovely lather, lovely face feel - firm but very soft already. Honestly as nice an experience as my Paladin badger and Yaqi synths. If it gets even better with more use, it'll be incredible for the price point.
Yesterday I took it for a proper test drive - face lathered Haslinger and shaved two days growth off. Again, lovely face feel, plenty of lather for my 3 passes with no lather dissipating like I used to get with my other boar till I figured out the technique. Not sure if the fridge genuinely sped up the break-in or not, but this brush is performing right from the get-go.
Now I don't know if it was the different brush, or just a good day, but when I take down 2 days growth normally with my other brushes, I feel it via the razor. Simply that there is twice as much stubble as normal and it is thicker. Results are still great but I can tell there is more stubble to cut through. Strangely, with the boar, it felt like a one day stubble shave - there was no resistance at all. Maybe the lather was better, maybe the brush lifted or coated the hairs better, maybe the blade was at it's smoothest/sharpest sweet spot, maybe a bit of all these and none of these. Result was the same, but the feel was a bit different. I'll look out for that on my next shave tomorrow (2 days growth, then daily next week).
The brush is big, but very manageable on the face, the handle is a little light and cheap feeling (hollow black plastic), but that is the only small downside so far. One hair shed, and for 9 euros, this thing is a steal! I'll now likely have to bolster my boars to include at least one nicer, heavier handled version - perhaps a Zenith. The Semogue wooden handles for some reason don't do it for me.
My lather method with boars is to soak the brush, extract, then let whatever drips out drip out but don't shake or squeeze, then I gently load the tips on a soap for 100 or so swirls. Yesterday didn't look very loaded, but I decided to try anyway, and started building gently on my face, to avoid the water running out or suds flying around. Slowly, I added a tad more pressure as the lather started thickening up, and by the end (2-3 mins), I could mash and splay the brush fully to finish the lather. Despite the big brush (and associated big amount of water inside), I managed not to throw soap/water around the bathroom via this method and didn't need to add any more water on passes 2-3, though I think I could have dipped the tips ok.
My badger method is to soak brush, shake out all the excess water and start with a pretty dry brush, load up, then add 5ish drops to the tips every 20 or so seconds while I build the same way on my face for about 2-3 mins again. This never used to work with the Semogue - I'd do one pass fine, then go back to re-lather and find a half empty brush. To push my new Omega, I actually tried this today with a test lather, and I was able to get what looked enough for at least 2 passes. However it felt much less slick than the wet technique when I felt it. So I'll stick to that method. The only issue I have is that it works well when I have a nice deep soap container, but due to the wet, foamy proto-lather when I start loading, it seems a waste of soap using it on a new, fuller puck as the excess runs down the sides and into the sink. Anyone got a solution to that tiny problem, beyond smearing that foam on as pre-shave?