Blown away by Omega 011829

[mata_66]

Thanks for the super informative post.

I would never have dreamed my brush did not have a particularly unique knot. In fact, I'm not sure if I believe Omega because it's clear to me the knot in my brush is far better than most boar knots.

View attachment 991091

Why anyone dislikes the medallion is beyond me. I like how it looks and don't notice it at all when I'm using the brush.

I remain convinced this is the finest boar brush made. At least mine is. Maybe I got lucky and got a special pig.

View attachment 991092

There's a reason I win this award month after month, but your post tells me you have great potential as an enabler.

Happy shaves,

Jim

Hello Jim, what I believe is they have been lucky at Connaught to get a very good batch at the time they ordered Omega their custom brush. It would be interesting to compare the two versions, with or without medallion, to see if the bristles are the same quality.
In any case, I'm perfectly happy with a "regular batch" of Omega bristles and I'm not bashing Omega in any way,
even if it was only for the Italian pride , but I have personally tested the quality of bristles may vary inside the same model bought at different times.

 

[Polarbeard]

Thanks for the super informative post.

I would never have dreamed my brush did not have a particularly unique knot. In fact, I'm not sure if I believe Omega because it's clear to me the knot in my brush is far better than most boar knots.

View attachment 991091

Why anyone dislikes the medallion is beyond me. I like how it looks and don't notice it at all when I'm using the brush.

I remain convinced this is the finest boar brush made. At least mine is. Maybe I got lucky and got a special pig.

View attachment 991092

There's a reason I win this award month after month, but your post tells me you have great potential as an enabler.

Happy shaves,

Jim

My best boar without a doubt.

 

[HereticHermit]

Well now that I have been using this brush for few weeks and it is properly broken in. I am afraid I have to take 1 star off the ranking on this Omega.
Over the weeks this brush has gone a little bit more 'soft', which is relative idea of course. It still has better backbone than an average Semogue but it isn't a Omega pro series kind of backbone. Part of the reason is that the knot is not very dense in spite of 27mm it behaves much like a 24mm knot in terms of holding lather. On the plus side it makes lather quick enough to rival a syntactic brush.
After 7 weeks in regular rotation along with a Zenith, I would say the tips are all broken in and the top knot is almost there with a 2 band silvertip in terms of soft feel but unfortunately it doesn't hold lather like one.
I do shave with 3 passes and like a proper lather on every pass. This Omega premium can load and make enough lather for 3 passes but cannot hold it. Less dense knot have good flow through but extra lather just slips out from the sides of knot and form a ring of lather around the mid part of knot. It is not a tall knot either and there is nowhere for lather to get 'stored' is also a part of the problem of lather just oozing out from the sides.
I have started to use it mostly for low structure artisan soaps. Here is a picture of the brush loaded with wool fat, AFTER one pass. Similar behavior with Tabac and other high structure lather soaps.
In no way I am saying this isn't a good brush but for me it would have retained all the 5 stars if the knot was little more dense and height just a couple MM higher.

 

[Schnitzel52]

OK, so this brush was my first purchase made in search of a boar brush which has quality handle with good heft feel without going overboard in weight and a loft that is neither high nor too stubby. I am Omega bristle fan but find their cheap and tacky looking handles absolute rubbish especially in Economy and Pro series. The only handle I liked and which (to my mind) was better constructed then many other plastic moulded handles, was an Omega 20102 with Ash wood handle.
As first Pit stop I naturally wanted to wean information if Omega uses different types of bristles for premium range v/s economy or Pro range and email directly to Pennellificio Omega S.p.A.

Here are their responses.
Da: _______ <[email protected]>
Inviato: lunedì 3 giugno 2019 13:11
A: Export office - Pennellificio Omega S.p.A. <[email protected]>
Oggetto: New Request from Omega brush Website: Shaving

From: Raj
Subject: Shaving
Company: personal query
Email: _______@____.com
State: India
Website: http://www.

Message:
Dear Mr. Massimo Rondelli,
I wanted to ask you how your omega 011842/ 011829 is different from other Omega brushes in terms of bristle type used. I understand that the handle is custom made for UK but what is special about the bristles used in this model? Are they natural and untreated? Are they same bristle found in knot of 20102? Why they are called premium? Do the 011842/ 011829 bristles come from a special part of pig like shoulder, or ear or near mouth?

I like 011829 very much and I want to experience the same boar hair or knot in another model of omega brush. Please tell me which other omega model use same knot and type of boar bristles.
Sincerely,

They replied next day:

From: Export office - Pennellificio Omega S.p.A. <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, 4 Jun 2019 14:27:43 GMT+0530
To: "____@_____.com" <_____@______.com>
Subject: R: New Request from Omega brush Website: Shaving

Hello Raj,
The handle is customized for UK but the hair is our standard one so you can definitely try a different hog bristle hair SKU from OMEGA.
20102 is my favorite hog bristle hair brush: it won’t disappoint you

Raoul Giovanetti
Export Department
Pennellificio Omega S.p.A.
Tel. +39 051 530.165 - Fax +39 051 535.561

I did got a fair idea what the gentleman is saying but just to get some more clarity I replied back as under;

Dear Mr.Giovanetti,

Thank you for replying.
If I correctly understand, you are saying that all hog bristles are same in all the different Omega SKUs?
I have tried pro 48 and 49 but I did not like the cheap plastic handles on them and loft was too high. In search of good handle I bought 20102 which I also like very much.
Recently I bought a 011829 because of a nice and heavy resin handle. I want to see Omega make more SKUs in heavy quality handles with untreated hog bristles and shorter loft.
Thanks again.

They replied very promptly:

Hello Raj,
The raw material quality is the same for all of our hog bristle shaving brushes. The only thing which can change is the length, out of the ring. It’s true, we have not resin handles with hog bristle hair in our range but only 21762.
21762 Pennello da barba Omega in pura setola - Omega Brush
Omega 21762 - Pennello da barba in pura setola con manico in resina "Bandiera Italiana"

Regards
Raoul Giovanetti
Export Department
Pennellificio Omega S.p.A.
Tel. +39 051 530.165 - Fax +39 051 535.561
www.omegabrush.com
www.viabarberia.com

This is what it looked like when I saw it first time, it looked kind of short loft and longish handle in comparison but the weight at 85ish gram was just spot on for me. It was comfortable to hold and that medallion looked very stylish for a ‘premium’ Omega.
View attachment 990671
As an old longtime boar user (it was only a Semogue that had me perplexed with breaking in drama) I just ran this brush through a couple of usual soak, lather and dry cycles. After a good soak the brush doesn’t have the backbone of a car jack and in spite of my email exchange with the maker I am not really buying that this brush has same standard type bristles. As a reference point, a longer lofted 20102 does feel stiffer with same soak time.
But in the end it is all good, this is picture of my first shave lather. It is still breaking in but an absolute delight in term of usability. The knot is fairly dense and seems to be packed with thinner bristles. In comparison my 20102 knot has thicker hair and feels much heavier in a like to like 27mm knot. The ‘sparsely’ bristled knot of 011829 make it easy work of whipping lather. After 5 shaves there was just one prickly black sheep bristle I had to purge and rest of the knot is turning into a gold swan nicely. Knot seems to be sitting a bit deeper than other Omegas and there is hardly any glue bump to feel at the bottom.
View attachment 990672
There is no crazy road-kill like bloom and backbone can be appreciatively felt by the way knot is sat. Due to enough backbone the lather does not slip down the crown of knot like a ring and stay well on and around the top, ably supported by bristles. I have never seen a boar breaking in this fast and the knot feel wonderful without any prickly hair. I did not use any other method to assist hair split and there are few already splitting. I am in no rush and that is how (in my personal opinion) a boar should be used.

The handle is solid resin and turned on lathe. Jade green is a true Jade and not a green colored handles passed off as jade. I like the handle shape and design over many other shave brush handles I have used before. It looks simple and feels very ergonomic to hold. I have medium sized hands and only a tiny bit whine I have is; if they had shaved down the bottom curve by just 1 more MM, it would be gold. I have a feeling that this brush might be perhaps the only model I will buy as a future back-up but I am going to visit that idea only by the end of this year.

I would certainly recommend this brush, if you not into big lofts, like a better handle than plastic mould, want a classy looking brush and don’t mind spending a little extra. Some people don’t like the kitschy looking medallion but I find it little cute. As an overall package I am glad I pulled the trigger on this one.

As usual, the musings, recommendations, measurements all remains pretty much from the seat of pants and a big YMMV. Thanks for reading.

An excellent review and provenance.
This is a handsome brush and an excellent value.
I enjoy reading your posts
Enjoy many happy shaves!

 

[Clay S]

Well thought out and detailed review. Thanks!

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I believe I'd like the brush less if the loft were any higher, but, of course, that's just me.

Revisiting the puck for a tad more soap is part of what I do most shaves. Not all shaves. Actually I don't pay much attention to how much soap and lather the brush holds. It depends on which soap I'm using, the loft of the brush, its density, and all sorts of things. Including (as I'm discovering this week at the beach) the water. I'm a face latherer.

Much of what I care about in a brush is how it feels and performs when I'm lathering my skin. Some of that is the handle and how it feels in my hand. A pretty wide range of brushes work for me - lofts, densities, knot size, handles - but I generally like the knots to be large and yet not too tall. I want it to be easy enough to build the kind of lather I like which might be different from what you prefer.

Which vendor besides Connaught sells this brush (with the medallion)?

The stiffest of my boars are the Mighty Midget and the Proraso Pro both also made by Omega. They have considerable more stiffness than the Jade from Connaught (at least mine do), but, to me, the Jade is the best boar.

I have other boars which might be favored over the Jade in preference but I can't say any are better.

Some of the handles usually called cheap are fine with me. The Proraso Pro handle for instance. I know it's not as nice as the Jade handle and the handle of the Italian Flag. Still, I like it fine. Other handles puzzle me. Some I can tell are cheap (the Mighty Midget for instance) but some are mysterious to me.

Sometimes I think these might be my favorite boars. The handle on the right is mysterious. I think it's plastic but it feels like a higher quality than most. I don't know how to tell much about the handles so don't think I'm saying it's resin. Maybe it is. I doubt it. These two Mondial boars are not terribly stiff, but they are soft and they make lather nicely and they suit me.

I like these black handled (wood) brushes a lot. They're "large" for their size. Nothing wrong with any of the boars I use. Even the high lofted and to me floppy Italian Flag is a brush I enjoy using even though I wish its loft were a lot lower.

My guess is brushes vary some from batch to batch. All pigs are not the same, etc.

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[HereticHermit]

Which vendor besides Connaught sells this brush (with the medallion)?

I got mine from here Omega 011829 Boar Hair Shaving Brush – Shave Lounge but it shows out of stock right now.
Using most of soaps, I am leaning toward the ivory Mondial for medium weight and a well planned (to me) knot. Omega now serves low structure lather soaps.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

I got mine from here Omega 011829 Boar Hair Shaving Brush – Shave Lounge but it shows out of stock right now.
Using most of soaps, I am leaning toward the ivory Mondial for medium weight and a well planned (to me) knot. Omega now serves low structure lather soaps.

Thanks.

 

[mawashi]

Omegas are my go to boars but all I need are their medium brushes so I'm equally blown away by their 1000 series lol!

Happy shaves,

Mawashi

 

[It's Hedley]

I just put my new Omega 011842 Jade to use for the first time this morning. I was also trying Mitchell's Wool Fat for the first time, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with outstanding results. I really enjoy this brush. Great value as well...

 

[HereticHermit]

Very nice lather on first outing. This was my fastest boar to break in. Love that Jade handle.

 

[MntnMan62]

I’m in the states and bought mine from Connaught. It came with the medallion. When I placed the order I thought the medallion would be a nuisance and just get in the way. I barely notice it and yet would miss it if it wasn’t there. And it is softer than my other Omega boats right out of the box. It’s my favorite of four boars that I have; Pro 49 and 10066 and a Schone.

 

[Calm_Shaver]

I just put my new Omega 011842 Jade to use for the first time this morning. I was also trying Mitchell's Wool Fat for the first time, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with outstanding results. I really enjoy this brush. Great value as well...

View attachment 1012507

Great picture @It’s Hedley. My Favorite Boar! That Jade handle is beautiful and has great ergonomics! It came fully broken in, the only Omega I have that did that. Enjoy the Brush Bud

 

[It's Hedley]

I’m in the states and bought mine from Connaught. It came with the medallion. When I placed the order I thought the medallion would be a nuisance and just get in the way. I barely notice it and yet would miss it if it wasn’t there. And it is softer than my other Omega boats right out of the box. It’s my favorite of four boars that I have; Pro 49 and 10066 and a Schone.

It too is my favorite boar and likely the last I purchase I enjoy it that much after one shave. They no longer come with the medallion, so I suspect mine is the second generation from Connaught.

Great picture @It’s Hedley. My Favorite Boar! That Jade handle is beautiful and has great ergonomics! It came fully broken in, the only Omega I have that did that. Enjoy the Brush Bud

Thanks Calm Shaver. I soaked mine for 24 hours, let it dry, soaked again for 24 hours, let it dry and then put it to use. Not sure if that accomplished anything, but I suspect it didn't hurt either. It still has that funky SE Asia outdoor food market smell (rotting meat/fish/vegetables/fruit etc), but it doesn't bother me.

 

[BigD]

Thanks for the super informative post.

I would never have dreamed my brush did not have a particularly unique knot. In fact, I'm not sure if I believe Omega because it's clear to me the knot in my brush is far better than most boar knots.

View attachment 991091

Why anyone dislikes the medallion is beyond me. I like how it looks and don't notice it at all when I'm using the brush.

I remain convinced this is the finest boar brush made. At least mine is. Maybe I got lucky and got a special pig.

View attachment 991092

There's a reason I win this award month after month, but your post tells me you have great potential as an enabler.

Happy shaves,

Jim

How do you like your Omega compared to your Zeniths?

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

How do you like your Omega compared to your Zeniths?

I like all my boars. I wouldn't say the Omega are all the same, or the Zeniths. I'm not sure I could compare the brands as a group.

That doesn't answer your question but it's the best I can do.

Happy shaves,

Jim

P.S. Boars I didn't like much have mostly been given away or are in a box in the closet, so the ones I like are the only ones I keep out to use.

 

[Teryaki]

I like all my boars. I wouldn't say the Omega are all the same, or the Zeniths. I'm not sure I could compare the brands as a group.

That doesn't answer your question but it's the best I can do.

Happy shaves,

Jim

P.S. Boars I didn't like much have mostly been given away or are in a box in the closet, so the ones I like are the only ones I keep out to use.

Dude you seem to be like the king of boars. And thanks to your past posts I’ve had this jade omega for a few months now. I’m with you on the comparison of boars for the most part, but for me I think I still prefer my SOC. I love this omega and I just picked up the zenith “big scrubby” and am looking forward to using it, but I feel like the zenith and omega are simply a different feeling than the SOC. Apples to oranges in a way. Although the zenith bristles seem to be much thinner than the others.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

Dude you seem to be like the king of boars. And thanks to your past posts I’ve had this jade omega for a few months now. I’m with you on the comparison of boars for the most part, but for me I think I still prefer my SOC. I love this omega and I just picked up the zenith “big scrubby” and am looking forward to using it, but I feel like the zenith and omega are simply a different feeling than the SOC. Apples to oranges in a way. Although the zenith bristles seem to be much thinner than the others.

I had an idea one day that it would be beyond my financial abilities to collect a group of top end premium badger brushes, but that I might be able to assemble a collection of boar brushes regarded as or marketed as premium boars.

That idea worked out well for me. I tried most boars I want to try and, yes, I have a really pleasing and not too very large collection of premium boars.

Also, I did a number of head to head comparisons between boars. That worked well, too, and was a lot of fun. I love boars, but I also very much enjoy my badgers (mostly two bands and Manchurians, none of which were the very expensive brands).

She's not interested in brushes, so there's something for me there. I know my place!

Happy shaves,

Jim

 

[rudyt]

I feel like the zenith and omega are simply a different feeling than the SOC. Apples to oranges in a way. Although the zenith bristles seem to be much thinner than the others.

Ok. Ima gonna need details. My den is also “boar centric” and I’ve got pretty much every boar that needs getting - even have a couple of unobtainables; the Semogue BC Cerda and the B&B Essential boar.

My tops are the Cerda, Semogue 620 and 1800, the cheap Zenith bleached 24x57, and of course the Proraso Professional.

I don’t own a SOC (or Semogue 610 either). What makes the SOC “apples and oranges” different? I don’t want another “redundant” brush, which is why I don’t have a 610 or Omega Jade, but if the SOC is that different, I’d order it today. In my mind, it’s the Semogue version of the Omega Pro-49. Please convince me I should buy one ;-)

 

[Timeclo]

Ok. Ima gonna need details. My den is also “boar centric” and I’ve got pretty much every boar that needs getting - even have a couple of unobtainables; the Semogue BC Cerda and the B&B Essential boar.

My tops are the Cerda, Semogue 620 and 1800, the cheap Zenith bleached 24x57, and of course the Proraso Professional.

I don’t own a SOC (or Semogue 610 either). What makes the SOC “apples and oranges” different? I don’t want another “redundant” brush, which is why I don’t have a 610 or Omega Jade, but if the SOC is that different, I’d order it today. In my mind, it’s the Semogue version of the Omega Pro-49. Please convince me I should buy one ;-)

I have the Cherry wood SOC. It's a lovely brush that is part of my brush rotation. It feels like a Denser 1800 for me. It feels soft on the face but still gives a fair amount scrub. The backbone is on the low-medium side. It's a dense and soft Semogue that boar lovers can enjoy using for a great lather experience.