I don't think your Omega 10051 is defective but boar brushes in general are more challenging to lather up. I definitely had some great session with boars but also some where I get no lather to work with by the second pass.Shave 5: Back To Basics
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Merkur 34C
Perma-Sharp
Proraso White
Omega 10051
This was my first shave with the Perma-Sharp, the penultimate blade from my sample pack, and the one that I've been looking forward to using most. It's reportedly very sharp, almost Feather sharp, but smoother. I also left out the pre-shave tonight. I really want to keep things as simple as possible so that I can find out which blade I like best and to judge the ability of the brush to create a lather with just my chosen soap for this phase of the experiment, the Proraso White.
I felt very lethargic tonight for some reason, so I decided to just concetrate on 2 aspects of the shave
1. Building a lather and
2. Shaving with no-pressure.
I got off to a bad start. The brush sat in the mug for at least 5 minutes, as I loaded the new blade into the razor. Even so, when I lifted it from the mug, I was very disappointed with the amount of water it had absorbed. I think the impressive way the Semogue performed from new during the test lather had shown me how a boar is supposed to behave.
I soldiered on. After giving the brush just 2 shakes, I set about loading straight from the tub, and it was very hard work. I had to really mash the loft into the puck to get any soap into the knot. When I put the brush on my face, it felt thick and dryish. I face lathered anyhow, and must have dipped the brush 7 or 8 times. And these were big dips, too.
I wasn't really happy with the lather, and by the time I put razor to face I was already pretty annoyed. Well, I carried on as planned, no pressure, let the blade to the work. Sharp? I don't think so. I do have 3 days of stubble, but still, this is not what I expected. I'm really not in the mood for this tonight, I probably should have postponed the shave! I finished the pass, grumbling to myself the whole way, rinsed off, and had a feel around, patches of stubble everywhere, especially at the point of my chin.
I lathered up for the second pass, WTG. This lather was thin, and I mean thin. There just wasn't enough lather in the brush. I added a littler more water anyway, and it was at least a slick lather. This time a shaved in my now customary fashion, very shallow, some minimal pressure, riding the cap as much as possible. Better, but still not great. I had a weeper lower left lip and there was still some hair left on my chin.
I just about managed to milk enough soap from the brush for a minimal clean up. On the downward stroke on the point of my chin, with absolutely no pressure, I heard the blade twang against the hair. I think that now, into my forties, my whiskers a definitely harder than in my younger days, and I'm now very eager to try a more efficient, rigid razor.
I wiped my face, dried, splashed with cold water and patted dry again and I was done. In the end, the results really aren't too bad. I have zero irritation (at least on my face, lol!) and while the shave could be closer, I've sure had worse. But this brush really bothered me again.
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This is what it looked like when I'd finished. There is practically no lather left. Now I'm all for minimizing on wastage and hate to throw lather down the sink, but there really wasn't enough lather for an enjoyable shave and i really do think that this brush is defective in some way. If that's not the case, and this is how all Omega boars behave, then they're probably not for me. I may not buy another Omega brush anyway, with so many other makers to choose from, but considering their low cost and high reputation amongst wet shavers, I may give them another go.
Well, I'm going to keep using this one until I've tried the final blade from my sample pack next week, then probably switch to the Semogue to cycle back through the blades in reverse order, to see if my technique has improved enough for me to change my opinion on any of the steel. It may well be that consistently good lathers make all the difference.
Here are some more pictures I took before I shaved comparing the two brushes after having given the Semogue 1438 the initial clean and test lather described in the earlier posts.
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These 2 brushes have almost identical loft heights but the Semogue, on the right, has a smaller knot, at 21mm as opposed to the 24mm of the Omega. Remembering that the Semogue hasn't even been used in a shave yet, it's pretty clear that it's made with a higher quality of bristle. It was twice the price of the Omega, but at £12.50 it's still not expensive, and mine only cost me around £6.50 due to an understanding vendor.
I'm going to give the Omega 10051 another, very thorough deep clean tonight, and if that doesn't bring it to life then it may eventually end up being relegated, but we'll see. I'm not normally one for quitting.
Wes
One thing that I have to watch out for is how I load the boar brush. If I start dry, it will not pick up much soap. What works for me all the time is the Marco method. Start your brush wet and load heavy. It might be a bit messy but it gets a great result. If you see that your brush is loaded dry, add more water and load again. You are already doing that but until you can see your brush loaded with glistening lather, it'll give sub-optimal results. Synthetics are easy but boars really push you to your limit with lathering, haha.