In praise of the $12.00 Boar Brush!

[pelicano]

I never really got a brush AD. I have a completely utilitarian perspective on brushes: They must lather well and feel nice on the face (not scratchy).
In any case, I have been chasing an altogether different ghost.

My first was a AOS pure badger that I got with a kit (over a year before my B&B days began). After I found this page and got bit by the shaving bug, I got a Penworks Silvertip, which worked fine. Then I bought a Shavemac on BST to give it a try, and I was sold.
The AOS was given away, and the Penworks went to BST. One day though, I find a Vintage Simpson Silvertip with original butterscotch scales in almost perfect condition and snatch it up for $95.

I didn't like the Simpson. Compared to the Shavemac it felt scratchy. I ended up trading it for another Shavemac on BST, which was very nice to look at as well as to my face.

To make a short story long, a month ago I saw a Omega Pro on Amazon for $12 bucks, two day free delivery, and figure I'd give it a try.....

Yowza!

Except for the smell of wet pig, I found this brush extraordinary. It has now become my favorite brush: Soft without the floppyness, scrubby without being scratchy.

It was probably snobbery on my part (I do like expensive stuff, just ask Mr. Kanayama, Mr. Puma, Mr. Duck and Mr. Le Grelot), that I haven't tried boar before, and I regret it. If you haven't tried it yet, I must wholeheartedly recommend it.

Just wanted to share this, it might be meaningless, but that's the story, night night...

 

[VT_Hokie]

Boar was the most eye opening experience for me.

I'm a believer!

 

[WalkerTM]

Planning to try a Semogue any time now—I just want to keep my shave den to a minumum...hah!

 

[David in Boston]

...Soft without the floppyness, scrubby without being scratchy...it might be meaningless, but that's the story...

Started with creams over a month ago and I face lather.

Been considering giving boar another try for the mentioned reasons.

Thank You.

 

[blugill]

I never really got a brush AD. I have a completely utilitarian perspective on brushes: They must lather well and feel nice on the face (not scratchy).
In any case, I have been chasing an altogether different ghost.



Yowza!

Except for the smell of wet pig, I found this brush extraordinary. It has now become my favorite brush: Soft without the floppyness, scrubby without being scratchy.

I am in total agreement with you pelicano, I got a pro 49 about two weeks ago. This brush gives me more lather than I need, rich, creamy, full, moist, a hella Lather. I have only two brushes a VDH Boar which I was using for about 3 months, which is really a damn fine brush, holds lather fine, soft, and broke in easy. I just wanted a brush with more loft to hold more lather, boy did I get the right one ! A couple of my Buds have some expensive Badgers that I have tried and wasn't impressed at all. They joked at me about my Pro 49 Boar until I showed them how it made lather with little effort. These Guys all have orders in for 48's and 49's they never saw a Boar lather like that, they were impressed. Just goes to show you don't have to spend an *** load of money on a Badger that can't produce like a Omega Pro 49 Boar does, Thank Ya

 

[Klarion]

Yeah, boar brushes are pretty decent.

 

[SliceOfLife]

830 and SOC were both great boar brushes for me. But Boar brushes are a whole other animal (hehe) than badger brushes, and I also prefer Badger. I still use my boars (SOC and 1470) on occasion. But only about 1-2x a month.

 

[goby]

I'm 100% boar and love them. Maybe someday I'll spend $100.00 and get a badger that's better than my boars. Until then, I'm a Semogue man.

 

[SliceOfLife]

I'm 100% boar and love them. Maybe someday I'll spend $100.00 and get a badger that's better than my boars. Until then, I'm a Semogue man.

You can get a good badger well under $100, but it depends on what you're looking for whether you'd consider it better than your boars.

 

[Wil Dorenbos]

To make a short story long, a month ago I saw a Omega Pro on Amazon for $12 bucks, two day free delivery, and figure I'd give it a try.....

Yowza!

Except for the smell of wet pig, I found this brush extraordinary. It has now become my favorite brush: Soft without the floppyness, scrubby without being scratchy.

Professional/barbers brushes (boar and horse) are great. Made to lather and to last. Best bang for the buck imo.

 

[BladeDE40]

How is the Omega Pro at face lathering?

 

[Picaro]

One of my boars is an Omega 10029, which is also called the 'Baby Pro' because its like a scaled down version of the 49. I think its a great briush, and personally I prefer the smaller size brushes for face lathering to be able to do some serious swirling action.
I will on occasion use a badger for creams, but being a full time face latherer these days, I dont think they give the same work on the skin or whiskers.

 

[Valkosipuli]

I used to hate boar brushes until i used one of them for like two months. After that it made so much diffirence in perfomance i started to love them and use boars only anymore

 

[JPDyson]

Tried the 830. No luck.
Tried the 620. No luck.
Tried a handful of omegas. No luck.
Just got an SOC. It's decent. My badgers still whup it's sorry ***, honestly.

But if you enjoy then, then good for you!

I know some folks straight out don't care for badgers.

You may need to adapt your technique a bit. Have a look in the brush stickes at the Boar Lathering Video Challenge. Made a believer out of me.

 

[sj184]

I bought some of the popular semogues but couldn't get on with them.
However, I really like the 12 dollar Men-U Pure bristle (boar) brush. It is fantastic.

 

[Drewser]

The only two brushes I use anymore are my Semogue 830 and my Omega 20102 (I'm a sucker for that wood handle). Both brushes are incredibly soft on the face with enough backbone to whip up crazy lather with a soap. They just seem to have more presence than a badger. They also handle creams on par with most badgers, but the technique is a little different.

All-in-all, I'm a proud lover of the boar

P.S., if you think if you've had one boar you've had them all, I also have a VDH boar brush as a travel knockabout, and it is an entirely different beast than the Omega and Semogue, even though it cost almost as much

 

[pelicano]

Tried the 830. No luck.
Tried the 620. No luck.
Tried a handful of omegas. No luck.
Just got an SOC. It's decent. My badgers still whup it's sorry ***, honestly.

But if you enjoy then, then good for you!

I know some folks straight out don't care for badgers.

Don't get me wrong, my Shavemacs are damn fine brushes, I have loved them and they have served me well for a long time (Bernd actually re-knotted one recently), but now that I splurged a whole $24 on a Semogue, and entered the boar wormhole head on, one of them might just end up on BST.

 

[pelicano]

How is the Omega Pro at face lathering?

GREAT!!!

 

[azrichter]

I have an Omega 80257---a medium sized boar.

What I like about it is how it increasingly rewards me for using it---it gets softer and fuller all the time. Its better by the shave!!!