As weapon of choice for FFFMM_2023 edition, this, initialy seen as a good discount offer, boar brush now definitely deserves its own share of B&B space.
Brush itself is on many web-shops advertized as professional-use boar brush, and I have no reason to doubt.
It's large, it's durable, ergonomic, easy to handle and I guess that pro-barbers owe share of credits to tool being used.
However, what did made me to purchase it was surprisingly good offer (at local cosmetics store), probably due to semi-popularity of traditional wet-shaving at my place, causing them to just want to get rid of stock. Without much hype for this brush, it cost like 7$ (vs average 10-15$) so I bought it, as well as Omega S-49 (also good one) and one smaller one for my Pops. All three + shipping ~25$ so I was quite happy with purchasing.
I always used boar-brushes (like I've had a choice) as only available option in local stores and must admit I never used them properly. Never soaked them before use, dipped to much, used too hot water, lose some of them, broke handles on some, but for 2-3$ on local markets, I never cared. I neither soaked my Semogue 2000, but that's another story to tell about, so for Omega 10098 I really wanted to do everything "by the book".
This cool Italian gent basically explains all in this video if I may share it, I feel like he deserve some views, but in two-words:
"leave brush in tap-water for 24+ hrs and afterwards use it for life".
So I did... I have one lemonade-tall glass which fit my Omega just fine. I used regular tap-water, as cold as it went naturally, maybe ~10-15 C, who knows. Filled around half of the knot height to avoid wetting the glue (but I think it won't matter as handle is plastic, wood tend to swell and break).
I left glass in kitchen kabinet for like 30 hrs, and then squized bulk of water and used some cheap shaving soap to lather it and clean for the first test-lather. Surprisingly, it felt not so floppy as Semogue, but also wasn't so "blonde" either. More like, another type of boar bristles, yellowish, more robust and more broken after first run. Interesting thing is that bristles were split up to 1cm from bristle end, but no more than that. Some loose hairs went off time to time, but so far, I haven't lose more than 10 hairs in total. Bowl lathering was fine, I rinsed the brush and left it hung on my towel-holder upside-down as depicted:
Simple shoe-lace, kitchen thread or construction thread would work just fine for a loop that would hold brush hanging.
Brush didn't have any unnatural funky smell. It's animal fur afterall, but nowhere near the "reported" smell of "wet dog", "dead pig" etc. Perhaps part of the smell comes from the glue's and plastic's use? Chemical reaction between bristles and glue? Who knows... but it's nothing to cry about. In general, I've used the brush for couple times, mostly bowl-lathered and it was good. I'd say 8/10 on initial usages. Not soft and splashy as Semogue, it genuinely felt familiar, like a "boar brush"... tall, firm backbone, not a lather-hog, not too scratchy but also semi-firm. Like how you'd imagine a boar brush.
FFFMM_2023 challenge was great opportunity to use it bit more and to see would it broke entirely for a month of a daily shaves. Boy it did! Somewhere ~20 consecutive lathering I felt that bristles are almost 90% broken (besides some black stray hairs) and at the ending 2cm of the knot, it looked like it's made of curly pig-hairs. Volume expanded and I started face-lathering. Felt so great that pure-badger can be labeled as a piece of rubish compared to it. Synthetic brush (RR Silvertip BC) have remained close contender in terms of softness, maybe in slight advantage, but lose the battle in lathering speed and water-management.
Omega really takes soap easily, release it easily, holds lot of water and release it slowly. Also, dries after 10ish hours, even if you shave daily - tomorrow it'll be dry, no worries at all. Perhaps I'm just subjective, and I leave it as possibility that maybe Omega brushes just fit my shave routine and habits, but for a 10$ it's a great brush that breaks nicely, feels rich, generate heavenly lather, comfortable to hold and gives lot more than I've payed for.
As from my first brush-lathering post (see here) I no longer have my pure-badger (got all goofy and lost too much hairs), but added Omega 10098 and Omega S-49 instead. My brush collection is depicted here:
Since I've intended to dedicate this post to 10098 only, I'll just put some pros & cons for it, compared to brushes that I can use for reference:
Pros:
Brush itself is on many web-shops advertized as professional-use boar brush, and I have no reason to doubt.
It's large, it's durable, ergonomic, easy to handle and I guess that pro-barbers owe share of credits to tool being used.
However, what did made me to purchase it was surprisingly good offer (at local cosmetics store), probably due to semi-popularity of traditional wet-shaving at my place, causing them to just want to get rid of stock. Without much hype for this brush, it cost like 7$ (vs average 10-15$) so I bought it, as well as Omega S-49 (also good one) and one smaller one for my Pops. All three + shipping ~25$ so I was quite happy with purchasing.
I always used boar-brushes (like I've had a choice) as only available option in local stores and must admit I never used them properly. Never soaked them before use, dipped to much, used too hot water, lose some of them, broke handles on some, but for 2-3$ on local markets, I never cared. I neither soaked my Semogue 2000, but that's another story to tell about, so for Omega 10098 I really wanted to do everything "by the book".
This cool Italian gent basically explains all in this video if I may share it, I feel like he deserve some views, but in two-words:
"leave brush in tap-water for 24+ hrs and afterwards use it for life".
So I did... I have one lemonade-tall glass which fit my Omega just fine. I used regular tap-water, as cold as it went naturally, maybe ~10-15 C, who knows. Filled around half of the knot height to avoid wetting the glue (but I think it won't matter as handle is plastic, wood tend to swell and break).
I left glass in kitchen kabinet for like 30 hrs, and then squized bulk of water and used some cheap shaving soap to lather it and clean for the first test-lather. Surprisingly, it felt not so floppy as Semogue, but also wasn't so "blonde" either. More like, another type of boar bristles, yellowish, more robust and more broken after first run. Interesting thing is that bristles were split up to 1cm from bristle end, but no more than that. Some loose hairs went off time to time, but so far, I haven't lose more than 10 hairs in total. Bowl lathering was fine, I rinsed the brush and left it hung on my towel-holder upside-down as depicted:
Simple shoe-lace, kitchen thread or construction thread would work just fine for a loop that would hold brush hanging.
Brush didn't have any unnatural funky smell. It's animal fur afterall, but nowhere near the "reported" smell of "wet dog", "dead pig" etc. Perhaps part of the smell comes from the glue's and plastic's use? Chemical reaction between bristles and glue? Who knows... but it's nothing to cry about. In general, I've used the brush for couple times, mostly bowl-lathered and it was good. I'd say 8/10 on initial usages. Not soft and splashy as Semogue, it genuinely felt familiar, like a "boar brush"... tall, firm backbone, not a lather-hog, not too scratchy but also semi-firm. Like how you'd imagine a boar brush.
FFFMM_2023 challenge was great opportunity to use it bit more and to see would it broke entirely for a month of a daily shaves. Boy it did! Somewhere ~20 consecutive lathering I felt that bristles are almost 90% broken (besides some black stray hairs) and at the ending 2cm of the knot, it looked like it's made of curly pig-hairs. Volume expanded and I started face-lathering. Felt so great that pure-badger can be labeled as a piece of rubish compared to it. Synthetic brush (RR Silvertip BC) have remained close contender in terms of softness, maybe in slight advantage, but lose the battle in lathering speed and water-management.
Omega really takes soap easily, release it easily, holds lot of water and release it slowly. Also, dries after 10ish hours, even if you shave daily - tomorrow it'll be dry, no worries at all. Perhaps I'm just subjective, and I leave it as possibility that maybe Omega brushes just fit my shave routine and habits, but for a 10$ it's a great brush that breaks nicely, feels rich, generate heavenly lather, comfortable to hold and gives lot more than I've payed for.
As from my first brush-lathering post (see here) I no longer have my pure-badger (got all goofy and lost too much hairs), but added Omega 10098 and Omega S-49 instead. My brush collection is depicted here:
Since I've intended to dedicate this post to 10098 only, I'll just put some pros & cons for it, compared to brushes that I can use for reference:
Pros:
- great break in period (maybe better than Semogue 2000, but comparable in terms of softness)
- not a lather hog (use far less soap/lather compared to Semogue, and is almost as easy to lather as RR Silvertip)
- nice water/lather retention (soaks easily - release easily)
- comfortable handle (perhaps the #1, #2 would be split between RR and S-49, #3 Semogue)
- lowest price of all brushes I own (without discount) and best price-value ratio
- accumulated moisture evaporates easily, no issues for daily use (beaten only by synthetics)
- best after shave feel on skin, I give that to scrubbing and deploying lather deep into roots of hair (unlike synthetic's painting over)
- requires some know how (breaking in, handling, temperature, water ratio...)
- need some preparation time in the morning (plan your SSS on time) but not much, 30sec - 1 min.
- overall, as boar-brush it requires more care compared to synthetics, but also rewards invested effort
- guess there will always be people sensitive to animal hair smell?
- maybe it would be harsh for face if you're not a fan of scrubbing (although nothing exfoliate skin and deliver lather so good to whiskers as boar-brush)
I also like all the Omega brushes
