Omega 10098 - Best boar brush?

[Mr. Shavington]

If talking Connaught jade omega boar … then I bought the same Brush a week ago … used today first time … performance is fine.

However disappointed with the tooling marks on the handle and Connaught response was basically an admittance of knowing all their omega jades stock is consistent with mine!!

Shouldn’t need to polish your own brush handle !

Yes they said send brush back if not happy …. But it’s poor service when they know the finish is consistently bad on all Omega Jade Boars… They are not of merchantable quality and are seconds at best let alone premium.

The Omega jade handle is very cheaply made anyway and I think some of the enthusiastic chat about it in shaving forums may mislead people to expect a premium brush. It isn’t at all. People just seem to like the knot specifications (unbleached bristles and low loft). But the handle is low quality plastic and you are very likely to get some unsightly black hairs in the knot.

Omega don’t really make premium handles. If the handle quality is important to you (and it is to me) then you should look at Zenith or Semogue, not Omega. The Semogue 620/630 and 820/830 boars have really nice quality handles for a very reasonable price ($20ish) - lovely little brushes, those are. For $40ish you can get some very beautiful acrylic handled boar brushes from Zenith.

 

[BusterBLX]

I bought the Semogue soc butterscotch (c£35) at same time from Connaught … the finish to handle is perfect and the protective packaging says it all. Lovely brush!
I had wanted a Zenith but none of wanted was available… will get in due course

Cheers

 

[BusterBLX]

Connaught description from their
Site:

 

[BusterBLX]

That’s unfortunate. I just recently tried my omega boar 10049 and liked it so much I wanted to buy the omega jade. Can you post a couple of pictures of the handle?

It’s not major but you can see the lines, just not ‘Premium’. It will probably polish out

 

[Deano]

Omega makes good boar brushes. Not fancy but good performance.

 

[geneaut]

I'm breaking in a new 98. I have a wonderful little 49 that I love, but I wanted to see what the longer handle added to my shave experience. So far so good.

 

[skateblade]

I have and use the 49 98 and 2000 also ....all great brushes.. but another of my favs is the Proraso pro made by Omega .....it has a shorter loft and similer handle to the 49 . Boars ...to me are the best shaving brushes hands down ! Pete

 

[BusterBLX]

As update - the jade omega brush is good performer

 

[Jens]

I have been favouring boars for a long time, have used a good few extensively, including: Omega 10098, 10048, 20102, 81064, 11829, 10081, 10066, 10029, Proraso brush, Semogue 620, Semogue Torga C5, Vulfix 2189. Here follows a condensed "comparative review" and list of some favourites.
In fact, several of these have been "my favourite", each time I thought "once and for all", but then things have changed. What remains constant is my love for boar brushes, although these days I have come to also love higher end badgers (but not over boars, just in addition).
Knowing that favourites can still change, I will say that these days my two favourites are the Omegas 10081 and 10066. The bristles ("pure") are like the Omega "professionals" (e.g. 10048, 10098, 20102, etc), but the entire brush is smaller, and still behaving like a "professional". I have come to consider the regular "professionals" a little too big for my regular use (I exclusively face lather).
Some years ago I enjoyed more backbone, as in the Proraso brush, the Omega 10029 "Baby Pro", and the 11829 (Faux Jade), but I have come to favor softer pure bristle brushes more recently.
I found the 11829 (Faux Jade) disappointing - super nice handle (very similar to the 10066), but knot on the verge of being poky. I even got two of them (one 11829, one 011842, which is identical except for the gold logo), and both knots felt poky. For the price, I had expected more.
The Omega 81064 has the nicest handle of them all in my view, big octagonal acrylic handle (black/transparent). It's a super soft brush, knot is treated and fake 3 band bristle, not "pure" bristle like the Omega profs -- like the Semogue 620 but bigger and less backbone.
The Semogue 620 has some dedicated "cult" followers, I was one myself for a good while, but my preference is for slightly bigger "pure" bristle knots these days.
None of my current three favourites (Omega 10081, 10066, 81064) get the attention they rightly deserve I think, so I'd like to hereby promote them.

 

[VerbaVolant]

Omega 10098 is an excellent boar brush and its value is outstanding. I enjoy using mine and is always nearby.
I have been lucky since none of my boar brushes had any funky smell at all. Like with all boar brushes, some upside-down bristles had to be removed and the rest is history. Pure joy to use as it is well broken-in and the knot splays less than my other Omegas. I like mine so much that I bought a spare.

 

[bkatbamna]

I have no argument against someone calling this brush the best boar brush. I like mine a lot and have boar brushes that are different but not necessarily better.

 

[gdawg55]

We’ll now I have a 98 inbound. Like boars but don’t have one this large. Should be interesting.

 

[DesertIguana]

Brush is tool to accomplish simple mission of putting so a p, cream, goo on face to saturate beard for easy removal with tool of choice.

Aka Razor, Rambo Knife, Broken Glass, or ?

Does your brush accomplish mission to your liking? Even if brush is $3.00 Made in India Special on eBay.

If it does work fine, your good, don’t let people tell you need super duper brush.

 

[gdawg55]

Ended up getting a 98 and 49 to add to my boar collection. I used the 98 yesterday and, for a new boar, it did pretty well. A little prickly but not bad. Good backbone for such a tall loft. Looking forward to getting it broken in. Wish Omega made a higher quality resin handle. These are pretty cheap feeling.

Will give the 49 a go in the morning.

 

[Slanterino]

Bought one in Dec 2021. A year ago, it keeps dropping hairs. What a disappointment.

 

[Jens]

A couple of additional observations:
__ In my earlier post in this thread I spoke of "pure" bristle. I meant "natural" bristle. It seems that the correct vocabulary here is in terms of the distinction between "natural", bleached and colored bristle.
__ some claim that their Omega 10066 has bleached bristle. Mine surely has natural bristle. It is conceivable that the Omega 10066 exists in both versions, since it is quite easy to tell whether a brush has natural or bleached bristle.
__ On the smell of new boar brushes and need to treat them accordingly:
This seems a commonplace topic. People will say a new boar smells "funky", or worse, and that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with, e.g. by washing the brush in a variety of chemicals before use, or by avoiding "natural" bristle in favor of bleached or coloured bristle. Or, by avoiding boar brushes all together in favor of synthetic ones.
This is a view for which I have neither much appreciation nor sympathy. First of all, I do recognize that a new boar brush has an odor, all the more when wet. However, I do not this this is a very strong odor; neither is it a particularly bad odor; and most importantly it really is a minor thing which is overcome with regular use. after 3 or 4 normal shaves odor is gone, and the brush just smells like shaving soap. In fact, I think the whole "breaking in" ordeal is very similar: hairs will start to split as soon as you start using the brush, and you will have a very nice boar brush already after having used it a handful of shaves, although it keeps improving with use. Point here, there is no need for a major "breaking in" operation on a new boar brush.
__ A final, more general point, extending from the odor of new boars:
A bottom line for me, as far as traditional wet-shaving goes, is my fascination with brushes as works of traditional craftsmanship and based on "natural" materials . A brush to me, a real traditional shaving brush, indeed should be made with some kind of animal hair. I do not own a single shaving brush made with synthetic hair. Synthetics have no appeal to me whatsoever, and I doubt that will ever change. The world does not need more plastic - Natural hair and bristle for me, please. By extension, a new shaving brush indeed should have an odor, it should smell "funky" or whatever people call it, like a wet dog, it should smell like what it is, an animal product. To my mind it's just like a new real leather coat should smell like real leather, and the real leather seats in an expensive new high-end brand car should indeed smell like leather. For this reason I LIKE the funky odor of new boars badgers, it's proof I got my money's worth, that I am performing real traditional wet shaving.

 

[Odysseus]

Sorry I'm late to this party and to dredge up a sunken thread but I didn't want to start a new thread. Just picked up this big boy - and I emphasize BIG - and noticed there's no Omega label on the handle (cheap as it seems) like the box. I can't wait to try it tomorrow. But I was wondering - is this you all's experience (no label)? Again, not really buying it for the handle...but it does make me wish there was a brush this size with a turned handle...

 

[VerbaVolant]

I don't remember a label. It is, however, embossed with company name and Made in Italy. You can see partially shown in my picture above. I consider embossing superior to (peeling) label.

 

[amateur]

A couple of additional observations:
__ In my earlier post in this thread I spoke of "pure" bristle. I meant "natural" bristle. It seems that the correct vocabulary here is in terms of the distinction between "natural", bleached and colored bristle.
__ some claim that their Omega 10066 has bleached bristle. Mine surely has natural bristle. It is conceivable that the Omega 10066 exists in both versions, since it is quite easy to tell whether a brush has natural or bleached bristle.
__ On the smell of new boar brushes and need to treat them accordingly:
This seems a commonplace topic. People will say a new boar smells "funky", or worse, and that this is a problem that needs to be dealt with, e.g. by washing the brush in a variety of chemicals before use, or by avoiding "natural" bristle in favor of bleached or coloured bristle. Or, by avoiding boar brushes all together in favor of synthetic ones.
This is a view for which I have neither much appreciation nor sympathy. First of all, I do recognize that a new boar brush has an odor, all the more when wet. However, I do not this this is a very strong odor; neither is it a particularly bad odor; and most importantly it really is a minor thing which is overcome with regular use. after 3 or 4 normal shaves odor is gone, and the brush just smells like shaving soap. In fact, I think the whole "breaking in" ordeal is very similar: hairs will start to split as soon as you start using the brush, and you will have a very nice boar brush already after having used it a handful of shaves, although it keeps improving with use. Point here, there is no need for a major "breaking in" operation on a new boar brush.
__ A final, more general point, extending from the odor of new boars:
A bottom line for me, as far as traditional wet-shaving goes, is my fascination with brushes as works of traditional craftsmanship and based on "natural" materials . A brush to me, a real traditional shaving brush, indeed should be made with some kind of animal hair. I do not own a single shaving brush made with synthetic hair. Synthetics have no appeal to me whatsoever, and I doubt that will ever change. The world does not need more plastic - Natural hair and bristle for me, please. By extension, a new shaving brush indeed should have an odor, it should smell "funky" or whatever people call it, like a wet dog, it should smell like what it is, an animal product. To my mind it's just like a new real leather coat should smell like real leather, and the real leather seats in an expensive new high-end brand car should indeed smell like leather. For this reason I LIKE the funky odor of new boars badgers, it's proof I got my money's worth, that I am performing real traditional wet shaving.

I was a little late with the answer. I agree with you on all points. There is also not a single synthetic brush in my collection. There are five Omega boars. They are all different and I really like them.

 

[Chan Eil Whiskers]

...once broken in a good badger brush can be a pleasure to use at a fraction of the cost of a premium badger.

This isn't what you meant, but it is also true.

Happy shaves,

Jim