Omega Black Hi-Brush: better than expected

[awa54]

I recently acquired an Omega Hi-Brush with the black bristle and an olive wood handle. Expectations were low, since even this upscale version is a sub $30 brush, but much to my surprise it's turned out to be the best synthetic I've tried so far. Initial impressions were misleading... the knot is very tall and fairly sparsely packed and the whole presentation had that slightly cheap feel to it that most budget oriented Omega products tend to have, but once lathered all that changed! The combination of bristle resilience, splay and tip texture yields a nice firm and scrubby experience, with a medium sized contact patch on the face.

This might be the first synthetic that I genuinely like the face feel of, it's *not* a badger or even a boar, but it does have legitimate positive qualities for face lathering. It's even a nice looking brush, what more could I ask for $27?

 

[Lee93]

I owned the same model, it was really nice but caused burns on my face due to the prickly tips. I prefer the HI brush, Omega has updated the fibers and now have soft tips and good backbone.
Enjoy your new brush!

 

[Owen Bawn]

I still have a Hi-Brush from 6 or 7 years ago buried somewhere around here- a sort of short barrel shaped barber pole handle. A terrific handle, but the brush was like a rock rake. It felt like my face was being harrowed rather than lathered.

 

[ajkel64]

Sounds like a good brush. Any chance of a photo or two?

 

[awa54]

I owned the same model, it was really nice but caused burns on my face due to the prickly tips. I prefer the HI brush, Omega has updated the fibers and now have soft tips and good backbone.
Enjoy your new brush!

I still have a Hi-Brush from 6 or 7 years ago buried somewhere around here- a sort of short barrel shaped barber pole handle. A terrific handle, but the brush was like a rock rake. It felt like my face was being harrowed rather than lathered.

It sounds like they changed the bristle design since the brushes you guys got, this one is firm and scrubby, but not at all prickly or scratchy. The bristles on mine have a smooth taper to a soft tip that doesn't scrub until you increase pressure quite a bit and even then there's no scritch.

Subjectively I think it could best be compared to the feel of a good tall lofted boar that hasn't been thoroughly soaked, pure badger with soft tips, or two band with fine (but not gel) tips... It really has its own unique feel, but it's not too far off of those references as far as scrubbing ability and resilience of the knot.

 

[awa54]

and the requested photo:

 

[BigJ]

Congratulations!! Great when things work far better than expected!

 

[Balthier]

I might have to try one someday. I have a turn n shave ghost knot that is fairly scrubby with no scritch. It's my favorite synthetic so far, although the scrub is good I would like a bit more scritch.

 

[awa54]

yep, the more shaves I get with this brush the more I like it. Definitely the best synth to date!

 

[Benzadmiral]

I recently acquired an Omega Hi-Brush with the black bristle and an olive wood handle. Expectations were low, since even this upscale version is a sub $30 brush, but much to my surprise it's turned out to be the best synthetic I've tried so far. Initial impressions were misleading... the knot is very tall and fairly sparsely packed and the whole presentation had that slightly cheap feel to it that most budget oriented Omega products tend to have, but once lathered all that changed! The combination of bristle resilience, splay and tip texture yields a nice firm and scrubby experience, with a medium sized contact patch on the face.

This might be the first synthetic that I genuinely like the face feel of, it's *not* a badger or even a boar, but it does have legitimate positive qualities for face lathering. It's even a nice looking brush, what more could I ask for $27?

Where did you buy it?

 

[awa54]

Where did you buy it?

Gifts and Care from Spain

 

[Benzadmiral]

Gifts and Care from Spain

I couldn't get their website to work for me. It says I need an "active session" to check out, which I suspect means "create an account," and I hate doing that. There was a shop in Malaysia, charmwise.com.my, which I'd never heard of, and another in Germany (dambiro.de) that doesn't ship to the US. A Qwant search for that model brought up The Razor Company in Michigan. They had it in stock for the same price as the German and Malaysian sites, with free shipping too.

 

[Balthier]

You can get one type with a darker(walnut?) type handle from razor emporium.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Received the Omega Hi-Brush yesterday and used it this morning, with Palmolive Menthol cream and my 1962 Slim. A most excellent lather and shave. And the brush looks really sharp.