Omega boar brush - Worst $9 I've ever spent on shaving

[Dustinl]

+1 on what these guys have already said. I have an Omega and a Vulfix boar brush and love them both. When I first started using them I thought they were too stiff. A friend of mine here on the board encouraged me to stick with them and let them break in. As the ends started splitting, i found them getting softer and softer. Now I am 100% sold on boar.


DL

 

[cvac]

To help my boar break in, I aggressively lathered it many times on a bar of bath soap. Then swirled the lather in a mug really hard. Doing that helped the smell go away and the ends to split. It could still soften up some more. Boar brush fans will tell you 3 months is the standard break in time for most of these boar brushes.

 

[Slivovitz]

+ several on the other pro-boar responses. I have one of the low end Omega Boars, bought from Bullgoose, and it's been fine. Smell dissipated within a few uses without any special measures. Wasn't that bad to begin with, but then, I'm not that sensitive. Really excellent for face lathering, and hasn't shed significantly since the first few times I tried it, maybe a hair every now and then. No doubt you can spend more and get a better brush, but there's nothing wrong with these.

 

[The National Razor]

I have it and, while it's certainly stinky, it's getting better as it picks up the fragrances from the soap. At first it didn't lather all that well either, but as it breaks in it's becoming a unstoppable force.

Stick with it!

 

[dlseto]

I have both brushes you mention and I actually prefer my Omega over the Tweezerman. I find the Omega to have a softer touch on my face than the Tweezerman, which I do find a little prickly. Give the Omega a few weeks before to break in.

As for the smell, the vinegar/water soak works well. After the brush soaks in that solution for a minute or two, I add some baking soda to neutralize the vinegar, and then rinse the brush well. Smell gets gone, brush gets soft, and sanitization occurs.

 

[Topgumby]

My Omega, when new, didn't lather, it's true
And at first it smelled like a skunk

But give it some time, it'll lather just fine
And some use will get rid of that funk


I used some Rosemary and Mint bodywash to shampoo the funky smell out of my #49.

I soak the big pig in hot water from a kettle...not boiling, but just short of that. I'll swirl the brush in a cup of the hot water that comes up just shy of the knot. The bristles will splay out once it's taken in enough hot water.

I have to shake and squeeze it after this to get enough water out of the thing to start building lather...it's a real sponge!

After the shave, a hot water rinse, shake and squeeze is followed by some brisk brushing across a towel to help dry it out and beat on the bristle tips a little.

I got mine for Christmas. It didn't really "click" for a half dozen shaves, but after that, abandon all hope, ye hard to lather soaps, for the Omega is your master!

It still continues to evolve and soften, so I don't think I've seen it at it's best even yet, and I find my Omega gets the nod over the badger brushes more often than not!

 

[CzechCzar]

OK guys, boar hair must not be for me.

The Omega brush has a more agressive funk than that badger brush...It smells like pig farm, it makes me actually sick to my stomach sometimes, and in my hands I get a poor lather thats good for one pass IF that.

You are aware that a boar is, quite literally, a form of wild pig, correct?

 

[Hyndon]

Yeah I definitely wouldnt give up on the Boar Brush...Like someone else had said, I would recommend just taking the brush in the shower with you and putting some shampoo on it and hopefully that will get rid of the smell.

Good luck.

 

[FiXXXer]

Boar hair brushes don't actually use the hair from a wild boar. They use hog (domesticated pig) hair, but boar sounds much less offensive. Obviously people would not be going out and hunting wild boar to make shaving brushes, they use hair from the hogs who are already being slaughtered for their meat.

 

[DFrancis]

As many recommend give it a good wash with borax to help, it worked for mine.

 

[warlandsboy]

Boar hair brushes don't actually use the hair from a wild boar. They use hog (domesticated pig) hair, but boar sounds much less offensive. Obviously people would not be going out and hunting wild boar to make shaving brushes, they use hair from the hogs who are already being slaughtered for their meat.

Interesting, thanks for letting us know. I always assumed the hair was from something like the pig on the cover of "Lord of the Flies".

 

[skateblade]

Smell get gone ! Brush get clean ! and Sanitization occurs ! Do you Zig what he's Zaggin !!

 

[dog]

As many recommend give it a good wash with borax to help, it worked for mine.

The Borax didn't do much for my Omega 49. The nice thing about it is that you can use the Borax for a lot of other things as well (see the Borax box.)

I had to launch an all-out assault against the funk to get rid of it from my brush.

I actually received mine last summer (when the weather was nice), and the best thing for it was multiple washings and letting it dry in front of an open window between washings. I think the fresh air did it some good. After two weeks of washing it, drying it in front of the window, and repeating this process, I was finally able to use the brush.

 

[Hansel]

Just to be clear guys...

Yes, I know where it's from.
Yes, I know it'll get better.

It's just that the combination of poor performance and stank are too much for me. I'm going to try the vinegar trick and see if that helps the smell. If I can get rid of the smell, the other two areas I know I can improve.

 

[Go West Young Man]

I'll take it off your hands if you don't want it

 

[Fortitudo Dei]

Six months after getting my Omega 48 it seems to have gotten better with every shave. The smell took about 2-3 weeks to dissipate and it took about 2 months to fully break in. I'm now kicking myself for spending so much money in the past on badger brushes when I could have spent that on a selection of different razors and colognes. I also really like the fact that a big boar brush needs lots of product as anything that uses up my soap collection faster (thus giving me a legitimate excuse to buy new ones) is a bonus as far as I’m concerned.