First (new) boar

Ordered an Omega 10098, having good luck with a couple boars lately, figure I might need another one with summer coming on...

Yanked it out of the fridge because it was softer out of the box than the other boars I've had.

Test lather:



Did pretty well, busted out some sick lather almost immediately. Seeing that, I have zero idea why I've wasted so much time with artisan badgers except that they're cool as hell...

It's pretty soft already compared to the Envy and the TNS, stoked to try this tomorrow. Bristly? Nah......it's really soft already, digging it.

Also just as an aside, this thing was $12 shipped. TWELVE DOLLARS.

I've literally paid over $150 for a cool (IMO) artisan badger brush, and I've done it way more than once. CMON...

I kind of want to yank some badger knots out and replace them with some Omega/Zenith boar knots now...

Love a good boar

The Omega 10098 is a great brush IMHO. I have both Omega and Semogue and tend to prefer Omega brushes. Others prefer Semogue. They have very different bristles. An Omega is a wonderful brush once broken in , but it can take a while if you are breaking it in through normal use. When new, it was too rough for my face, so I tried another method to break it in quickly. You may or may not want to try this as there is a risk of ruining the brush.

I took a pan of water and brought it to a boil. Then I took it off the heat and allowed the water to cool for about five minutes. I dipped the tips (no more than 1/2" deep) into the hot water for a couple of seconds until you see the bristles react. Then remove the brush from the water and allow the bristles to cool until there is no more steaming. Then repeat the process of dipping and cooling. After a few times, you will see the tips of the brush start to split. My Omega is now as soft as my premium silvertip badger brushes costing 10 times as much. Obviously, there is a risk of damaging the brush if the water is to hot or you leave it in too long, but I figured that the brush was inexpensive, so the risk was not unreasonable and the potential reward was great. There are other methods for breaking in a boar brush that others have tried as well.

BTW- I tried this with my Semogue brushes as well, but it does not work on the Semogue bristles like it did on the Omega, so I only suggest using the hot water method on Omega boar.