Omega Shaving Brush

Received this brush the day after ordering. I was looking for a big brush, but this took me by surprise. The bristles hold enough lather for a 4 pass shave and the length makes them feel as soft as a badger. The handle is plastic so no paint to chip if you drop it and in my months of using it doesn't shed. The quality is excellent for a brush in this price point. Lathers my face in seconds due to the size. Whats not to love?

I wrote the review "Too much loft". After four months use I have changed my opinion somewhat on this brush. More bristles have split making it softer, and more importantly better able to retain water and lather. I have been using the brush with Proraso soap. Now the the brush is broken in I can use the press and twist technique both to pick up soap from the puck as well as raise a lather on my face. I use about twice as much time to raise a lather with this brush as a badger brush, but when I have raised lather the brush has enough to lather a small dog! The brush is scrubby, so much so that any user who practices exfoliation does not need to when using this brush. The finish is nott great. The gold colour on the plastic ring that holds the knot together is falling off in small pieces, but as long as the bristles stay in I don't care - it was a cheap brush.

It is rare to use the words "Too much" when reviewing a shaving brush but this is the case here. I wanted a brush with a big knot, and this one certainly has. I have never lathered with a brush with so much loft (tall bristles) before. Unfortunately the lather sinks down into the bristles. It is possible to squeeze it up to the tips again, but that lather is somewhat short lived. If I were to buy another Omega brush I would choose one with less loft. Build quality was poor - the knot fell out after two weeks! I have glued it back in with Araldite epoxy glue, but this should not be necessary after such little use. The brush has the usual characteristics of a boar brush: Strong smell at first, but this fades almost to nothing after a couple of weeks. The first few days it feels like lathering with a scrubbing brush, but the tips split and the bristles soften after a few weeks, but it will never be as soft as a badger brush. On the plus side it has plenty of backbone!

When I opened the box this Omega brush looked much bigger than I thought. It lathers extremely well on my hard shaving soap. The bristles are so large that I covered my entire face with lather within seconds. It has plenty of backbone but the bristles feel as soft as a silvertip and this on the first shave already! I have a heavy beard and yet my shave went extremely well and smoothly. One minor caveat is the large handle: It is almost too big to hold in my not that small hands. Still, this brush is great value for your money, with its long loft and its wide knot it holds plenty of lather for a boar brush and it does give you the much sought-after exfoliation action to soften the toughest beards.