OmegaShaving Brush #10048 Boar Bristle Aka The PRO 48

I bought this brush about a year ago and I have another in my Amazon cart that I'm getting for a backup. I have a premium badger brush, this brush and the Omega Pro 98. This is my favorite brush. Yes its huge (2.76H" x 1.1W" loft, 5.3" total length). Yes its hog hair and yes it has an abs plastic handle. After breaking it in it is as soft as my premium grade A badger brush and the handle is well weighted for a plastic handle. It doesn't matter what soap or cream you use it will create a huge amount of lather. It's great with both but I prefer soap because in my experience they last a bit longer than creams. My favorite shaving soap is Mitchell's Wool Fat and the Pro 48 and 98 make loads of lather with Mitchell's. The difference between the 48 and 98 is that the hairs on the 98 are a tad shorter (by 1/4') than the 48 and the hairs of the 98 seem more densely packed than the 48. This and the shorter loft gives the 98 a lot more stiffness and backbone. If you only shave periodically or really like a stiff brush the 98 may be a better choice to really work the whiskers into the lather. My 48 brush has only lost a few hairs in the year I've owned it and I and my son have not always treated it kindly. Its been dropped on hard floors several times, stuck in nearly boiling water, left overnight with shaving soap in it and left overnight sitting in water and it is still in great shape. With this said I'm surprised by other reviews stating they had a lot of hair loss with this brush - maybe they got bad ones or they're doing something they shouldn't like picking up the brush by the hairs or whiplashing the water out of it or cleaning the sink with the brush after shaving or squeezing the base of the loft into a metal brush/razor holder that's too small- all have adverse effects and should be avoided. I've found that gently sqeezing out excess water and stropping this brush on a towel and leaving it stand on its base is better than using a brush stand that's a few mm too small. what makes other boars so harsh is when the mfg company clips the hairs to shape them - this prevents the hairs from splitting and softening up - Omega does NOT do this with any of their brushes which is the secret for a great boar brush. For $11 this brush is a steal!

After my previous shaving brush came apart, I ordered this one expecting more of the same. Wrong. This one is firmer, whereas the previous was softer. Firmer is better. I don't know whether it actually exfoliates, I just love the way it massages my face. That's not quite the right word. Let's just say it feels great, and I look forward to lathering up every morning with this one. By the way, it's almost time to order more Proraso.

A fantastic natural boar bristle brush, at a great price!As other reviewers have noted, this brush will take a week or so to be broken in. Once broken in, you've got yourself one fantastic shaving accessory.The ergonomics of the handle are comfortable in your hand, and the bristles are just the right length, and the shape of the crown of the brush lends to good distribution of your shaving soap, cream, etc.I generally don't like plastic handles, and I am not one for chrome, but the value and performance far outweigh my personal preferences. This is a brush that you should NOT overlook!A few things to note, and I am sure these points have been covered by other reviewers (but they may bear repeating): As a natural boar bristle product, this brush must be broken in. Why? Because 1) The bristles need to soften, or as some say "season". 2) You're probably not going to like the bristle's smell for the first week or so. 3) You need to work out any loose bristles. Once broken in, you've got yourself a reliable, high quality brush!If you're interested, I broke my brush in and deodorized it by soaking it handle up in warm water with a good quality shampoo (luckily my wife uses the good stuff), for a couple of hours. DO NOT soak the entire brush, handle and all. You don't want to compromise the binding in the handle, right? After the two hour soak, I worked in some conditioner, and let that sit for fifteen minutes, and rinsed it off. I allowed the brush to air dry, and when it was completely dry, I grabbed my favorite tub of Proraso, and worked up a heavy lather on the brush, being careful to work the lather into the bristles. I then let the brush sit overnight. Yes, the lather will dry out, but what you are doing here is helping to "season" the brush. The conditioners, and fragrance will set in the brush as it dries. What was accomplished was that the brush was conditioned, and the rather unpleasant (to me at least) odor of wet boar was replaced by the pleasant aroma of my shaving cream. The next morning, all I had to do was rinse my brush, and put it into service.Overall, I'm very pleased with this brush, and would recommend it to those new to the more civilized shaving techniques, as well as those that are just looking for a new or different brush for their shaving routine.