So my omega came in the mail today, and as promised, I am giving my side by side comparison of both products. The boars hair brush was 9 bucks, and TAOS badger brush was 120 bucks.
Disclaimer: The boars hair brush is nowhere near broken in, and I am also a newb to wet shaving. It might be possible that I am doing everything wrong.
Comfort: Right off the bat, the omega brush was noticeably stiffer. Plenty of backbone as recommended. Using the boars hair first, than the fine badger hair, you could tell the difference in comfort immediately. The fine badger hair felt like cotton, or fluffy clouds next to the boars hair. The stiffness of the boars hair really didn't bother me that much, but if say on a day my skin was irritated from a rough shave from the day before, I could see how the badger brush would be a welcome luxury. But the stiffness of the boars hair is not a problem.
Boars hair brushAttachment 193800 Badger hair brushAttachment 193801
Loading: The omega boars brush picked up a ton of soap in a really short amount of time. I was really impressed by this, and this was one of the reasons I decided to buy a stiffer boars hair brush in the first place. The omega did exactly what I bought it for. I bought a bunch of these little sample soaps from mikes natural soaps. And the tiny size gave me a lot of trouble with my badger brush. It took a really long time trying to load soap into the brush. Speed wise, the boars hair brush won by a long shot. The time saved loading the brush made this purchase 100% worth it. I can load the badger brush just as good, but it just takes me much longer. This might have to do with my technique, so I wouldn't rule that out. But even if that was the case, that just means the learning curve on the boars brush was just that much easier.
The small sample soapsAttachment 193799
Lather: Again, speed-wise, the boars hair brush was able to build a lather much quicker. I was able to whip it up in under a min, compared to the badger brush, it took me 5 mins. The quality of the lather however was also very different. I used the same soap for both brushes, but the badger brush whipped up a much richer, smoother, creamier lather. With the boars brush, after I got to the point where I had an acceptable lather, even if I spent more time lathering, the quality of the lather wouldn't improve. I give it 5 mins, and the quality still didn't improve. Where as the badger brush kept getting better and better. In the speed dept, the boars hair won, but quality-wise, the badger brush took the W.
Boars brush lather.Attachment 193802 The badgers hair latherAttachment 193803
Final verdict. I am extremely happy with my boars brush purchase. I think this brush will replace my badger brush as the new daily brush. It just gets the job done much quicker. And that is exactly why I purchased this brush. The goal was speed. However, I still love my badger hair brush. It is much more expensive, and it is a luxury. So on days when time is not an issue, I will bust this brush out as a treat to pamper myself. You can definitely feel the difference on why one cost more than the other. The quality of the performance stands out as well.
