I'm new to wet shaving. I've been wanting to get in to it for a while I've just been unable to save my money long enough to purchase anything (woodworking, fly fishing and biking seem to suck up a lot of my available funds).
Anyway, for Christmas my wife got me a Dovo Shavette to learn on, figuring I'd be less likely to cut completely through my jugular with it. I'm up to shaving my whole face and neck with it (minus the under beard parts, but those seem to shrink regularly as I'm enjoying how smooth my face feels).
Anyway, If any of you have experience with an HJM boar bristle brush, is it worth the extra $2 over an Omega? A local place, Old Dominion Soap, has what seems to be a decent deal on brush, brush holder, soap and soap dish that I'm thinking about picking up. Right now I'm the Van Der Hagen kit that cost $10 (soap, lather bowl and brush) from the local drug store and I've got a sneaky suspicion that any brush will be an upgrade from that thing.

I'm looking forward to getting proficient and taking the training wheels off and eventually upgrading to a "real" straight razor as.