New Omega Evo Synthetic Brushes

I always read comparisons that conclude, that even the new synths do not perfectly replicate badger.

Perhaps you should let go of the animal past?
I'm quite new only wet shaving for about 25 years. For the first 20 years I could not afford a decent brush, so I used a really cheap badger and a cheap boar.

After a particularly bad rebound to canned goo I tried to inform myself. I soon realized that a really good badger would set me off 200$ or more.

So after reading about progress I ventured into synthetics. 200$ gets you between 4 and 10 brushes.

I now own a whole shelf of different brushes now.  That they all differ from each other makes my experience interesting. But all work quite well. As I never owned a really good badger i have no clue how they would compare. But i have come to the conclusion that I do not care 300+$ enough to care / find out. +

Are you comparing to badger for feel or are you able to broaden you assessment to focus on how it works?

br
godek

I was referring more to backbone. I understand that synthetics will never have the same face feel as badgers. At least not yet.
Thanks for your reply.
Cheap boars are great by the way! My best boar so far has been my cheapest, and that's the omega 10049.

Just a hard guess here ...
It won’t take long until special filament coatings like Micro Crystal Filament and/or
special surface textures like Embossed Filament will be incorporated into the manufacturing of shaving brush synthetic fibers .That would be the so-called “5th generation” of synthetic shaving brushes .
Expect much more than “real badger hair feel “,then...

Cormay is the sole manufacturer of all the different fibers which are
used on the knots originating from China.
All of them.
Cormay is also the inventor of the two 
aforementioned new technologies
( MCF & EMF ) .
http://www.cormaynm.com/en/a/Beauty_make...echnology/

So,it won’t take that long until the very
first 5th gen synthetic shaving brushes hit
the market .

There’s no possibility for animal hair ,
which is mainly used to keep the animal warm, to be better in any aspect versus a man-made
fiber designed and made specifically for the
purpose.

Thing is that most available synthetic shaving brushes are made from fibers designed & used for make-up cosmetic brushes.
Very few synthetic filaments are actually designed for shaving purposes ( like the Silvertip Fibre of the Muhle/Edwin Jagger brushes , for example).

Just a hard guess here ...
It won’t take long until special filament coatings like Micro Crystal Filament and/or
special surface textures like Embossed Filament will be incorporated into the manufacturing of shaving brush synthetic fibers .That would be the so-called “5th generation” of synthetic shaving brushes .
Expect much more than “real badger hair feel “,then...

Cormay is the sole manufacturer of all the different fibers which are
used on the knots originating from China.
All of them.
Cormay is also the inventor of the two 
aforementioned new technologies
( MCF & EMF ) .
http://www.cormaynm.com/en/a/Beauty_make...echnology/

So,it won’t take that long until the very
first 5th gen synthetic shaving brushes hit
the market .

There’s no possibility for animal hair ,
which is mainly used to keep the animal warm, to be better in any aspect versus a man-made
fiber designed and made specifically for the
purpose.

Thing is that most available synthetic shaving brushes are made from fibers designed & used for make-up cosmetic brushes.
Very few synthetic filaments are actually designed for shaving purposes ( like the Silvertip Fibre of the Muhle/Edwin Jagger brushes , for example).

I hope you're right about the newer generation making it to shaving brushes soon.
I don't know the heck you guys find some of this information but thanks!

Gen 1  : Plain Nylon #6 strands
Gen 2 : Material changed from Nylon to PBT type  ,tips are now rounded / smoothed 
Gen 3 : Fibers are now tapered .Very soft tips  .
Gen 3,5 / 4  : Fibers are made  "wavy"  for better water retention ,lather flowthrough and lower bend resistance
? Gen 5 : Special filament sufrace textures and/or special surface coatings are applied .


BTW ,  there's a rumor that the Omega Evo uses DuPont's " Natrafil  " filament or (most probably* ) the  K.R.'s " Krex  " filament ,
as also there's a rumor that the STF filament is custom made by BASF and everything else about it is a very well kept secret .
So , there's little possibility that the Omega Evo brushes do share the exact same fiber type with Muehle / Edwin Jagger synthetic brushes.



*Omega and KREX filaments already do have a "relationship"  :
https://www.omegabrush.com/products/s-95...2/?lang=en

KREX filaments are easy to be found in Italy :
https://www.poglianisrl.com/synthetic-filaments


KREX filaments are produced in Thailand by KR Plastics Co.
https://www.brushexpert.com/directory/company/2190
https://krplas.com/index.php/products/

Gen 1  : Plain Nylon #6 strands
Gen 2 : Material changed from Nylon to PBT type  ,tips are now rounded / smoothed 
Gen 3 : Fibers are now tapered .Very soft tips  .
Gen 3,5 / 4  : Fibers are made  "wavy"  for better water retention ,lather flowthrough and lower bend resistance
? Gen 5 : Special filament sufrace textures and/or special surface coatings are applied .


BTW ,  there's a rumor that the Omega Evo uses DuPont's " Natrafil  " filament or (most probably* ) the  K.R.'s " Krex  " filament ,
as also there's a rumor that the STF filament is custom made by BASF and everything else about it is a very well kept secret .
So , there's little possibility that the Omega Evo brushes do share the exact same fiber type with Muehle / Edwin Jagger synthetic brushes.



*Omega and KREX filament already do have a "relationship"  :
https://www.omegabrush.com/products/s-95...2/?lang=en

KREX filaments are easy to be found in Italy :
https://www.poglianisrl.com/synthetic-filaments
http://www.pennelligieffe.com/en/krex/

KREX filaments is produced in Thailand by KR Plastics Co.
https://www.brushexpert.com/directory/company/2190
https://krplas.com/index.php/products/

Great info! So I'm guessing that plissoft/plisson, tuxedo and the like are all gen 4?

Great info! So I'm guessing that plissoft/plisson, tuxedo and the like are all gen 4?

Thank you !
Yes,they are all fourth gen synthetic brushes  .
But maybe the fibers used  are not designed for shaving purposes ...
...Neither are the badger's ,horse's and pig's hair ,actually  !
But all of the aforementioned seem to do the job just fine ,in their own different ways ...

Great info! So I'm guessing that plissoft/plisson, tuxedo and the like are all gen 4?

Thank you !
Yes,they are all fourth gen synthetic brushes  .
But maybe the fibers used  are not designed for shaving purposes ...
...Neither are the badger's ,horse's and pig's hair ,actually  !
But all of the aforementioned seem to do the job just fine ,in their own different ways ...

You're definitely right! Those make-up brush fibers work great for shaving, as does animal hair haha!

shaveSymptomatic Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but did you ever wind up getting an Omega EVO? If so, just curious about your experience.

I plan to get one, assuming WCS can keep the handle combo I want in stock long enough for me to buy, that is.

shaveSymptomatic  Sorry if I missed this somewhere, but did you ever wind up getting an Omega EVO?  If so, just curious about your experience.

I plan to get one, assuming WCS can keep the handle combo I want in stock long enough for me to buy, that is.

I have been shaving almost exclusively with animal hair before I got my EVO in mid February.  I am seven shaves in now, and I like the EVO - not yet as much as my favorite badgers and boars, but I do like it.  As nearly as I can recall (because it has been so long since I shaved with a synth), the EVO's splay and backbone are as good as any synthetic I've tried, or close to it.  OTOH, while I have several synthetics, including an assortment of brands, I generally dislike their backbone, splay, or both.  Also, as nearly as I can tell, I don't require as much backbone as some folks do, and I mention this because very possibly YMMV.  

Where the EVO's really stands out is water retention, in respect to which it is clearly much better than any other synthetic I have run across.  At the end of every shave, a great deal of lather can be squeezed from the knot - lather that is a bit too wet IMO.  OTOH the lather I shave with has varied from superb to edging towards the dry side.  I'm beginning to wonder if the EVO was "made to be mashed", but really, I just don't understand this.

So I still have some things to figure out about the EVO.  I did my first five shaves face lathering, and that was enough to convince me that the EVO well exceeds my typical synthetic brush experience.  I plan to bowl lather for a while, and see if I can figure out how to better dial in my technique with the brush.  I am committed to a Fixed Four deal on another forum, so I will be using the EVO for the whole month of March.  Hopefully I will handle the brush better by then, but even as it stands now, the EVO has become my goto synthetic, and it will be spending time in my Dopp kit, if not in my den.

Nice to see someone else feels the water retention is improved. Makes me wonder if any of the synthetic knots for sale matches the Evo in regards to water retention.