Omega Brushes are lot of bang for buck

Was looking for New Synthetic or Badger, the more I look the more I say another Omega.

Available many places, and very competitive prices.

Not fancy, just functional.

I always found Omega boar bristle bushes to be a little on the rough side compared to Semogue and Zenith.  Omegas took longer to break in, never got tips as soft and had a stronger animal smell. However, a year of so ago I picked up a cheap 10066 as part of a soap/brush kit. This is a $10.00 boar bristle plastic handle brush:





 I actually bought it for someone else as a gift but wanted to properly break in the brush and test out the soap.  I was really impressed.  It had very little animal smell, broke in quickly but still had the backbone that Omega is famous for.  Now I have no idea how long it is going to last but it shed very little and was much nicer than any Omega knot that I remember. They must be doing something new with their bristle processing that is more like Semogue.

Oh, and I currently have one Omega badger: 




It is a black badger.   I think it is beautiful but it definitely is pokey...has OK backbone but nothing like a boar bristle.  Is good at retaining heat and does not need to be soaked like a boar, so it is good if you are in a hurry.