I had read a couple of complaints about the Omega R&B brush shown—mainly that it was too soft and if you pressed the brush against your skin the knot splays open. I thought I’d re-verify my own experience with the brush by using it this morning, so I brought Meßner Tremonia Indian Flavour shaving soap—a wonderful fragrance, quite unusual—and worked up a good lather. I noticed as I loaded the (shaken-out) brush that more help was needed, so I added three small driblets of water, one at a time, to the brush as I loaded and worked that into the soap and the charge of proto-lather in the brush.
Once it was ready, I worked the lather up on my beard. Although one person said he found the brush difficult to maneuver, I did not experience that at all. However, I am accustomed to this brush and also to using larger boar knots for face lathering—the Omega Pro 48 (10048) works fine for me, and the Omega 20102 is a favorite, and both of those have large knots with long lofts. Another complaint is that the brush splays open if you press it against your face, and that’s certainly true, but I simply avoid pressing it firmly against my face.
Of course, any brush splays open on being pressed, but with a soft knot such as the R&B’s, less pressure is required, so I imagine if you’re accustomed to using a stiff, dense, scrubby brush with firm pressure, the R&B could be a surprise. But the fix is simple: lighten up on the pressure and enjoy the softness of the feel. (I do understand that preferences vary and some prefer a scrubby brush to a soft brush; those will probably like the R&B less than some other boar brushes. But for those who, like me, enjoy a soft, fluffy brush with a light touch, the R&B is quite wonderful.)
This time I had loads of lather for all three passes, no running short at all. So that first experience was, as I thought, operator error.
Three passes with my Merkur 37G slant, and it is indeed a wonderful razor: totally BBS, totally nick-free, and a very easy shave.
A good splash to Pashana to carry on the Indian theme, and the week lurches forward.
Filed under: Shaving
