Purchased an Omega 13564 boar brush on sale for $5 from Maggard on Black Friday.

The knot is small (20mm?) but the loft is kind of tall for a little shaving brush and the knot as a whole is very stiff with much backbone (making it good as a hard soap-killer).

3-4 times a week I'd use Conk soap to lather the brush then let it dry with the soap on it then rinse and repeat. Some weeks I'd do it once and during a week or two I just let it sit with the dried lather on it.

And now after 2 months it's sweet. The knot is still pretty stiff with the same backbone but the tips have all split and are nice and soft. Well, soft for a boar.

As I own several other brushes I was fine with the time it took to break it in. I look forward to including it in my rotation esp. when using Arko or hard milled soaps.

It's odd, isn't it? I probably have 30-40 brushes. Some are gifts. Most are expensive badger of all sizes. 2 of my favorites are a couple of old Semogue boars.

Hard to explain.

I've found the best way to break in a boar brush is to first clean it with dawn dish soap.
then soak it in cold water, in the refrigerator for 3 days (72 full hours). Then wash with dawn again.

it's soft enough to use at that point and the smell is all but gone.

I have a super cheap Omega boar brush that came in a kit. It’s what I started with and I knew it wasn’t high quality but a good way to determine if wet shaving was for me without spending a ton on a nice brush. After I decided I liked wet shaving I bought a very nice badger brush. I use the Omega for travel and actually really enjoy it. Once broken in from daily use (I don’t remember how long it took) it’s pretty soft compared to when new and makes a nice lather.