Thread: How to dry your brush

I shake mine and then blow dry it with a hair dryer. This is a little pedantic, but then again shaving related OCD is contagious if you spend too much time reading these forums.

I have small raised cabinet next to my sink that all my shaving stuff sits on. After I shake the brush pretty dry, I leave it on its side there, with the bristles hanging off the side. If I think about it, I give it a half turn before I leave for work.

Fred

Originally Posted by Don

Shake the hell out of them then stand them up on a display

Ha, thats what id do.

Bristles hanging down is the most preferred way.

In my mind bristles pointing up invites water to
pool at the base of the knot and interact with the
handle, glue and bristle. Also water invites bacteria
and mold that the soap tends to inhibit.

Modern handle materials and glue (like epoxy)
suffer a lot of abuse. The more expensive the
brush the more care I would take.

Take heart, if you use a brush each day recall that
the oak pilings under Venice have been in the water
and mud for a long time. So water is in itself
not evil.

I have a stand that holds the brush at about 40 degrees
pointing bristles down and I just rinse, shake it out mostly
and put it up. The stand works with a lot of different handle
shapes and sizes too.

Originally Posted by niftyshaving

Bristles hanging down is the most preferred way.

In my mind bristles pointing up invites water to
pool at the base of the knot and interact with the
handle, glue and bristle. Also water invites bacteria
and mold that the soap tends to inhibit.

If you're leaving so much water that this is important you're doing something very wrong and you should stop this practice as soon as you can.

After you have shaken off the brush there should be so little water trapped inside that the capillary effect (pushes water into the knot) is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the gravitational.
At this point in the absence of draft the actual drying is diffusion and convection based, so bristles up is the way to make gravity work in your favor.

Originally Posted by gugi

If you're leaving so much water that this is important you're doing something very wrong and you should stop this practice as soon as you can.

After you have shaken off the brush there should be so little water trapped inside that the capillary effect (pushes water into the knot) is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the gravitational.
At this point in the absence of draft the actual drying is diffusion and convection based, so bristles up is the way to make gravity work in your favor.

No arguments....
Capillary action is as you say, key....

My personal view is well colored by the sad state of common
paint brushes that I find after a "friend" has borrowed them.
I would never put a brush away in the state I get them back...