Thread: My brush smells like, Badger?!!

20 Mule Team Borax

But it will go away on it's own too, I would not have used the bleach, just a hint, you might want to wait 24 hours in the future,and ask right here at SRP and wait for an answer before doing anything potentially harmful to your shave gear...

I've heard that setting it in direct sunlight will help too, but I never have got around to trying that one.

A lot of them smell like a deal animal, because it is. Normally, the smell will wear away over time. Creating lather and shaving helps.

+1 on the borax. I use it about once a year on all my brushes for a good cleaning.

P.S. Rinse the hell out of your brush. Make sure you get all traces of bleach out. Mix baking soda and water and soak the brush. That will neutralize the bleach. (Bleach is an acid, Baking soda is a base)

yes, the bleach can turn your bristles blond and eat them up not to mention some of it getting on your face. Just some good shampoo should do it. Borax works great too.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

... you might want to wait 24 hours in the future,and ask right here at SRP and wait for an answer before doing anything potentially harmful to your shave gear...

+1 for this advice.
Unfortunately, as a noob, realizing that an action IS potentially harmful to shave gear isn't always easy to recognize.

I've jumped the gun on more expensive issues because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
NOW, if I'm about to do ANYTHING that isn't standard, I first do a google search of the forum and then post.

Hopefully this lesson has been learned on a "...cheap Amazon brush."

What you're smelling is urine from the bristles off of a male animal. It's the sameas as like with a billy goat. Wash the brush with dish soap to get the animal oils of of the hair and then wash it with your regular shampoo. Then hang it outside overnight to dry. It will take a week or so for the stink to go away but eventually it will. I had one that stank so bad that it smelled up the entire house. Now it smells just fine; i.e., no smell.

I agree the scent will wear off over time. You can give it a shampoo bath, just like you would with human hair which may do the trick. Otherwise, if you have very strong scented soaps or creams like Tabac that may also do the trick.

Shampoo and conditioner for me in the shower then let it fully dry out. Went from wet dog to normal.

Just rinsed for a few minutes and id some lather on mine.

I might be a little weird, but i really didn't mind the whole badger smell. Kind of added to the allure of using something natural like badger hair.

Wash with shampoo and then do a couple lathering cycles without putting it on your face. I haven't met a smell yet that can survive that treatment.