Thread: Cleaning and maintaining a shaving brush

I rinse mine in hot water and shake it dry in the shower. some people hang it from a stand I stand mine up and let it dry. My dad's old brush when I dug it out of the cedar chest was bent so bad that it looked like a 7. I heated water to a simmer and added fabric softener and soaked it. May have been the wrong thing to do but it worked to some degree. it still leans to one direction but for the most part it works ok.

There are a few vids out there that show you how to clean a shave brush but I have not tried any of them. I have never really cleaned a shave brush save for rinsing it out thoroughly post shave and letting it dry either standing on it's base or hanging inverted. Be interesting to see if others have a specific more thorough cleaning process done on a periodic basis above and beyond normal post use cleaning and drying.

Bob

Warm water (a lot of it) immediately after use. Shake dry, drag it gently across a hanging towel. Hang upside down for a day to dry. Afterwards, back on the shelf (upright) until next time around. Should always wait a couple days before using again...so they say. Good excuse to have at least 2-3 brushes in rotation.

I'm not sure who "they" are Phoenix, but my dad used the same brush every day for as long as I was aware (at least 20 years) and it looked and felt better than some I bought did on the day I bought them. I'm fairly sure that badger hair is pretty resilient and that I'm no where near as hard on it as the badger was. That being said, I have about 3 favorites that I tend to switch between if I use a mug instead of face lathering, or am using a cream instead of a soap. I pretty much rinse them under running water, shake into the shower and swipe across my hand towel, then hang, bristles down.

Originally Posted by Phoenix51

Warm water (a lot of it) immediately after use. Shake dry, drag it gently across a hanging towel. Hang upside down for a day to dry. Afterwards, back on the shelf (upright) until next time around. Should always wait a couple days before using again...so they say. Good excuse to have at least 2-3 brushes in rotation.

I think the most logical response I ever saw to the question of 'cleaning' (as opposed to rinsing, drying, storing on a daily basis) was to remember that, assuming it is not a synthetic, these things are made from hair. So use hair cleaning products.

Very very occasionally I will use shampoo and conditioner on my brushes. But really I make a point of rinsing them really well after use, then drying and storing it properly, so I imagine I really don't need to do even that. But if you feel the brush could use a cleaning, give regular old shampoo a shot. After all it works for cleaning your hair, right?

Now, getting rid of the badger funk on a brand new brush is a whole other question...

Have never cleaned a badger brush,one of mine I bought 30 yrs ago,is in perfect condition.
Rinse in water, shake hang is what I have always done.
Have been running an experiment,my user brush has never been rinsed or dried,going on a year now.is in fine condition.

For me, thorough rinsing after use, followed by a squeeze, then light strokes on a towel, is sufficient most of the time. Then, maybe once or twice a year, I'll soak my brushes in water/baby shampoo mix for 10 minutes. My water is moderately hard, yet this seems sufficient. For a more thorough clean, I will simply give a soak in water/washing up liquid mix for 10 minutes prior to the baby shampoo.

Treat them as you would your own hair.
Every 3 months the brushes in my rotation get the best conditioner on the market,,, Paul Mitchell, certain Pantene's,, now I'm using the Pantene Keratin Repair, my badgers seem to like this.

If you thoroughly rinse the brush after every use and shake out excess water and allow it to air dry you should never have to do anything further. The only caveat there is if you have seriously bad water quality. Then you might need some of the treatment discussed.

I have a badger hair brush I've used for 5 years now and all I've done with it is rinse with hot tap water after use, shake out excess water, gently brush remaining water out on towel then hang bristles down to dry. Have never cleaned with anything and its doing just fine.