New Vie-Long - What a stinker!

I've been a wet shaver all my life, and until recently, when I started SR shaving (and joined the forum), I'd been a boar brush user. Cheap Wilkinson Sword brush lasted me for years and did the trick, no frills. When I started SR shaving, I upgraded (IMHO) to best badger and silvertip badger. I'm of an age now when I deserve to spoil myself a bit!

I've just bought a Vie-Long horse hair, just to try it. It was cheap enough, so, nothing ventured...

The first most noticeable thing is... The stink! It's absolutely rancid! I've washed it three times now and there's still quite a pungent odour. I've been around horses most of my life and they don't smell like that!

I've bought the brush to use as a travel brush, but if the smell doesn't go, it's going in the bin! Will the smell go?

I always soak my new brushes in Oxyclean before use. Sometimes twice. Nothing worse than 'new brush' smell, I agree.
My Vie Long horse cleaned up easily and has had no smell. I don't know what the equivalent to Oxyclean is in UK.
Perhaps same? Gawd, passing that in front of the nose is no fun!
Strangely, some deal with it til it goes away, including badger and boar. Not me! :p

I think I've read that a Borax soak will work

When the brush is dry, slather it in hair conditioner. I use Aveda and let it sit for up to a week. Worse the stink the longer it drys.
Till it is crusty hard. Then soak in a glass of warm water till it softens. Then rinse and put into service. Pick your scent of hair conditioner and give it a go.

Hey Wayne my omega 100098 stank like an alcoholic tramps trousers for a while when I first got it but the smell went away after maybe a dozen or so uses And it is a great brush.

It might be worth just lathering it up and rinsing it out a couple of dozen times with some cheap ish soap and see how it reacts.

The HarryWally Silvertip I just received took 5 trips on D.R. Harris before I got rid of the dirt and smell.

For the OP, you may want to try hair shampoo and hair conditioner. I have used that regimen on some stinkers.

Ed's approach is probably the best. Soap/rinse it till the stink goes away.

Sympathies here. After I got the stink out of mine I liked it for a while. Then the core stayed very stiff while, rather quickly, the outer plume went/stayed limp around 75 uses. I mentioned my disappointment to the local retailer and their Canadian distributor very decently sent me a new brush. In about the same amount of time this one did the opposite - the core went limp and the outer plume stayed stiff and prickly. To bad because I like the handle look, size and weight. I hope your long term results are more pleasing than mine.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/crphvawlr6...0x550.jpg?dl=1


As Ian Fleming admonished, "One is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times enemy action." Suspicious as I am of coincidence and not risking a third failure I am ripping out the knots on both of them today and hunting up one boar and one badger replacement knot; I do like the handles.

My Thater 4292/5 really smelled bad when I first used it. After about two weeks, the smell was gone. Have a 4292/3 in the mail and expect the same.

I'd just use it daily and all will be well soon.

Didn't know new brushes could smell that bad. I guess they're not like new cars.
What causes the bad smell??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JP5

Didn't know new brushes could smell that bad. I guess they're not like new cars.
What causes the bad smell??

---

We had a Basset Hound for many years. She needed a bath every week.

The dirt is what I do not understand.

Am I correct is assuming the hides/hair is not washed before assembly?

I dunno, but I toss the knots in Oxyclean before I even install them. Stanky!

I've washed the brush about a dozen times now, allowing it to dry between washes. It still has an unpleasant odour, but it is fading. I'm determined to keep at it, as although it was cheap, it's going to be my travel brush. I hate the thought of losing one of my prized badger brushes.

I don't know why it smells so bad, as I've been experimenting with making some of my own brushes with silvertip badger and they don't smell at all.

Well, keep at it. I really like mine!

In the beginning I just took the brush with me in the shower and shampooed it fir a few days before trying it out ,, I just couldn't take the smell , same way with some soaps I just couldn't put it on my face , now what I do is. When I get a new brush I keep some MWF around, then I just Palm lather the heck out of it several times in one sitting and after that it is all better , and this gives me an excuse to use my MWF. cayse it's al lonely there on the shelf. Tc. But I might try what atom does , would be quicker , I could always use the Mitchell's for something else.

I've had four brand spanking new brushes, two badgers (Thäter and New Forest), a boar (Semogue) and a Vie Long horse. The Semogue smelled just a bit, the Vie Long rook some soaking in washing-up liquid to get the funk out of it.

A brush that costs over €40 and still stinks would raise some questions on my behalf, in a way similar to as if such brush would lose lots of bristles on a regular basis.

Which the Vie Long also did. But I think it was €8. And after the shedding had pretty much dissipated and the stink was gone, I quite liked it. But no match for a two-band Thäter silvertip (which never smelled of anything but my shaving product and has not shed a single hair that I can remember).

Just received another Thater two band silver tip yesterday, a 4292/3. When wet it stinks just as bad as my 4292/5 did. It will go away in a couple of weeks of use. When I save up enough I'll order a 4292/4 to fill out the series. Fantastic brushes and I don't think I've lost a hair off the 4292/5 since I got it. I can deal with the smell for a couple weeks, knowing how great a brush it is.

Just the nature of the beast, I guess.

You get what you pay for! After about 20 washes now, the unpleasant odour has gone. Thus, the brush survives! It will travel with me from now on.

A large part of the smell on these brushes is due to the chemicals they use to process the hairs in the manufacturing and sterilization process. Some of the scent (oils in the hair) from the animal itself can also remain on the hairs, depending on how much the brush was processed that can also cause some of the bad smell.

Inevitably, after a few lathering cycles, the smell will dissipate and then be gone entirely. It never sticks around forever.

All of my natural hair brushes had a stank when I first got them, except for my 2 Semogues. They must treat the hair to kill the stink before shipping. But anyway: Shampooing the bristles (wifes shampoo) and applying conditioner a couple of times did the trick. I have found Van der Hagen luxury scented soap does a fine job of covering / killing the smell too. I have a travel brush (silver tip turn back) that was really bad after a trip where it was put up a little wet. The VDH took the smell out when shampooing failed. I lathered it up, let it dry over night and then rinsed it out in the morning.

The smell from my new Thater was gone in three days, my first Thater took a good two weeks before it was gone. Great brushes.

I guess I have been lucky because both of my new brushes so far have been smell-free! I have one on the way now so I will see about this one. At least I have some ideas to de-smell it if it is bad now:)

My HARRYWALLY brush took about 4-5 shave.
My gssixgun, Holy Hounds of Hell, once water hit it I knew the fur came from the Badgers butt. Probably that spot right under the cyclops pink eye.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by edhewitt

Hey Wayne my omega 100098 stank like an alcoholic tramps trousers for a while when I first got it but the smell went away after maybe a dozen or so uses And it is a great brush.

It might be worth just lathering it up and rinsing it out a couple of dozen times with some cheap ish soap and see how it reacts.

---

:roflmao I love the analogy you used!

Use Dawn dishwashing liquid. Put the Dawn in glass of warm water and soak the brush for about 10 minutes. Take the brush out and put a little Dawn in the middle of the brush and swirl around your hand. When it suds up rinse with warm water and make sure all the soap is out. I've used Dawn to take out every type of stain and it is great on all brushes. You may need to do it twice but it works and really helps your brush retain water and lather.

My Vie Long smelled like a wet, sweaty horse blanket that someone tried to clean with medicinal soap the first few times I used it. I lathered it up a few times and didn't rince it, and let the lather dry on the hair. Arko seemed to really speed this up. I think I did it three times, and the funk was gone.