Thread: The Dreaded Shedding Brush

Why would you soak it in hot water prior to the shave?

Originally Posted by sharptonn

Why would you soak it in hot water prior to the shave?

I do this all the time, soften up the bristles of the brush?

I like the bristles as they are, personally.

Soft,floppy hairs have no resilience. More pressure upon them to make lather. Might cause them to beak-off easily.

I wonder what Thater feels about soaking their brushes in hot water up to the hilt and then standing them up?

I really only leave my brush tips to soak in water, never up to the handle. I've found that if I leave too much of the bristle in the water, it soaks it up, only to release it as I face lather. Which then sends soapy water flying all over.

Water does not hurt your brush. I leave mine in the sink under a running tap. It's soap residue and mechanical abuse of the knot that kill it. When you squeeze or wring a knot your doing it no favors because you are just forcing any residual soap into the base of the knot and your pulling on the hairs where they are epoxied at the base

Moderation is the key. As long as you are gentle nothing bad will happen. I always squeeze the brush as I rinse it and have been doing it for years with no deleterious effects on the brush.

Originally Posted by littlej2455

Below is kind of my routine to see if there is an error in my technique:

Warm my bowl with water. Place the brush in the water (the water level is always below the start of the handle). The temperature of the water varies but it ranges from warm to hot (slight steam from the bowl). After a couple of minutes I begin to create my lather. I try to prevent circular motions (as Thater recommends) but I usually get the best lather this way. After the lather is made, I apply it to my face. While shaving my brush stays out of my bowl and stands upright. After my shave, I rinse the brush under cold water to clean shaving soap out of the brush, and then wring it out and place in a shaving stand brush side down. I use this brush daily, as it is my only brush.

Thank you so much for reading this, and providing feedback. I hope you have a great day!

It's a bit strange that it occurs after 6 months of daily use. At least, it would be strange for a production flaw to rear its head after that long.

Its hard to pinpoint the problem, but my guess would be that your water is too hot; being a natural product, excessive heat (over 38 degrees celcius) will break down the natural protein in the hair, if I recall correctly. If you do this on a daily basis, I would not be surprised if your brush develops issues. Rule of thumb: if it is too hot for you, it is too hot for your brush.

Also the wringing probably does not help, as well as the combination with swirling motions.

By the by, I am not sold on the absolute necessity of hanging the brush upside down for drying after a good shake two; capillary action could get the water to the know no matter how upside down you hang it and evaporation does not really care which way around anything is, really.

That being said, I still usually do it. The Thäter people recommend it, and I guess they would know a bit more about shaving brushes than me.

Interesting but unfortunate. I also have a few badgers Thater, Generics like Vintage Blades and Franks shaving and i'm not necessarily that nice to them, Don't hang them upside down or refrain from squeezing them now and then. I dont however use scalding hot water and they haven lost any hairs that Is noticeable. Heat at some point will loosen glue but I don't think it should be that extreme. You might just have a poorly set knot so I would let them know about it.

Thank you so much for the replies! I have just contacted the vender and I will keep you posted. And yeah I am with some of you, I soak the brush tips to soften the bristles. I guess its similar to running it under warm water but saves me time when I am applying my pre-shave oils.

Ok, just to follow up, I did contact the retailer and they just sent me a reply. They told me to that some shedding is normal, and is part of the break in process, and that Thater overpack their brushes. That made me feel a little better. They gave me some tips on how to potentially reduce some shedding in the future. They told me to try and not soak the brush if I am using warm-hot water. They also stated to not squeeze the brush after use; they would prefer for me to just shake it a couple times and then hang to dry. I will give this a whirl, but I just wanted to keep y'all updated. Thank you again for all of the posts!