Thread: Drying Position.

No matter which way you go it is your brush, I have done both, I now hang but that's because I have a carousel to hold all my brushes. It's for space. But for those of you who are new around here, Bill(Pixelfixed) did a test one time, he lathered and then at the end just set his brush down, never rinsed out all that precious Cella soap and just added and reused, not hanging it up. He did this for a few months. No adverse effects to the brush. Only thing he done after that was to clean the brush real good then started over again. I,m not suggesting this to do, but it does say you can abuse them more than most think, I personally like to clean mine and hang them. Tc

I rinse, squeeze out the excess water, put my arm in the show and whip up and down hard to shake out any left over water. Then strop it on a towel. Then sense im not fully dressed, (i do cover up the important parts while shaving ) i swing it down towards my bare leg a few times. If i get no drips hitting my leg then it stands on the shelf. By the time i get up in the morning, around 6 or 7 hours later it is dry as possible. So ive just left mine standing. As long as i get all the water out of it i can.
Now if 8 lived in a more humid area i might concider hanging but its pretty dry here on the flat lands of Colorado.

Not sure how long my grandfather used it before me but 43 years of shaking it off a few shakes and setting my brush on its handle has not had any ill effect.

To each his own.

For a long time, I used stands for my brushes, with the knot facing downwards. Then, during a conversation with a custom brush seller, he mentioned that storing the brush upside-down in a holder actually kept moisture at the knot base for an extended period of time. Since then, I have always stored my brushes on their handles, lofts up, with no problems at all. That said, a thorough shaking off of the brush after use, followed by brushing the tips on a towel prior to storing away on an open shelf, as mentioned, is necessary in this case.

My Grandad stored his brush in a coffee cup with a soap puck at the bottom and i don't believe he ever rinsed it out as he thought it was wasting good shave soap, I remember seeing that poor old brush as long as i can remember and I think he only had the one. Me personally I store mine bristle down till its dry then store knot down after but I always wonder why brush handles have flat bottoms, I am thinking they are designed to stand upright but then again if it rots out you have to get another brush from them

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

For a long time, I used stands for my brushes, with the knot facing downwards. Then, during a conversation with a custom brush seller, he mentioned that storing the brush upside-down in a holder actually kept moisture at the knot base for an extended period of time. Since then, I have always stored my brushes on their handles, lofts up, with no problems at all. That said, a thorough shaking off of the brush after use, followed by brushing the tips on a towel prior to storing away on an open shelf, as mentioned, is necessary in this case.

Interesting. Did he explain how that works? I'm not a hydrological engineer or anything but given my patchy understanding of gravity and how it works on water (I seem to vaguely recall something about water flowing down rather than up) I don't see how that could be the case.

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Interesting. Did he explain how that works? I'm not a hydrological engineer or anything but given my patchy understanding of gravity and how it works on water (I seem to vaguely recall something about water flowing down rather than up) I don't see how that could be the case.

I don't know if this is the case however it is possible through capillary action gravity could be trumped and the water will flow along the hairs up to the knot no matter which way you store the thing. If Leonardo Da Vinci says it's so that's enough for me.

Originally Posted by Jnatcat

My Grandad stored his brush in a coffee cup with a soap puck at the bottom and i don't believe he ever rinsed it out as he thought it was wasting good shave soap, I remember seeing that poor old brush as long as i can remember and I think he only had the one. Me personally I store mine bristle down till its dry then store knot down after but I always wonder why brush handles have flat bottoms, I am thinking they are designed to stand upright but then again if it rots out you have to get another brush from them

This is why there are so many bent vintage brushes.

I am thinking about building a variation of this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtSvGyBxUVI

No, it does not.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I don't know if this is the case however it is possible through capillary action gravity could be trumped and the water will flow along the hairs up to the knot no matter which way you store the thing. If Leonardo Da Vinci says it's so that's enough for me.

I think you nailed it. Either by capillary action of the individual hairs themselves or maybe in the narrow spaces in between the tightly packed hairs.