Thread: Cleaning the brush

Clean is good. Rotating is good. Different bristle types is good. As it is written, so it will be!

Still no wash. i did have to use a different brush for 2 or 3 days earlier this month, though, because I redid the bathroom floor (tile) and accidentally left my brush in the cabinet in the far reaches in the bathroom (and couldn't step over tile with wet thinset under it, and forgot again to get it out before I grouted the floor).

Since I posted a little over a month ago, the brush has released exactly one hair. It still doesn't stink, it still makes a nice lather.

In my basement BR, where I keep the rest of my brushes, I pulled out the tweezerman, which never is allowed to stay wet or filled with soap, and had to go to non-tallowate soaps that I have down there (yuck). The tweezerman released bristles like a shedding cat (it still does). One or two a day, like clockwork.

I switched to cella soap most of the time a couple of months ago, so saving soap isn't really a consideration - it's cheap. But time still is. My two pass shave is less than 4 minutes in the morning.

Of course, when I wet the brush so that I can make a new lather, I guess it does get partially washed inadvertantly. But never like I see people manhandling their brush out to get out the last soap bubble that might be 3/4ths of the way to the knot, just water running over the bristles, not swooshing them around with my hands.

I think you guys who are worried about invisible nasties should probably clean your phone mouthpieces and fridge shelves instead. You're likely to find more there. If that doesn't satisfy, you can look for strange lights in the sky.

I was just looking for this post the other day and couldn't remember where it was.

Still using the same brush without washing it out, still not loading it up with lather to the base. All I do is run it under hot water each time before I later. I don't mash it around or anything, just let it get soaked, so it's never really cleaned out.

Still no smell, and still great lathering. Honestly don't remember the last time it actually released a hair, probably several months ago?

A friend who lives in Arizona bought a UV light displayed at the check- out counter of the local hardware store, sold as a "Scorpion Finder". She freaked out when she started shining it around her house and her house is cleaner than a hospital. Yea, Stuff is everywhere, has been, will be and without it we will not build immunities. Brushes are relatively inexpensive.

A few years ago there was a big issue with Mold in the sale of homes, here in California. A lot of inspectors and “remediators” made a bunch of money “removing Mold” wearing hazmat suits and respirators. No one ever died from mold as far as I know, I’ve eaten a group of it on cheese, so I don’t think they got it all...

There are things that will hurt or kill you, I doubt old soap in your brush is one of them.

Ok, I read all the posts. Captp, I can't see how a large puck of Col. Conk would only last 5 or 6 shaves. How much do you use man? lol Anyway, I view my brush as a tool and I believe, based on experience that taking care of your tool prolongs its life and its effectiveness. To me this is an axiom of good practise for many things although it may not be convenient to do so and I may often honor it in the breach. Its also a matter of respect for your property and yourself. To me, the way you take care of things is a reflection of you. For example, my wife (and I) like to keep a clean house and yard. It's a matter of pride for us that things look reasonably good. That being said, I rinse and dry my brush every time I shave but I only wash it with shampoo about twice a year. As a practical matter, I spent a good bit of cash on nice brushes and I would rather they last as long as possible. Hence the care. All the best.

I thought I'd bring this back up again, it's October 22, I've been shaving every day without washing the brush now for about a year. I still take the brush after the second lather on my face (I only face lather anyway) and place it directly in the cabinet, no rinse no nothing. Still no stink like it stunk when I used it for a couple of months rinsing all the soap out every day.

I did notice that every day when I run warm water on the brush, most of the prior day's soap (which just looks like a skeleton of dried up foam) comes out. I don't swish the bristles around or anything, but still probably 90% of the soap comes out every day, just never all of it.

I don't remember the last time this brush let go of a hair (it's just a $25-30 "best" badger brush from star shaving with a plastic handle), if it has in the last 4 months, I didn't see the hair (unlike the tweezerman that I used to use, which released a couple each day). I don't expect to ever buy another brush. It's immensely satisfying to take the brush after the second lathering and just place it in the cabinet without having to screw around. My daily two pass shave is around 5 minutes including stropping.

(it still irritates my wife, who has a cleaning compulsion to the max)

Personally, the reason I undertook this whole ordeal was to get around my brush stinking without adding a second brush. It is also my belief that the brush will get less wear the less I smash it around, and a rational person can look at the brush, smell it, examine its performance, etc and tell if there's a problem. There just hasn't been one, but an hour or several hours of time has been saved over the year.

Maybe you have a point, about not loosing performance, rinsing it vs not before storing it. However, the stink has to do more, with how well and quickly it dries. If you store it for drying in a non ventilated, dark place, it could develop a funk IMO. I don't loose performance or develops stink by rinsing, shaking excess water and drying in my open bathroom! And it only takes 30sec to do.
Maybe you mention it before, but, what soap do you use? Just curios. Double O

In reality, I think a quality brush will last no matter how you do it, as long as you don't outright abuse it or subject it to chemical treatment that is known to break it down.

I use cella 90% of the time, and the other 10% either tabac or MWF. I don't use any other soaps other than those, and maybe this is something that works fairly well for tallowate soaps and not as well for others, not sure. All of those three are pretty gentle, and probably just leave a fatty coating on the brush bristles.

If I did have a concern, it would be that the brush is stored standing on its base, so the water obvioiusly works its way down toward the knot as it dries, it is always damp just at the top of the brush handle, despite the top drying out. That's probably what stunk before, and there's just enough soap to keep it from stinking. It's in an enclosed cabinet, but the cabinet is by no means airtight.

I can't imagine soap drying around the hair could do that much good to the brush. Even if it didn't do any harm it's kind of like eating on a plate and just putting it away without washing it and using it again the next day.

it's not for me.

Well, it's a little more like placing the plate aside, covered with dish soap and rinsing it off the next day instead of right away, but without thoroughly scrubbing it.

I wouldn't do that, either. But it's not the same thing. I would like to do less than we do with dishes in my house, though! My wife washes them completely by hand and then puts them in the dishwasher after they've already been cleaned to make sure they've been washed twice.

(I don't expect anyone else to do with their brush what I'm doing with mine. I realize there's a psychological barrier there, regardless of whether or not there's a material reason to do it. The two material reasons I'm concerned with are whether or not there's a sanitary issue (i think the answer is no, but the only thing I can base it on is that I haven't had any skin issues, and my brush no longer stinks), and whether or not there is a brush durability issue. maybe with some brushes, there could ultimately be a durability issue.