Thread: Cleaning the brush

A bit too late to this party but....

I rinse well under warm water with brush upright. Gentle presure to the brush to squeeze the water out, a few ficks then strop it on a towel. Then I leave it to dry in the bathroom not in the cubord.

Well, no reason not to poke my head back in here. A little more than 18 months of continuous shaving with soap in the brush at all times other than when I'm making it wet to lather, brush is still fine, no stink.

I've added a second brush, one that I made out of a knot that came from ebay. Unfortunately, that knot isn't the best quality (the hair in it is superb, but it lets go of hairs often). I can't tell much with it other than rinse or not, it drops about 2 hairs a day. I guess that's what you get when you buy a big silvertip knot directly from china for $25.

I actually hang that one upside down, because I don't want the epoxy that holds the knot in to get wet. I don't wallop my brushes with soap all the way to the knot, so there's really no soap in the knot of that brush. I'd love to have a brush with hair that quality (the other one is best badger, it never loses a hair - the one that stands upright with soap in it), but the hair doesn't have any backbone.

Anyway, I saw something else that came up here in one of the other threads that claims that soap makes the hairs brittle. That sounds kind of goofy, maybe some of them do. I have a rotation of 8 soaps/creams and none of them seems to have any effect on the brush that has the finest softest hair and that stands upright full of soap.

Just posting in on a thread that I seem to be the only one posting on.

Operation no-wash-brush continues, we're now past 24 months for one brush, and the other, however many months I have here (a slivertip knot from china).

The first one, which was a star shaving badger brush, still in great shape, not dropping bristles and no stink.

The second one that was dropping hairs at first has stopped dropping hairs, and is now an excellent brush because it's not annoying (it was excellent - great holder of lather and moisture even when it was dropping bristles, but I hate when a brush drops bristles).

Unfortunately, my wife did get to the brushes one time and washed them both, so I can't say they've never been washed. She only used water, though.

Anyone else not washing long term?

The interesting part of all of this is that I've had trouble with my skin all my life - sensitive to disposable razors, acne, whatever. It all went away on my face once i started with the straight razor and though I never wash my brushes, I never have issues with my face anymore. It literally was a matter of a couple of weeks after starting with the straights, so I can't think of anything else that would be responsible for the improvement.

I've never washed a brush in 30 years. I rinse them, shake the residual water out of them, and then I hang them bristles down to dry. I've never noticed any untoward odor coming from them.

As can probably be told from earlier, I leave the soap in mine. I had only one badger brush for a while and was rinsing the soap out of it and standing it up on its handle (which was a mistake because it allowed the knot to stay wet), and it did start to smell a little.

I drilled a small magnet into my favorite brush and it's stuck to the top of my medicine cabinet upside down now with soap still in it. as a face latherer, I generally don't have any reason for water to get all the way to the knot, so it pretty much stays dry except for the exposed bristles. It has worked well. Probably keeping the brush upside down has done more than leaving the soap in, but I originally started to leave the soap in hoping it would make for a less friendly environment for whatever little things make smells.

In terms of environments for things that create odors, I would think a rinsed and air-dried brush would be less likely to promote odors than one left to dry with soap in it.

I love this forum, and find it fascinating that we can have 6 pages of discussion about whether to rinse your brush after every use. As usual, in any conversation involving more than 2 people, we all have our own experiences and opinions and they are different. My favorite acronym on this forum other than RAD is YMMV. I've been using a brush and lather for 30 years, although I only recently returned to SRs, and I have an opinion, but that's all it is...I rinse and shake my brush into the shower stall until it no longer "sprays", then hang in bristles down. Although I now have 3 brushes (I now also have more free money), one is my 30 year old original, and it is still in great shape. I'm sticking with my routine

Over five years ago I bought two silvertip brushes, one for my brother who lives in the dry side of Washington state, and one for me. I live on the wetter side of the state. Both brushes are daily drivers, getting dried on a towel and stood on the base, and cleaned with hair shampoo monthly. In short, we are impressed by their performance. No fuss, no muss, no smells, no loose hairs, and two clean-shaven and satisfied guys.

Originally Posted by ace

I've never washed a brush in 30 years. I rinse them, shake the residual water out of them, and then I hang them bristles down to dry. I've never noticed any untoward odor coming from them.

This is an interesting comment.

What constitutes washing? If washing the brush means thoroughly rinsing them and shaking them out, then hanging them upside down to dry, then I wash my brush every time?

I agree with Ace...what more can you do?