Thread: how can i sterilize a brush?

Originally Posted by crazyengineer

I come across brushes all the time when i am in the antique shops looking for razors, and i al ways avoid them because i dont know how to sterilize them (i know for at least 3 that are cheap). How can i sterilize the brushes so my paranoia will let me buy and ue them?

well get yourself a bar of dial antibacterial soap and wet your brush and (make lather ) on the soap bar a few times and rinse with hot water. That will clean it, they tell you to use dial soap during flu season because of its antibacterial properties.

best of luck,
deerhunter.

The cooties (sorry for the technical terminology) present on brushes in an antique store are probably long dead. The nasty stuff really doesn't live that long--days, not years.

The way I sterilize a used brush is to first soak it in rubbing alcohol for 10 minutes. Wash it out and soak it in liquid anti-bacterial soap/water solution, working it into the brush. After it has soaked for about ten minutes, wash it out and shampoo it to soften the bristles. May be over board, but works for me.

Originally Posted by Utopian

The cooties (sorry for the technical terminology) present on brushes in an antique store are probably long dead. The nasty stuff really doesn't live that long--days, not years.

you bring up a great point, but if he wants to rest his mind at ease than we have a few ways of doing that.

thanks for all the input, i will have to buy a couple of the brushes now
i was alway paranoid about the brushes

Originally Posted by Deerhunter1995

That will clean it, they tell you to use dial soap during flu season because of its antibacterial properties.

Antibacterial soap will do the same thing as plain soap both for cleaning a brush and for use during the flu season; but neither will sterilize a brush.

The only way to truly sterilise something is to autoclave it, but that will ruin the brush. Hot water and soap would be the way I'd go. If you really wanted to go all out some sort of mild disinfectant (like Dettol) could be used, and then hot water and soap afterwards.

Other options for cleaning, not sterilizing, a brush are a vinegar/water or a borax/water soaking. The proportions are not critical, but I guess I use about 1:3 for the vinegar solution. I use just a sprinkling of borax in a cup of water and you'll know if you put in too much because it will no longer dissolve. For either one, let it soak 5 to 10 minutes with occasional swishing and then rinse it out well. This works well for hairbrushes too.