Majority of my brushes have never had an offensive odor, but a couple of the boar brushes I acquired had a distinct gamey funk.
If you scroll back through this thread, you will find my earlier post on this whole 'clean and de-stink' program. At least one highly reputable brush maker - Thater - specifically warns NOT to use the cleaning regime that is recommnded way back at the beginning of this thread because it will damage the bristles on badger brushes. Lemme ask you this - would you shampoo your hair with borax? I would hazard a guess not. That's good enough for me to take a 'do no harm' approach and decline to follow the borax etc. cleaning plan offered above. Instead, I purchased and use the brush cleaning soap made by Da Vinci, which is formulated to clean and maintain all of their brushes, including badger makeup and shaving brushes. It is mild, it seems to work, it leaves my brushes smelling subtly citrusy, and it doesn't leave me worrying whether I have damaged my expensive Thater, Muhle, Vie-Long, Da Vinci (and so on) brushes in the misguided belief I am caring for them. I also am not convinced that the somewhat offensive aroma of vinegar is going to be an improvement over whatever funky animal scents are inherent in boar, badger, horse and other natural, animal derived brushes. Particularly with a brand new brush, I just wouldn't go there. Get some purpose built brush cleaning soap like Da Vinci (and there are others) if you must, or just lather the thing up a few times with a rich, scented soap (howzabout MDC fougere, par example), thoroughly rinse each time, and then get on with it. Your brush may smell a bit like an animal at first because - sacre bleu! - it's made with bristly hair that came off an animal. If that offends, there are a growing number of quite good 'vegan' shaving brushes out there. BTW, they don't smell like carrots, onions, garlic or boiled rutabaga.
Thank you for taking the time to type that reply. I will definitely look into buying some of the mentioned brush cleaning soap.
I used this method when I first started wet shaving. My beginners kit included a boar hair brush, and I purchased an additional boar hair brush too. Both Omegas. This worked very well to get the funk out. I never considered needing to periodically clean my brush. Makes sense though. Thanks.
Can I use the same toothbrush that I clean my safety razor with(since my razor and my brush are both tools that I use on my face)?
In Sweden they don't sel Borax to private person. I think I will go for the baby's champoo and conditioner. Or does apple vinegar help, I only have that on at home. My Edwin Jagger badger brush stinks, red to do something about it.