Do you soak your brush before use? Is there a real benefit to it? I personally do but I may not do it anymore someone I was speaking to earlier was mentioning how soaking in especially hot water can ruin the glue that holds the knot into the handle. Apparently, in the case of a shaving brush; hot water = enemy. Thoughts?
When I first started wet shaving, I soaked my brush in a mug while I gathered all the shaving supplies together and washing my face. I did this because of what I'd read on forums. Now I just wet the brush, shake out the excess water and start lathering the soap. I'm a cold water shaver and do not use hot or warm water at any stage of my shave. Less skin irritation.
I soak boar brushes. They can absorb a good bit of water and if I don't pre-soak I find it tends to be stingy with the lather. I use a mug and only enough water to come up to just below the handle.
I soak natural hair brushes but only in warmish water. too hot can ruin them but too dry and they are brittle and lose hairs.
I soak my boars too. Tey hold water well and it helps with the lathering. Never noticed a difference with a synthetic, so I don't.
Synthetics no, natural hair yes, but I'm starting to experience with just running warm water over them for 15-30 seconds.
With boar brushes, you need to soak them in water. If you don't, they will absorb both the water and soap during your shave, which is neither good for the shave or the brush. It's important to keep water out of the base of the knot, so if you do soak your brush, do it in a small cup and keep the water at least a 1/4" below the handle. As for excessive heat, I don't buy it. The hairs are sterilized in superheated steam to begin with. 'Hooked tips' on some badger brushes? Yeah, that is caused by the sterilization process. The split ends on boar brushes...that's called damaged hair when it happens to human hair. It causes women to freak out and run to the nearest salon. As shavers, it's a good thing when it happens to our boar brushes. Need to be soaked: Boar. Don't need to be soaked: Badger. Horse. Synthetic. The only benefit to soaking a badger brush is getting some heat transfer from the water to the knot. Using a scuttle and a quick dunk of the brush can achive exactly the same results.
Good to know- I've been soaking my Badger and Horse brushes while getting ready since I started. I usually put about an inch and a half of warm+ water in my danish stainless gravy boat, then lay my razor in it, and stand my brush in it leaning against the razor so the handle and knot stay out. I will definitely try the no soak recommendation- thanks Plan o' man.
I soak 'em all - badger, boar, synthetic. After I shower, I put my lather mug in the sink, the brush in the mug, turn on the tap and let it run to fill the mug and sink. The brushes are only soaking for as long as it takes me to comb my hair. It does soften the boar brushes, but the main reason I soak my brushes is to get 'em warm.
Same here. I used to soak my boar brush in cup of hot water. Now I usually just run it under the faucet keeping the brush in a cupped hand for a few seconds. I then rest the brush on the edge of the sink while I shower. (the brush is still holding quite a bit of water at this point) I'll then fill the sink with warm water to shave with and give the the brush a dunk or two. I then shake out the brush and proceed lathering. My synthetic I just dunk in sink and shake once immediately proceeding use.
In used to soak them in a bowl while I shower. Lately I haven't been using a bowl, so much like barbersurgeon, I just run the brush under warm water and then let it sit on the edge of the sink while I shower. Since both badger hair and boar bristles absorb water, I have found this to be useful with them. The synthetic bristles don't seem to absorb any water and I haven't found that presoaking them makes any difference - though I do rinse them under warm water right before creating lather. As far as being concerned about heat: we do sometimes steam a brush in order to pull the knot out of the handle. So, there is some merit to the concern. That being said, using warm or even hot water to soak the bristles/hair of a brush before using should not be enough to affect the glue or epoxy holding the knot in place. Also, there is no real magic involved with gluing a knot back into place. If the knot comes out - which seems to happen often with expensive and custom brushes because the makers recognize the value of preserving the handle for reknotting - then you simply scrape off the old glue and put some new glue on to replace it. Pretty much any glue or epoxy will do the job.
Been gone over by a lot of other folks, but soak a boar, run under water for 10sec for badger and horse, dip and go with a synch.
I still soak them all while I am showering. I have some serious $$ invested in my high-end badgers and don't want to run the risk of damaging the bristles. YMMV naturally, but it certainly cannot hurt.
I only use a #6 horse(?) and I soak the bristles while I shower before my shave. I put my lather bowl in the sink with my shave towel over it and fill it with hot tap water. I push the brush bristles in the towel in the bowl which holds the brush upright, this keeps the knot and handle out of the water so just the bristles soak. After my shower when I'm ready to shave I drain and shake the brush, then go directly to the soap. I use Arko mashed in a Ziploc bowel, I don't presoak my soap. I've been doing it this way for way over 4 years, using the same (#6) brush for most of that time since I first started to use shave soap and a brush to shave. I've had no trouble with my knot in all that time.