I understand a shaving brush over time has a residue build up and needs to be cleaned regularly and this also keeps down bacteria and bring the brush back to a new condition. What do you gents use to accomplish this?
If you have hard water - a weak vinegar solution with help remove mineral build up. I have relatively soft water and tried this. It softened a boar brush too much. I liked the scritchiness before the treatment. Now it's too soft.
I haven't yet had the need to clean a brush as I always rinse it out with hot water after shaving. But if I needed to, I would just wash it in Dawn dish soap.
I just cleaned all of my brushes about two weeks ago. That is because they were collecting dust. I cleaned them with Suave shampoo, the same shampoo I clean my hair with. I would lather the brush and let it sit while I lathered the next one. I would do about five at a time. Then I came back and rinsed each brush with hot water and towel dried them and set them on end to dry. Normally, a good rinse after each use is all you need. If you don't use your brush and it sits where it can collect dust, you will have to clean them from time to time.
Multiple methods, all seem to work reasonably well. -Dishwashing Soap -Vinegar/Water -Borax -PAA Brush Soap
I've had brushes for over 20 years and I never gave then a special cleaning once they were in use. I just rinsed well after each use. The only time I ever gave a brush a special cleaning was a new boar brush.
I just use them to lather, and then rinse well after shaving. I figure that they are cleaned by the same soap that I shave with, same as my face. I rinse my face off after the shave with clean water, and find that my face is perfectly clean too. The only time I would do a special cleaning of a brush would be if it got dirty, like dropped in the mud or something, or if it had a bad smell. That has NEVER happened to any of my shave brushes. I have a couple that are over 40 years old. I have left the shave lather stay on a new brush for a day or so to minimize the new smell, but that's it.
I am nearly obsessive compulsive about my brushes. I comb and clean and put them into tubes occasionally to dry. I polish handles, and Q-Tip off little white rings of soap around the knots. They sit in rows in their rotation, and are pretty well cared for. I probably spend more time rinsing than I do building lather. But I have found that on occasion, a brush just gets filmy. (For lack of a better word.) Their ability to load soap seems to diminish, and they are much worse about trapping it. When this happens I give it a five minute soak in a vinegar solution, and then a really quick shampoo. Brand new again.
Now that I think about it, I recall a similar situation happened to me I also ruined a boar brush in vinegar. I'm glad it was a boar instead of a badger, however.
If you do it in somewhere around a quarter solution you are fine. Have done it with dozens of brushes, from Omega Boars to Simpson Manchurians. I never do more than five to ten minutes, but my whole collection swears by a little vinegar spa treatment now and then. I will say that synthetics don't seem to gum up like naturals do. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I don't recall if it was 50/50 or not. But it was ruined. This was a few years ago, however. That's part of the learning process however. If you never make mistakes you're not trying, and you're not learning. Just don't repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
