Brush Cleaning

Went looking for some info and found this OLD thread. Figured I'd revive it for 2023.

I'm thinking I need to clean my brushes, considering they've never had a cleaning. All are synthetics. I believe I do have hard water. My question... Can I just use dish detergent or should I get a brush cleaner? I see PAA and Zingari make one, fwiw.

Thanks folks.

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Hey Paul. This is just my take on it, anecdotal only. I have slightly hard water, enough so that shave soaps made by artisans form soap scum in my sink. Commercial soaps (hand, hair, or shave gels) do not do this. My thinking is that for scents, baby shampoo or mild dish detergent is the right idea. But for build up, a different approach is needed. 

At the time last year that I decided I needed to remove possible build up, I was unaware of the Zingari Man cleaner. I purchased the PAA one. I have recently cleaned all my brushes with it, as I have embarked on using only distilled water to soak or wet the brushes in prior to building and applying lather. I sill rinse the brush under running tap water. So far, things are going very well. I should note, though, that I wasn't seeing any drop in performance with synthetics or badgers, but only in boars. Between using the PAA cleaner (follow the directions for best results!!) and using distilled water for the soak, the boars have greatly improved and now hold lather for 3 passes, whereas prior to cleaning I had to return to the puck for every re-lather. 

Is scum still forming on the bristles, since I am using tap water to rinse? Maybe, but it would have to be slight. It does make me think that maybe I should do an after rinse dunk in the distilled water just for the reason of that water having no "hardness" to be left on the bristles. 

Hope that can help!

Ahh. Thanks for the info. I personally don't have any formation on the bristles, but I get a lot in the sink. One of the brushes I've used often, my Fluffy brush, is more pokey than normal. I'm guessing it's buildup giving the tips an armor coating of sorts... Maybe. Figure it's worth cleaning since I've never cleaned them.

I'll probably try Zingari as I'm a big fan of their unscented soaps. Though PAA makes some good products too. Also, I think Frank does a brush cleaner now?

Decisions decisions.

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On the topic of odor in natural hair knots, last week I received a couple of new badger knots. To my best guess, one knot is probably a more treated (possibly bleached) 3 band silvertip and the other knot is a Manchurian high mountain that is untreated according to the seller's description. Two different brands and unrelated but during the initial cleanings, I had some interesting thoughts. The quick of it is both had some smell, not very strong or unpleasant, just some funk. 

Well during the first few latherings on both knots to clean them, they both had little to no grey funk coming from the lather when squeezing out the lather. This reminded me of some people mentioning over the years that the glue, resins, epoxys, etc., used in the knot making may contribute more than I initially thought to "badger funk" or brush funk in general considering all knots regardless of hair type have to be glued together.

I mentioned this to another member in the community and we had a couple of thoughts. With natural hair containing proteins, are various odors easily bound and attracted to keratin?
This member mentioned how most badger hair is sterilized by steaming or boiling as I knew but I replied that I don't think that process does much to remove any smell and may possibly "cook" whatever odors are already present in the natural hair. I shared with this person that from what we have seen shared by various brush knot makers is that hair isn't cleaned or washed but generally sorted. It usually isn't cleaned until it gets to the person who is getting to use the brush for the first time. I think some makers or some of the luxury level brushes may have been washed or cleaned after a knot is assembled and/or after being installed into a handle.

Some think badger brushes don't break in and will perform the same right out of the box as they will do over time after lots of use. I have always disagreed with this as my experience finds most badger knots can soften even after 20-50 uses. I think its pretty easy to tell in the very beginning of a badger brush that it will loosen and bloom once its been used a handful of time. My thought is after all the natural dirt and oil inherently from environment has been washed out, the brush knot has a bit less weighing it all down and that it can mix the software product and water together much more efficiently than when it's first being used. Lather from a first use seems to be lacking the density compared after it's been used 5-10 times.

I guess I didn't think over the years how much just the glue may contribute to the smell of new brushes. Can't quite figure what people meant when mentioned Vie Long brushes smelling like mothballs as I don't know what it smells like exactly. Seems like a lot of what is described online is musty or a sharp funk. Interestingly after learning to bleach to soften knots, even the peroxide bleach mixtures have a strong ammonia smell to them that you want to thoroughly remove before using it in a shave. All of my badger knots tend to get a pretty lengthy number of latherings and cleaning before making any final decisions on setting it permanently into a knot. I spend a lot of time playing with the loft height and find early on I may set the loft higher when a brush hasn't been broken in. As a knot is used and cleaned more, I find I tend to lower the loft setting a least a few millimeters to add some backbone since usually the tips of the hair soften more and the knot will bloom more.

Sorry for the lengthy post and unsolicited thoughts reviving the thread. I'm sure this post stinks to some of you. Cheers

I use pet shampoo, been working well so far

I am sure there are a bunch of methods that lead to the same end result.. however, I just tried the Zingari Man Brush cleaner and love it. Something comforting using a high quality artisan's formula when they have an understanding of how much money we pay for some of our brushes and higher end knots and how cherished they are. Works great and lasts a while - I have a little more than half a tub left and I have cleaned 15 brushes and some of them twice.

Other than a shampoo for the initial cleaning and break in, I have never "cleaned" any shaving brush I have owned. I have lived in places with soft water, hard water, well water, etc.  I do give them a good rinse under warm water and squeeze them dry when I am done with the last pass.  This Semogue boar is over ten years old and still going strong:

The dye on the banding has gotten much lighter over the years, and the color of the bristles has also become lighter.  

I do note that I have one Omega pure badger that has never quite lost its rather odd "turpentine" like smell.   I have no idea how I would "clean" it other than a shampoo which was done when it was new.

Other than a shampoo for the initial cleaning and break in, I have never "cleaned" any shaving brush I have owned. I have lived in places with soft water, hard water, well water, etc.  I do give them a good rinse under warm water and squeeze them dry when I am done with the last pass.  This Semogue boar is over ten years old and still going strong:

The dye on the banding has gotten much lighter over the years, and the color of the bristles has also become lighter.  

I do note that I have one Omega pure badger that has never quite lost its rather odd "turpentine" like smell.   I have no idea how I would "clean" it other than a shampoo which was done when it was new.

Soak it in a diluted vinegar solution for a while then wash out with dish soap or shampoo. Rinse it clean and it will be good as new.

Helpful.  I handle my brush the same and often wondered if I should be doing more.