Dry Brush Before Reuse - Fact or Myth?

I am going to take a shot at this. I believe there are two topics here, should your brush be completely dry before using again and should you hang or use a stand. I believe marketing may play a part in both of these. To begin with I currently have 9 brushes. I have 2 more Wiborg's which will be completed in July, Today ordered my fifth Shavemac, and I am on a waiting list for 2 Varlets when production begins again. I agree with "CHSeifert" the drying issue may be vanity because custom badger brushes are not cheap. So maybe it is mind over matter. I always make sure that my brushes are completely dry before I use them again. However with so many brushes the drying issue is a moot point. I do not have a strict rotation routine because I use some brushes specifically for certain soaps and creams. Yes I believe a brush should be completely dried but I think it is paramount that the brush be throughly rinsed. Over time soap build up can do damage to a badger brush. I can smell each of my dried brushes and not smell any fragrance from the last shave. Rinsing is an important last step.

I flick my brushes, gently rub the tip on a soft terry cloth towel and stand it up. I live in LA we have very low humidity on average and within an hour or two my brush is about 85% dry. It will dry just as fast standing as it would hanging. It is called wicking. Someone raised the question of high humidity in various geographical areas. I may be wrong but if you live in these areas most people today have air-conditioning. If you do, air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at all. In these areas in the winter heaters create dry air as well. If you do not have air conditioning I stand corrected but I am sure everybody has heat.

While it may not be completely necessary I always make sure my brush is completely dry before I use it again

I say it doesn't matter whether it is completely dry. I do not understand what could happen if not completely dry, except, that perhaps if the glue/epoxy absorbs moisture and then stressed during a shave, a hair or two may come out. But that is purely speculative.

  I may be wrong but if you live in these areas most people today have air-conditioning.  If you do, air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at .

Right now,  the outside temp is 74, humidity 84%. Its a bit stuffy but not bad. Inside its 72 and humidity 58%. A/C has been on/off all day, mostly off right now. The Chubby I used this morning, 12 hours ago, is still wet on the tips. I ran it across my palm and call feel water. It is not in a bathroom. It should be dry by 6 AM.

In the winter, it might be 10 - 35 outside, heat about always running, inside humidity maybe 30%. Dry enough to make you itch. If I put the fire on (stove) the humidity quickly drops even more, so I'll run multiple humidifiers 24/7 to pump gallons of water into the air getting it up to 35/40. Around there, no itching, livable but very dry. The brushes dry easily in a day, maybe 12 hours.

But come early June through Sep? You can easily see 95 - 100 outside with 90% humidity. Look up humiture. If you walk from an AC building into the heat, it feels like walking into the jungle, like a suffocating wall of heat and everything sticks to you. Get into a car and you roast until the ac gets cranked up. Of course, when the temperature at night doesn't drop below 80 and maybe 70% humidity at night, the AC never stops running, and electric bills skyrocket.

You said "air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at all"  I'm sorry but that's just not true. It can easily be 55 - 60%. Easy. The thing is, the difference on the skin between 95F and a dew point over 70 (its the dew point that is important), versus 75 and 60 is huge. But rest assured, check a humidity sensor and it will never be zero.

It's all relative. See "Thermal Comfort"  "The recommended level of indoor humidity is in the range of 30-60% in air conditioned buildings" I've learned to listen for the dew point. If its over 70, its going to be a bad day. Over 75? Misery. And yes, a brush will not air dry in 24 hours. Sorry.

  I may be wrong but if you live in these areas most people today have air-conditioning.  If you do, air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at .

Right now,  the outside temp is 74, humidity 84%. Its a bit stuffy but not bad. Inside its 72 and humidity 58%. A/C has been on/off all day, mostly off right now. The Chubby I used this morning, 12 hours ago, is still wet on the tips. I ran it across my palm and call feel water. It is not in a bathroom. It should be dry by 6 AM.

In the winter, it might be 10 - 35 outside, heat about always running, inside humidity maybe 30%. Dry enough to make you itch. If I put the fire on (stove) the humidity quickly drops even more, so I'll run multiple humidifiers 24/7 to pump gallons of water into the air getting it up to 35/40. Around there, no itching, livable but very dry. The brushes dry easily in a day, maybe 12 hours.

But come early June through Sep? You can easily see 95 - 100 outside with 90% humidity. Look up humiture. If you walk from an AC building into the heat, it feels like walking into the jungle, like a suffocating wall of heat and everything sticks to you. Get into a car and you roast until the ac gets cranked up. Of course, when the temperature at night doesn't drop below 80 and maybe 70% humidity at night, the AC never stops running, and electric bills skyrocket.

You said "air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at all"  I'm sorry but that's just not true. It can easily be 55 - 60%. Easy. The thing is, the difference on the skin between 95F and a dew point over 70 (its the dew point that is important), versus 75 and 60 is huge. But rest assured, check a humidity sensor and it will never be zero.

It's all relative. See "Thermal Comfort"  "The recommended level of indoor humidity is in the range of 30-60% in air conditioned buildings" I've learned to listen for the dew point. If its over 70, its going to be a bad day. Over 75? Misery. And yes, a brush will not air dry in 24 hours. Sorry.

Sorry that was a lot of verbiage that I have a hard time understanding. Are we both talking about a shaving brush drying? It is a brush not a science project.

Sorry that was a lot of verbiage that I have a hard time understanding.  Are we both talking about a shaving brush drying?  It is a brush not a science project.

OK, here it is simply. You wrote: "air-conditioned air has basically no humidity at all"

I'm sorry but that just is not true. AC humidity in a house is between 30 - 60%. At 50 - 60%, my brush takes 24 hours or more to dry.

It can be 95 degrees outside with 85% humidity. Inside it can be 75 degrees with 50% humidity but you feel cold. It's all relative. But air conditioned air most definitely has a TON of humidity in it. Just look at the water dripping under your car when the AC is running. Of course, I have no idea about LA and it depends upon your humidity.

I personally think that if it is possible for your brushes to dry out between uses they will obviously stay in near perfect condition lots longer than if you are using them everyday without a chance to thoroughly dry out. Now, whether this maintenance of near perfect condition over time is due to allowing the brush to dry completely or simply the fact that you are only using your brush once a week I have no idea. In reality I would wager it's a combination of both. I like to use brushes for about 1 week straight then, after drying they go back into their boxes and don't get used for another couple of months. I plan on the brushes I currently have lasting my lifetime.

Average relative humidity where I live is about 6-8% year round. I dont worry. My bruahes are almoat completely dry within a couple hours, as long as I shake them off really well...

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I'll wade in Its not always useful to look at what our fathers and grandfathers did as the gold standard. Most of them smoked, many drank too much, none of them ever used a seat belt in a car (if there even was one), it never occurred to them to use a helmet in cycling, hockey, football or even motorcycling and they didn't even know what dental floss was. The result was lots of them died early, lost teeth, got maimed and so forth. And lets not forget the depression, they were not about to indulge themselves in the sinful acquisition of superfluous possessions. One shaving brush, preferably the cheapest one they could find would do them just fine until it no longer was able to perform its intended function. Don't take this as a criticism or judgement of our fathers'/grandfathers' generation, they did the best they could with what they had and what they knew and they did pretty darn well.

My dad's shaving kit was a testament to frugality. I don't remember ever seeing the handle to his shaving brush, the knot had fallen out and he discarded the handle and used just the knot - the hair was stuck into a plastic disc. His soap was a really gross bar of baby soap in a plastic travel soap container - I don't recall ever seeing a fresh bar of soap in there so a bar must have lasted years. I think he used a fatboy or a slim, can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was barely functional. My point is, I look at my father's shaving kit as a worst case scenario of things to avoid doing rather than" if it was good enough for him its good enough for me".

With respect to drying brushes between uses, ideally its probably a good idea. You may not see the effects right away but I suspect if you do the drying you'll have greater brush longevity than if you don't. The only way to really know is to get two identical brushes and keep one wet and one dry between shaves and see if there's any apparent difference over the years. I learned in the military, take care of your gear and it'll take care of you. That and even though you don't want your combat boots to be shiny, they should still be clean and well maintained.

I'll wade in  Its not always useful to look at what our fathers and grandfathers did as the gold standard.  Most of them smoked, many drank too much, none of them ever used a seat belt in a car (if there even was one), it never occurred to them to use a helmet in cycling, hockey, football or even motorcycling and they didn't even know what dental floss was.  The result was lots of them died early, lost teeth, got maimed and so forth.  And lets not forget the depression, they were not about to indulge themselves in the sinful acquisition of superfluous possessions.  One shaving brush, preferably the cheapest one they could find would do them just fine until it no longer was able to perform its intended function.  Don't take this as a criticism or judgement of our fathers'/grandfathers' generation, they did the best they could with what they had and what they knew and they did pretty darn well.

My dad's shaving kit was a testament to frugality.  I don't remember ever seeing the handle to his shaving brush, the knot had fallen out and he discarded the handle and used just the knot - the hair was stuck into a plastic disc.  His soap was a really gross bar of baby soap in a plastic travel soap container - I don't recall ever seeing a fresh bar of soap in there so a bar must have lasted years.  I think he used a fatboy or a slim, can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was barely functional.  My point is, I look at my father's shaving kit as a worst case scenario of things to avoid doing rather than" if it was good enough for him its good enough for me".

With respect to drying brushes between uses, ideally its probably a good idea.  You may not see the effects right away but I suspect if you do the drying you'll have greater brush longevity than if you don't.  The only way to really know is to get two identical brushes and keep one wet and one dry between shaves and see if there's any apparent difference over the years.  I learned in the military, take care of your gear and it'll take care of you.  That and even though you don't want your combat boots to be shiny, they should still be clean and well maintained.

In a way, Mark, that's comparing apples to oranges because if one brush is allowed to dry completely before being reused it will not be used nearly as much as the brush that is used even though it may still be wet or damp.

I'll wade in  Its not always useful to look at what our fathers and grandfathers did as the gold standard.  Most of them smoked, many drank too much, none of them ever used a seat belt in a car (if there even was one), it never occurred to them to use a helmet in cycling, hockey, football or even motorcycling and they didn't even know what dental floss was.  The result was lots of them died early, lost teeth, got maimed and so forth.  And lets not forget the depression, they were not about to indulge themselves in the sinful acquisition of superfluous possessions.  One shaving brush, preferably the cheapest one they could find would do them just fine until it no longer was able to perform its intended function.  Don't take this as a criticism or judgement of our fathers'/grandfathers' generation, they did the best they could with what they had and what they knew and they did pretty darn well.

My dad's shaving kit was a testament to frugality.  I don't remember ever seeing the handle to his shaving brush, the knot had fallen out and he discarded the handle and used just the knot - the hair was stuck into a plastic disc.  His soap was a really gross bar of baby soap in a plastic travel soap container - I don't recall ever seeing a fresh bar of soap in there so a bar must have lasted years.  I think he used a fatboy or a slim, can't remember but I'm pretty sure it was barely functional.  My point is, I look at my father's shaving kit as a worst case scenario of things to avoid doing rather than" if it was good enough for him its good enough for me".

With respect to drying brushes between uses, ideally its probably a good idea.  You may not see the effects right away but I suspect if you do the drying you'll have greater brush longevity than if you don't.  The only way to really know is to get two identical brushes and keep one wet and one dry between shaves and see if there's any apparent difference over the years.  I learned in the military, take care of your gear and it'll take care of you.  That and even though you don't want your combat boots to be shiny, they should still be clean and well maintained.

In a way, Mark, that's comparing apples to oranges because if one brush is allowed to dry completely before being reused it will not be used nearly as much as the brush that is used even though it may still be wet or damp.

For the sake of scientific accuracy, this is not necessarily true. It would be possible to have the "wet brush" simply soaked each morning to the same degree that one would use it, but not actually use the brush, thereby allowing an equal number of uses between the 2 brushes.

As a control, for the sake of true scientific pursuit, you would ideally have 4 of the same brush; 2 kept wet, 1 used, and 2 kept dry, 1 used.  The 2 being used would be used the same number of times within the scope of the experiment, and the 2 being unused yet stored wet and dry would serve as focus controls...

But that might be taking things a little too far...