Brush advice

Fido

Fido

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6,286
Location
New Forest, England.
Manufacturers issue advice about the care and use of brushes, mostly the same. I saw this advice from the German brush maker Thater which is a bit different:

"1) Face lathering will negatively impact the durability of the brush. the badger hair tips will wear faster as a result of rubbing against tough whiskers. Soap is traditionally lathered in a bowl.

2) Immerse the head in warm water, 104 degrees max. hotter water will curl the badger hair tips.

3) The brush should be soaked in water and then shake it lightly once, it should be dripping wet. Load the brush using circular motion, load only the tips of the brush with plenty of soap.

4) Once you are done building the lather, apply it onto your skin using little pressure and circular sweeping motions . Massage lather into your skin for 2 minutes.

5) Under no circumstances should you mash the brush head into the soap. this will only drive the lather deeper into the knot from where it is hard to transfer onto the skin. besides damaging the brush head you will neither produce more lather, nor will it have a better consistency.

6) Dried up lather is the most common source of badger hair breaking or shedding. you can verify whether your brush needs cleaning by bending the knot sideways and then letting it rebound. soap residue will become visible as a small cloud of white dust."

People refer often to some brushes as lather hogs. Perhaps that may be a consequence of too much mashing of the brush into the soap or cream during the making of lather?
 
Never seen any guides quite so specific before, interesting reading. My tuppence worth...

1) Face lathering will negatively impact the durability of the brush. the badger hair tips will wear faster as a result of rubbing against tough whiskers. Soap is traditionally lathered in a bowl.

It must be impossible to not face lather a bit, even if mixed in the bowl you must work the lather into the stubble so to do an extra couple of minutes lathering on the face (if that is your desire that day) it is not going to burn out my brushes overnight. My whiskers aren't that tough but if they were the cause of a brush wearing out faster it would not bother most of us. Never thought about that before, but I don't think it will stop either you or me face lathering when we want.

2) Immerse the head in warm water, 104 degrees max. hotter water will curl the badger hair tips.

104 degrees is 40 Celsius and most taps will deliver hotter than that, often around 50 degrees. I have not noticed my brushes curling but it is another thing to conside,r and may help understand the reasons why the same brush might look more bloomed from one person to another. I always assumed it was just down to mashing it and the loft variances. I don't use roasting hot water but I know it is probably above 104 or 40 (on whichever scale you prefer).

3) The brush should be soaked in water and then shake it lightly once, it should be dripping wet. Load the brush using circular motion, load only the tips of the brush with plenty of soap.

I find with some soaps and/or brushes a dripping wet brush produces sloppy lather, mind you I usually end up adding a few drips anyway so maybe I should try start with a dripping wet brush and let it be sloppy, just lather more till it comes together. Fine on soaps but I think it would screw with some of the creams I have and I would just make an unholy mess.

4) Once you are done building the lather, apply it onto your skin using little pressure and circular sweeping motions . Massage lather into your skin for 2 minutes.

Nothing to say about that seems fine to me. I use both circular and painting motions to apply and work the lather in.

5) Under no circumstances should you mash the brush head into the soap. this will only drive the lather deeper into the knot from where it is hard to transfer onto the skin. besides damaging the brush head you will neither produce more lather, nor will it have a better consistency.

Agree and think that this and water that is too warm are probably the biggest brush killers, I try not to mash it but sometimes I just can't help it :roll:

6) Dried up lather is the most common source of badger hair breaking or shedding. you can verify whether your brush needs cleaning by bending the knot sideways and then letting it rebound. soap residue will become visible as a small cloud of white dust."

Other than rinsing as well as you can I guess there is no way to stop this, periodic cleaning is the only answer and how often you need to do it vary depending how well you rinse and your water type. I clean them when I start to see the powdery residue at on the hairs by washing them in a Borax then a vinegar solution. Probably the vinegar is not needed but I like to feel as if I have given then a good clean.
 
I think some people get too hung up about how to use brushes,,they're pretty tough and can take quite a lot.
Don't mash them up, don't use really water and clean them properly after use and a brush will last for a long long time.
How the shaver applies lather, be it bowl or face will have minimal affect on a brush in my opinion.
regards, beejay
 
It's strange how they tell you when a brush needs cleaning but no mention on how?

Beejay, it's nice you've said that, that's more then enough info for me.
 
well.. every so often (say every few months) i siply wet my brush and use shampoo, the stuff thats designed to remove residue from hair thats often shaped with gels or waxes. I simply work it into the brush and then rinse until theres absolutely no soap left coming out of it.

I reckon if its good enough for the hair on my head, its good enough for a badger!
 
I'll give that a try Shrink. May be a bit better then washing up liquid which others seem to use.

If I use a creightons cream, my brush will be scummed up after one use! Water is poor in Leicester.
 
washing up liquid is pretty harsh and will strip away the hair. If youve ever tried washing up liquid to clean your hair you'll know its not a nice feeling. Leaves it dry, and horribly frizzy. Not something i'd want to do to my favourite NF 2201 shaving brush :)
 
Interesting reading, thanks Fido. The majority of its common sense really I thought, and given that we all have more than one brush anyway I can't see any of mine wearing out anytime soon! I might stock up though just in case.

Nice tip on the shampoo, I'll be trying that ;)
 
I just use my own brushes the way I prefer. But I find it interesting to know all the various bits of advice put out by manufacturers. It's good to know the consequences of some of the things we do.
 
I thought this thread topic was "BUSH advice" and you'd come here (or been sent here by Mrs Fido) to ask some men of the world about their techniques or perhaps the general geography (topography?) of the region.

Frankly, I'm disappointed.

And so is my wife.
 
Called my father yesterday, being a slave to commercially-manufactured holidays and all, and in the course of the conversation my new obsession with shaving came up. He said something about having had problems with rashes from not sterilising brushes (long in the past) and claimed one needs to soak them in boiling water every now and again. Thoughts?
 
Might damage the badger hair if you soak in boiling water.

Also may loosen the knot, it could fall out the handle or even start shedding.

I've not tried it but just think this may happen.
 
yeah boiling water sounds like a bad idea... i should have thought that using a mildly warm sterilising solution would be a better idea.
 
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