Recommended brush drying time
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I swipe my brushes on the towel for two reasons. It transfers a substantial amount of water from the brush to the towel. Also, it wipes off any would-be soap scum/residue that would otherwise remain on/in the brush. I have bought enough used old razors to know that there must be an awful lot of guys who merely rinse them off and let them dry. That stuff doesn't go anywhere unless it's mechanically removed. The same principle applies to any other tool used in the shaving process, as far as I'm concerned.
Gary
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
SOTD 99%: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, soaps & creams, synthetic / badger brushes, Colonial General razor, Kai & Schick blades, straight razors any time, Superior 70 aftershave splash + menthol + 444
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I'm with Buzz ..... and Squire .... and Chris.
And for some reason which I cannot explain, I always shake the brush and then use a strop-like action to semi-dry it on a towel. None of my brushes have been damaged in any way as a result. Ymmv.
And for some reason which I cannot explain, I always shake the brush and then use a strop-like action to semi-dry it on a towel. None of my brushes have been damaged in any way as a result. Ymmv.
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I think we all pretty much just do whats in our nature and it all works.
Regards,
Squire
Squire
- Ouchmychin
- Posts: 1595
- Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 12:03 pm
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I am nerdy and do everything by the numbers. When I finish shaving I hold the bristles under the tap and rotate and squeeze 48 times. Then I give it a shake and pound the base of the bristles or top of the handle against the base of my thumb 5 times. I rotate a bit and repeat until I have rotated 8 times. By then the bristles of a badger brush are pretty dry and I sit the base of the brush on top of my jar of cream or soap. Next day it is dry. Doesn't work for boar brushes because they retain water and must be wiped dry.
Ouchmychin (Pete)
Re: Recommended brush drying time
Unless someone can top that Pete gets prize for thoroughness.
Regards,
Squire
Squire
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I do everything super gently so as not to reanimate the animal.
Ron
- M6Classic
- Posts: 1460
- Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:12 am
- Location: Not as near Colonial Drug as when they were at Harvard Square, but near enough.
Re: Recommended brush drying time
Okay...but what happens if one stops at the forty-seventh or forty-ninth rotation?Ouchmychin wrote:I am nerdy and do everything by the numbers. When I finish shaving I hold the bristles under the tap and rotate and squeeze 48 times.
Buzz
Re: Recommended brush drying time
I have a very dense brush that I was using daily for a time. My drying routine is similar to what others have mentioned here: shake vigorously and gently swipe on a towel. I noticed one day that the knot had taken on an unpleasant smell. Checking the base of the knot a day after it had last been used, I found it to still be quite damp. The smell was not unlike the aroma that develops on clothes that have remained damp for several days.
I let the brush dry out several days, and the smell went away. Since then, I have made a habit of rotating brushes every other day to allow the knots to fully dry between uses.
I let the brush dry out several days, and the smell went away. Since then, I have made a habit of rotating brushes every other day to allow the knots to fully dry between uses.
Andrew
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- Posts: 3102
- Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:55 pm
Re: Recommended brush drying time
So recently I remembered why I developed the habit of toweling the bristles - travel. I had to travel this weekend and planned on shaving early and then going immediately home straight afterward.EL Alamein wrote:I lightly towel to get the soap scum off the handle and somewhat the bristles.
Makes the black handle of the brush look nice but I don't know that it really does anything for the bristles. Habit mostly.
Chris
When I traveled weekly for business I developed the toweling to help remove excess moisture because the brush would be tossed into the Dopp at a moment's notice if I had to leave and go somewhere else. That Dopp also had a straight razor in it. The straight was in a side zipped compartment but I just didn't want to take a chance that any excess moisture would cause corrosion if I had to high-tail it out of there unexpectedly - which sometimes I did. The habit stuck because you never know where your next assignment is going to take you.Thankfully, for the last few years, I've been close to home. But the memory lapses.
Chris