Cappillary Action

Icarus1 · Post by **Icarus1** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 7:41 pm

My friends,

I have read a lot of discussion on the Internet about why I HAVE to have a brush stand, and an equal amount about why cappillary action dries the brush on the handle. What has been your experience? Am I damaging my brush by letting it dry on the handle rather than in a stand?

ShadowsDad · Post by **ShadowsDad** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:05 pm

The short answer is no. The longer answer is you aren't damaging anything by drying the brush hair pointing up, in fact it dries faster that way. One caveat to watch for below.

A gent on another forum recently did a drying test with bristles down in a stand or bristles up. The short story is that brushes dry faster bristles up, that is, standing on the handle.

Just be sure the brush is "flicked off", and I sort of "paint" the brush on my towel to allow it to pull as much water out of the bristles as possible. If your brush has a sort of cup that would trap the water in the handle it might harm it, that's why the best effort to remove as much water as possible before unending it.

Here's the link to the test. http://shavenook.com/thread-quick-test- ... drip-stand

BTW, he calls it bottom up or bottom down or some such.

CMur12 · Post by **CMur12** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:24 pm

Hi Coltrane and Brian -

This has been discussed here, as well, though it has been awhile. Our own Dr Chris Moss pointed out that capillary action clearly trumps gravity in this case. Indeed, the only advantage to a stand would be if you store your brush while it is literally dripping wet.

It has always made more sense to me, intuitively, that evaporation is better promoted with the brushhead pointing upwards. Past tests I have seen were inconclusive in terms of any clear advantage either way. I don't think you will harm your brush by using a stand or not. Interestingly, one poster on the thread linked by Brian noted that when he hung his brushes on a stand they seemed to get a little sour. When he sat them on their bases, facing upward, the problem resolved itself.

I have always stored my brushes brushhead-up, and they have always dried very effectively.

- Murray

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:56 pm

CMur12 wrote:I have always stored my brushes brushhead-up, and they have always dried very effectively.

- Murray

Yes.

Icarus1 · Post by **Icarus1** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 5:15 am

All right, well, thanks guys. This answers my question.

brothers · Post by **brothers** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 7:07 am

I do try to rinse them as thoroughly as I can, and then towel them off properly before putting them on the counter to dry.

CMur12 · Post by **CMur12** » Sat Feb 23, 2013 4:59 pm

brothers wrote:I do try to rinse them as thoroughly as I can, and then towel them off properly before putting them on the counter to dry.

Yes.

Ouchmychin · Post by **Ouchmychin** » Fri Apr 12, 2013 8:16 am

As long as the dear wife doesn't object to the clutter around the sink. My brushes only get used once in a while and I just leave one I want to use next time on the hanger that came with one I got years ago. It used stickey tape to mount to the wall by the sink.