YIKES!! I am rotating thru a rural family practice rotation this month and saw a patient (NOT this one, but it looked pretty similar) who got tinea barbae from, it turns out after careful history, his shaving brush.
Since then, Ive been wondering a bit about how to go about sterilizing a brush, especially given my new acquisition disorder and a growing tendency to buy used brushes. After searching around, I found two main options: 1) use Borax, 2) use Barbicide.
After looking into it further, I decided to try the barbicide on my shavemac silvertip custom. Theres a lot of information and misinformation around about using this product on a brush. So I went to Sallys Beauty Supply to get me some. As luck would have it, there was a current barber moonlighting at the Sallys I went to (a man in a Sallys!) and he explained to me how to do it.
It's found in all Sally's down the right-most aisle as you enter the store, down from the register.
To his credit, he explained you could use this or there was another cheaper variant there for $3.99. The only problem was that the cheaper stuff wasnt likely to fight fungi (Trichophyton spp = tinea barbae), which are the most likely culprit in a shaving brush, NOT bacteria. In fact, thats why I decided to start sanitizing my brush regularly, because of that patient with a pretty wicked case of tinea barbae from his shaving brush. So
First, you mix one lid-full of the stuff in 8 oz of water
Its important that you get the strength right, as the soaking directions and therefore the sanitizing qualities are dependent on this ratio. Once you have it mixed up, you stick the brush bristles in (IMPORTANT: NOT the handle NOR the knot) and let it sit from 2 (two) to 4 (four) minutes total.
The time is important, as he said that if you leave it too long it can affect properties of the brush that are unique to shaving. Normal stuff like metal razors, combs, plastic guides, and so forth could be kept in the stuff longer, but he said it's not great form to leave a badger brush in for more than 5 minutes max at a time. Apparently some of the water holding qualities can be affected, as well as he said there are always rumors, although he's never seen it personally, that the stuff can stain some brushes.
After its soaked, you pick it up, let it drip dry
And then rinse it THOROUGHLY under warm-ish tap water. The thorough rinse part is very important.
He said sometimes people can use a very soft soap/shampoo, like baby shampoo, if you want to just to make sure.
Just drop the shampoo on and lather it in your hand like you would lather a cream this will properly shampoo the brush.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The point of these two photos is to show that the bristles are NOT stained blue, as some have postulated. At least not on THIS brush. Again, the ever present YMMV applies.
While I was at it, he said that for other stuff, you just take the same solution and plop whatever it is you want to disinfect in there and leave it for 10 to 15 minutes.
There is an anti-rust formula in this stuff, whatever the heck that means. But I figured I may as well do the rest of my kit while at it. I tried soaking my sensor and mach3 handles, and surprisingly it took all the soap and cream scum off the handles! I usually have to scrub this scum stuff off the razor to keep it clean, but this barbicide stuff did it with just a 10 minute soak totally clean!
Not bad really. Everyones results may differ, of course, but the fact it kills Trichophyton spp is what does it for me, as after seeing that beard fungus in that fella, I decided Ill just be on the safe side. If it matters, this stuff also does HBV, HCV, HIV-1, Staph aureus (for all you folks worried about skin bacteria and MRSA), and other less-common but still very dangerous pathogens. Indeed, in proper mix ratios, this stuff is used as a full-strength HOSPITAL disinfectant. Good enough for me.
Hope this helps. We'll see how this works out in the long run...