Maybe only top 3/4 inch of Brush.
Do you guys soak the whole brush in the sink or just the knot in a cup or mug?
- Thread starter BobbyBacala
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Only the knot when using natural hair brushes. No soak for synthetics.
I used to drop the whole brush in the sink when I used really cheap boar brushes. Then I joined this forum and now I only soak the bristles from about 2/3rds of the way up the handle in a small pottery salt container. I soak all brushes this way regardless of what sort of bristles they are and what material the handle is made out of.
Just the knot in an Old Spice mug.
Knot in an Old Spice mug, but the water covers a bit of the handle, so it might as well be the whole thing. I don't have any wooden brushes anymore.
1/2 to 3/4 of the knot in an Old Spice mug. Natural and sythetic go in while I shower.
Jay
Jay
Depends on handle material and knot type.
Maybe, maybe not. Why chance it'.
The only reason to soak the entire brush is you don't have a mug. If that's the case, buy mug.
I usually soak for like 30 seconds to a minute. I do this before I assemble my razor. Usually it's like 1/4 to 1/2 of the knot. Not sure why you'd need to soak 3/4 of the knot. I'm usually just loading the soap in the tips of the knot not the entire knot where the entire knot looks like a melted marshmallow. I use the brush similar to a paint brush but I see people use paint brushes where they dip the entire brush up to the heel in paint when you only need the tips. 
Less is more...
Less is more...
I’ve stopped soaking brushes as it doesn’t seem to make any difference. I just dunk them in warm water, shake out the excess and start lathering. Boar, badger and synthetic all get the same treatment. Keep it simple.
Just the knot.
This exactly.
That depends on how you define “soak”, like in just getting the shaving brush wet or immersing the brush in water for a minute or more. Immersing the brush for longer time than three minutes might IMO damage the brush, especially if the handle is made of wood.
But to keep my answer simple; no, I do not soak shave brushes.
I just make sure that the brush fibers are wet.
For that purpose it matters little whether the brush is floating in the sink for a few moments (like if it should drop in the sink by accident) or whether I dip the brush head in the sink, which is what I normally do. I do however immerse the complete brush in clean water after the shave to rinse out any soap residue, but this takes less than 30 seconds.
Some people are of the opinion that any boar brush needs to be soaked for a few minutes, an opinion I do not share.
IMO, that is only true for new boar brushes where the hairs have not split yet, which I take as a sign that they are broken in. For many years I religiously soaked broken boar brushes around for three minutes, until I discovered that it makes no difference and offers no advantage.
As far as I am concerned, shavers can soak their brushes as long as they like, but if someone asks me whether it is really necessary, my answer is (with the exception of a new boar brush) no.
Hope this helps,
B.
No soaking. I just run the knot under running tap and spin it around for a few seconds for any compsition of knot
After reading through this thread I'm left with the same conclusion as I came to after reading multiple "Do you dry your brush bristles up or down" threads. It don't matter one way or another. Just do what ever seems logical to you.
For me it doesn't matter what material the handle is. I soak the brush about halfway in a bowl of warm water.
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