Drying the brush after use question.

[thermographer]

I work on an offshore oil rig. I have a 4 man state-room, 2 guys working days and I'm working nights with a room mate.
We tend to keep the bath room clean and don't usually leave our gear out to a) be polite, and b) keep my stuff from walking off.

If I bring a brush offshore, I'd have to store it in a dark closed locker, and our room is a nice comfortable 68 to 70 degrees most days. Even after shaking all the water out, the brush would still remain moist, would this cause a problem sanitary wise?

I started off using the inexpensive brush from Walmart, which I would most likely keep on the rig.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[luvmysuper]

A towel drying might help. Your on a rig, they probably have the half kilo bags of dessicant almost anywhere. Maybe one or two of those in the locker, on the shelf with the brush could help.

 

[82R100]

Do you have any blow dryers handy? I found when travelling that I could get my brush 80% of the way there in a minute with a blow dryer.

There are some moderately nice synthetic brushes out there. This would probably be the ultimate case for one.

- Chris

 

[DSB]

If you bought your brush at Walmart, I'm guessing it is a boar brush. I find boar brushes take longer to dry than badger hair. If you want a cheap brush that won't send you into a funk/rage if it goes missing, try buying a cheap tweezerman (amazon.com) or other badger off ebay. I found the Delong silvertip ($20 on ebay) isn't bad, even if it's a little floppy.

Good luck.

 

[Bobtrumpet]

You could have a problem with being sanitary - the brush really needs to be out in the open to dry, and, as noted, a boar will take longer to dry than a badger. This thread has a lot of good info about using Barbicide for cleaning/sterilizing brushes (the pics are gone but the text is pretty clear on how to do it). You might pick some up and occasionally run through the steps to clean the brush.

 

[SRock]

A towel drying might help. Your on a rig, they probably have the half kilo bags of dessicant almost anywhere. Maybe one or two of those in the locker, on the shelf with the brush could help.

+1 sounds like pretty good advice.

Do you have any blow dryers handy? I found when travelling that I could get my brush 80% of the way there in a minute with a blow dryer.

There are some moderately nice synthetic brushes out there. This would probably be the ultimate case for one.

- Chris

I'd be careful with blow drying the brush there have been more than one horror stories here about people ruining their brush that way.

 

[ContenderhunterPA]

How about trying an Omega Syntex? I have one that I usually take traveling, and it really does a good job with MWF. I usually use badger , or an Omega boar, but the syntex is no slouch at all.

 

[jss]

If you can't find the desiccant, you can substitute uncooked rice instead....

 

[thermographer]

Thanks for the good advice and links guys. Good reading.

I'm going to go ahead an order the syntex. I think that's the best solution possible.
I was going to pick up some Barbicide anyway, I have some new (to me) DE's to clean up when I get back home.