Fighting hard water and removing soap scum (razor and brush)

[eljaydub]

Hi all,

I switched to DE shaving just over a month ago when my girlfriend gave me a very nice Mühle badger brush with an olive wood handle as an early Christmas present. I had been interested in trying wet shaving so I rushed out and got a Mühle R89 safety razor, some Merkur blades and a puck of HJM soap and hopped on youtube to learn from mantic59 and geofatboy. It was a bit of a learning curve but have been absolutely thrilled with the results so far! Shaving was always a painful and expensive chore for me but now I truly enjoy it and look forward to have a shave in the morning. In fact, before this I had never shaved two days in a row before - now I'm shaving everyday just because I enjoy it!

This is my first post on B&B but I've been reading some of the guides since I started to refine my technique. I'm living in Germany right now and the city I'm in has incredibly hard water, especially compared to the fresh mountain water I'm used to back home in BC. Not only does this make building a good lather a bit of a challenge, especially with soap pucks like the HJM (I absolutely love the scent but have been using Speick and TOBS most frequently due to the difficulty in lathering the HJM), it also leaves soap scum all over the beautiful chrome of my R89. It also hardens the hairs of my badger brush and leaves a dull residue on the olive wood handle.

On the razor the scum comes off with a little elbow grease but it's hard to get off/reach in some places. The brush is another story. I've done some reading and found some suggestions about using dish soap, vinegar and/or borax to clean the residue but before I go putting harsh on my nice new, expensive shaving kit can anyone share their experience and let me know if this has worked for them? I'm not worried about the dish soap or vinegar, but can borax damage my badger brush? Is there something I can put on the olive wood to stop the scum from sticking to it and keep it looking bright and shiny (perhaps some kind of mineral oil?)

Any shared experience would be welcome!

BTW, does anyone know what borax is called auf deutsch? No one here seems to know what it is!

Here are some of my gallery photos of the scum build-up after only one shave (and wiped off a bit after drying):






PS Anyone with the same problem check out http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Safety_razor_maintenance for some ideas about what cleaners to use. My question is more about the brush and the wood, as well as experiences with chemicals on both the razor and brush

 

[Badgerfat]

I have never used borax to clean my brush, and I do not have an olive wood handle... But as far as the brush hairs themselves go. I have fairly hard water where I live also, so about once a month, I wash my brushes just as i would my hair. I get my wifes shampoo and conditioner and thoroughly wash it. Here it is step by step

1. Get a smaller mason jar and fill to the base of your brush with hot water. take the brush out and add in some Dawn dish soap.
2. Dunk in your brush a few times to incorporate the soap, and let sit for 5 minute.
3. Dump out the water and rinse off your brush. You should have noticed some old soapy flakes at the bottom of the jar. Then fill your mason jar again with just plain hot water and let soak for another 5 minutes.
4. Take out your brush and add some shampoo into your hand. Lather up your brush, being careful to go with the grain of the bristles. Then rinse it out and repeat if it feels necessary.
5. Add some conditioner in hand, and apply like the soap. Let it sit for about 2 minutes and rinse.
6. Shake the excess water out, and gently wipe your brush against a hand towel, just to dry off a little more thoroughly. Hang in your stand to dry completely.

 

[marzman]

I use shampoo too. It's hair so you can't go wrong there Just a little and I lather it up so it gets between all the hairs.

 

[Nxspam]

I have a wood Muhle brush and treat the handle natural oils like sunflower oil, almond oil or olive oil. We have oak furniture in the living room and I do the same for that too. Not a lot, just enough to polish it to a mat sheen. Really brings out the wood grain.

Here we're I live, the water is very hard. I give my gear a good wiping down after each shave

 

[dundak]

I lived in an area where the hardness was 190 and very alkaline. I just buffed my razor with a dry towel when I changed blades. Rinsed the brush really, really well in tepid water (not hot water) after every shave and gave the bristles a good fanning when it was dry. Wood handles I just waxed once a month. Your equipment will never stay shiny, except on the days you wipe it down, and soap scum will always be present after every shave. I never suffered any permanent damage which is the important part.

 

[duckdown]

I'm having the same problem with the water here west of Toronto. Leaves disgusting residue all over my razors... A wipe with a towel helps but I can't get rid of it all.

Surely there's gotta be a better solution!

 

[Sir Nicks A Lot]

I clean my razor after every shave. I take the blade out and use a soft toothbrush to quickly scrub the razor under warm running water and then dry it with a towel. Works like a charm and takes about a minute to do.

 

[Marcos1]

I personally don't take the blade out every time after I shave. I just wipe down the razor as best as I can with a moist towel and that seems to remove most of the residue. At every blade change I will disassemble the razor and use Scrubbing Bubbles to disinfect and cleans the soap scum.

 

[eljaydub]

Thanks for the info everyone! I cleaned everything up today and it's looking pretty good:




Closeup after oiling with olive oil



My technique was:
1. Clean razor/brush with dish soap and old toothbrush
2. Clean with vinegar
3. Shampoo brush
4. Condition brush
5. Rub olive oil into brush handle
6. Polish

(with rinses between steps of course)

It's looking great now and only took ~10 minutes. Will have to make it a weekly event to fight the water here and keep my kit looking its best!
Thanks again

 

[Invicta]

The razor can be cleaned weekly with some tooth paste and an old tooth brush. I find that very effective. For the brush handle I would suggest linseed oil. Rub it well in by hand. It may take a few coats to seal the grain but after that it will require just a single application to maintain the finish.