leaving the soap on

[kohalajohn]

When I talk about leaving the soap on the brush, I"m not talking about breaking in a new brush.

I mean, is there any problem with leaving the soap on a badger brush after shaving?

I just started to do this. I noticed that my Simpsons chubby is a lather hog, which is fine, but after shaving when I was cleaning the brush, I was washing out a huge amount of lather, about as much as I had shaved with.

So out of curiosity, I forced myself to just leave it be after the shave.

It does get a bit of a wash at the beginning of the next shave, as I put the brush under hot running water for a bit, just to get it nice and hot. But even after that heat treatment, most of the soap is still in the brush.

Ideas appreciated.

aloha

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Interesting and not something that I do myself. I suspect most brush makers and many owners would advise against leaving the soap in, instead recommending a thorough rinse and dry between uses which is what I do. A rotation of brushes is advised precisely to give time to dry between uses. However, I suspect that in years gone by many or most users did not rinse their brush between uses and simply left it wet in the bowl ready for next time. I bet most had a single brush that lasted for many years, even decades, despite this treatment.

 

[BigJ]

Interesting and not something that I do myself. I suspect most brush makers and many owners would advise against leaving the soap in, instead recommending a thorough rinse and dry between uses which is what I do. A rotation of brushes is advised precisely to give time to dry between uses. However, I suspect that in years gone by many or most users did not rinse their brush between uses and simply left it wet in the bowl ready for next time. I bet most had a single brush that lasted for many years, even decades, despite this treatment.

+1! I suspect that you are correct! Back in the day I doubt that most guys were fussy about their kit.

 

[musicman1951]

My only question might be one of slowing the drying time of the brush. It might be better to hang it in a brush holder, rather than standing it on a shelf so the wet soap worked it's way into the knot - but I'm just guessing here and have no real idea if it matters one way or the other.

 

[Cphobes]

I know of at least one blogger who did leave the soap in with no ill effects over a period of time (2 weeks?).

Seeing that it is soap, I doubt that it will do much at all. However, leaving the brush full of soap in the medicine cabinet would get messy for me as it shares it's little space with other items.

Plus it's been part of my routine to clean it every day...so my OCD would not like the change in routine. LOL

 

[Rudy Vey]

Most brush making companies recommend to wash out all soap/cream residue out of the knot thoroughly. If left in, the soap residues will break down the hair and the brush begins to shed. So, do not do this.

 

[Brutus]

This is generally consider considered a very bad idea, with a virtual guarantee that the brush will soon start shedding hairs.

This is what Shavemac, a German manufacturer of quality shaving brushes has to say on this subject, which falls in line with what most brush manufacturers suggest:


Why does my shaving brush lose hair?
If the brush loses hair in the first few weeks:
A hair loss in the first few weeks in small quantity can always happen. Despite careful cleaning of the brush, loose or not completely fixed hair can still be present. These then come out gradually during shaving.

The hair loss occurs suddenly after some time:
Please check whether the brush in the dry state eventually forms a small cloud of dust, when you wipe over it with your hands. This would mean that soap residue have accumulated inside. One of the most common causes of hair loss of shaving brushes. The High PH value of the soap attacks the hair, so it breaks and falls out.

Here is an example of a shaving brush, who was looking quite well at the outside, but when roam it clearly showed why he lost hair. If that happens, only a thorough wash with mild shampoo and then comb out thoroughly can help.

I hope this helps (before it’s too late).


B.

 

[VerbaVolant]

...I mean, is there any problem with leaving the soap on a badger brush after shaving?...

One more voice to say this is a bad idea. Very bad.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

As I said most are in agreement it is a bad idea. I would be interested to hear however from any brush makers on whether this is a new phenomenon. I assume, and read anecdotally, that back in the days before shaving was a hobby that most men owned a single brush, did not rinse it between uses, and left it wet in the soap mug when not in use. Apparently those brushes lasted many years with little or no loss of hair. Is this true or merely a fallacy? If it is true then is there anything different about the brushes nowadays, be it the handles, the hair, or the glue that necessitates more careful treatment than was apparently required in yesteryear?

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Why not just rinse it out? What does it take? 10 seconds? Want your brush to start shedding so you can get a new one?

 

[Badgerstate36]

I wouldnt do it. Partly because its probably bad for the brush and also because I dont think its going to achieve what you want. What good is it going to do to prevent the brush from being a lather hog if you wash all the soap out of the knot before you use it?
I think that you just need to accept that the Chubby 2 is a big brush that is going to soak up a lot of lather and you just need to load like you hate it. Thats what I had to do with my Semogue Owner's Club, which was also a big brush that was a lather hog. Id have to load that thing for a full minute or else it would suck that lather up into the knot.

 

[Timeclo]

Soap residues left in the brush can lead to more shedding and it just looks bad when you look at bunch of dried up lather on the bristles. It's best to clean/rinse the brush to keep it in best condition.

 

[FarmerTan]

I haven't rinsed this brush since July 6, 2019. It sheds some days, not on others. It shed A BUNCH the first time I used it. It was cheap. I don't believe Marvy is considered a grand brush maker though, ha!

No leprosy yet....

 

[Rudy Vey]

I haven't rinsed this brush since July 6, 2019. It sheds some days, not on others. It shed A BUNCH the first time I used it. It was cheap. I don't believe Marvy is considered a grand brush maker though, ha!
View attachment 1083779
No leprosy yet....

Looks like swine's hair, we all referring to badger brushes, I do not have any experiences with boar, but repaired my share of badgers with soap residues inside....

 

[FarmerTan]

Looks like swine's hair, we all referring to badger brushes, I do not have any experiences with boar, but repaired my share of badgers with soap residues inside....

Yes sir, it's a CHEAP hog haired brush. I don't have any badgers, I'd respect those.

This is part of my Petri dish experiment.

 

[EclipseRedRing]

Looks like swine's hair, we all referring to badger brushes, I do not have any experiences with boar, but repaired my share of badgers with soap residues inside....

Rudy - I am wondering why old brushes did not seem to require the care that modern brushes do. At one time most men had just one brush, probably boar, which was routinely left wet in the lathering mug, not dried between uses, and yet still apparently lasted for many years. Are you suggesting the reason they survived so long is because they were boar brushes as opposed to badger? What might be the difference between the two bristles to cause this? Has there been some change in, for example, the glue used, or some other difference in manufacture that renders modern brushes less resilient to poor treatment. Or, is it simply not true that old brushes used to last longer? I understand you have no experience with boar but I wondered if you may know. Thanks.

 

[Bob57913]

Ive actually moved to a smaller brush to prevent wastage of soap, it just seemed wasteful having to wash out what was basically several lathers worth of soap every time. Went from a brush which probably could do 4-6 lathers depending on how I loaded it to one that around 2 1/2 at the most. I think it is called Omega Bigger Bambino, bought it years ago.

 

[Invicta]

For the last pass I gently squeeze out the lather from the knot so very little wasted; maybe enough for a half pass which is very little soap. If you have more than that at the end of your shave, load less.
Hard water will leave a build up of scum in the knot so a daily rinse is advised and a 6 monthly clean too.

 

[stone and strop]

When I talk about leaving the soap on the brush, I"m not talking about breaking in a new brush.

I mean, is there any problem with leaving the soap on a badger brush after shaving?

I just started to do this. I noticed that my Simpsons chubby is a lather hog, which is fine, but after shaving when I was cleaning the brush, I was washing out a huge amount of lather, about as much as I had shaved with.

So out of curiosity, I forced myself to just leave it be after the shave.

It does get a bit of a wash at the beginning of the next shave, as I put the brush under hot running water for a bit, just to get it nice and hot. But even after that heat treatment, most of the soap is still in the brush.

Ideas appreciated.

aloha

Can't say this is a good idea.
Why don't you want to wash it out?

 

[Rudy Vey]

Rudy - I am wondering why old brushes did not seem to require the care that modern brushes do. At one time most men had just one brush, probably boar, which was routinely left wet in the lathering mug, not dried between uses, and yet still apparently lasted for many years. Are you suggesting the reason they survived so long is because they were boar brushes as opposed to badger? What might be the difference between the two bristles to cause this? Has there been some change in, for example, the glue used, or some other difference in manufacture that renders modern brushes less resilient to poor treatment. Or, is it simply not true that old brushes used to last longer? I understand you have no experience with boar but I wondered if you may know. Thanks.

Honestly, I do not know. I think I had posted this here before under a different topic, believe it was that brushes need to be dried out before used again, and I said that as far as I remember that both my dad and grand dad had only one brush (each) which was used every day. Don't know how often they replaced it, but I think there was not so much variety on the market and brushes were cheap. Today we have a unbelievable variety of brushes in a wide price range.
I have never heard about that a boar has the same issue as a badger, like hairs/bristles start to breakdown because of soap residue inside the knot. But, a decent boar cost maybe $10 and a very good badger is often north of $100; so those with the boar just take it and get a new one.
One comment here kinda took me by surprise: someone said that he leaves to soap in the brush as it saves money....soap is quite cheap my friend, one can get a very good soap for about a buck per stick of Arko, but the cheapest Chubby badger is somewhere around $120 or so....

I have, in all the years I do restores, had quite a number of brushes that needed a knot replaced because it started shedding after months or year (s) of use....in all cases I find a huge amount of soap residue inside. Not all of them did the dusting when brushed over the knot, some do, some do not - but nevertheless, when I cut the hair off, one sees the residue quite clearly.