stinky shaving brush

[The Knize]

Wow, I have never experienced the phenomena previously, and I had tended to think that folks were overstating the "problem." But I had bought my younger son a Tweezerman badger shaving brush at Harris Tweeter, and tried with him for the first time over the weekend. He is not all that interested in wet shaving to begin with, but was sure liking Castle-Forbes lime shaving cream, so I thought having his own brush would encourage him.

Holy smoke though! I do not remember any thing troublesome about the Tweezerman I started with, and "loved," and used for a very long time before I gave it to my older son. If I had experienced this smelly brush syndrome, I am not sure I would have gotten into wet shaving at all and I was sure glad I had read up on it or it would have nipped my younger son's interest right in the bud.

The brush not only reeked it appeared to turn the lather brown, which resulted in tossing out a nice bowel of Castle-Forbes we were both going to use. Are we sure this sticky phenomena is even safe and sanitary? Seemed amazing!

Anyway, a switch to Prosaro and a couple of run throughs of lathering the brush up with that and rinsing, got rid of the brown coloring and cut way back on the smell. Although, when we were all done the bursh still had a distinctive odor.

I cannot imagine an utter newbie, that did not have the kind of information we have around here, buying a brush that smelled and "behaved" like that and continuing with brush and lather. There must be something an outfit like Tweezerman can do to not have this happen or they are going to kill the shaving brush market, maybe for everyone!!!! And, again, are we sure this is even sanitary? We are not talking wet badger smell here--at least I do not think--we are talking rather pungent, rather penetrating wet badger poop smell, plus some extra color to the shaving cream!

I actually not sure my younger son will every bother with a brush and lather again, which makes me really sad, but it is not a good association to have with something one is spreading all over their face!

 

[Jethro1984]

I did not experience this with my Tweezerman and am also saddened to hear of your troubles with that brush. My brush has done a good bit of shedding but nothing worse. Mine never smelled at all that I noticed. I would call Tweezerman and tell them about it.

 

[mretzloff]

Eh, that sounds gross. I'd go back to HT and get a refund.

 

[gollum83]

I did not experience this with my Tweezerman and am also saddened to hear of your troubles with that brush. My brush has done a good bit of shedding but nothing worse. Mine never smelled at all that I noticed. I would call Tweezerman and tell them about it.

I didn't experience anything scent-wise with my Tweezerman either when I got mine, but I wouldn't call anybody off the bat. It may just be that it needs to be soaked for a while and used a bit to get the stink out of it. Take my Omega boar brush for example, it took a good three cleanings to remove most of the stink and about a week's worth of use to kill the smell completely. But is it unsanitary? No. Remember they sterilize the hair before even make the knots. But just because its sterilized doesn't mean the smell disappears automatically.

 

[Barbarian]

a nice bowel of Castle-Forbes

I think I have found your problem!

 

[ambrose]

get a refund and buy some rooney specials, great quality brush for the money.

 

[gollum83]

I think I have found your problem!

Thanks for pointing that out! I missed that one!

 

[wedwards]

As a general rule of thumb, every new badger brush should be soaked and then cleaned repeatedly until the smell dissipates to an acceptable level. Some people take that to mean wash once and put up with the smell for a week, others wash the brush 5 or 6 times with hair shampoo and soap until the smell is almost/completely gone.

We are talking about an animal's fur/hair, so what you experienced could have been anything from a little bleed-out of the fur color due to residual chemicals used to treat the hair, or it might have been a little bit of the fur color that hadnt set properly in the preservation process.

Not sure if your brush came with instructions to thoroughly wash it, and I have never purchased anything that wasnt handmade by someone I knew, but I know the instructions I got for my handmade brush mentions a thorough washing before initial use.

Sad that your son may not pick it up again, but at least you have exposed him to it. I wasnt particularly interested in it when I was in my teens/20's, but at some point you decide to take better care of yourself, and thats how I got into it. Hopefully its something similar for him.

 

[The Knize]

No instructions at all with the Tweezerman that I saw. Tm really should include some though. Should include basic instruction on how to use a shaving brush period. We are talking about an item being sold at a grocery store. No telling how little the average purchaser might now.

Don't get me wrong, I had heard enough about this issue over time so that I have faith that proper steps will fully get rid of the smell, and I do not have any personal concerns over sanitation, at least after it has been washed out a few times. And at $15, I am still very content with Tweezerman. For this brush and the one I used for a very long time that I gave to my older son. I had occasion to use that one recently, too, and I still like it a lot. Smallish, maybe a little loosely packed, but holds a nice amount of water, whips up a nice lather, and is really quite soft. Very little shedding.

I do not think this is a Tweezerman specific issue at all, except that I think it is more likely that the uninformed are going to get a a surprise with a Tweezerman that with a more expensive brush. Just seems to me that at least at the Tweezerman quality level--again not bad quality, just less "just so" than more expensive brushes--if they can sterilize it, they can probably clean it up and get rid of the smell without too much extra effort.

(I personally now use a 22 mm silver tip Golden Nib knot that I do not see how I could be much happier with! It never had any strong odor to it. But I can see how the manufacturer would want to absolutely minimize the amount of processing applied to that hair, I guess. I do not really have a feel for how much additional effort and handling it would take to get rid of the smell at the sanitizing stage. I suppose I would rather "break in" a badger brush myself even with a bit of aroma, than, for instance, have it come pre-bloomed!)

I am sure my son will come around. He has always liked quality in clothes and grooming. Not sure why he does not perceive additional value in wet shaving yet.

Thanks for the thoughts on all of this!