Using hair conditioner on a badger brush?

[drunkentester]

While rinsing out the conditioner in my hair this morning, I was struck by a thought out of pure curiosity: Is it prudent to try to apply hair conditioners to a badger brush? Provided that it won't do any detrimental harm to the brush, does anyone think or know if there could be any positive effects from periodically applying hair conditioners to a badger brush as part of routine cleaning/maintenance?

--Dennis

 

[cesium]

Hmmm- I'm guessing that it would provide the same benefit to your brush that it does for your hair. I wonder if it would soften up the hair at all on the brush? I'll tell you what. I'll volunteer my brush. I have a fendrihan best badger hair brush that I find is a little scratchy (not bad though). I'll try some conditioner on it tonight, use it tomorrow and report back. I'm betting maybe a mild improvement- some slight softening perhaps. Why not?

 

[New Orleans]

There are threads that deal with cleaning and period care of a brush. Conditioning is probably a neutral intervention: neither helps nor hurts.

 

[cesium]

tried it. I can honestly say I couldn't notice a difference. It seemed like an idea with some potential.

 

[RobT.O.]

I'm going to try the hair conditioner as well. But I'll be leaving the conditioner in, not rinsing it out, and just shaking out the excess water. Maybe after a month or so, I'll see a difference, hopefully sooner.

 

[krissy]

I think it might also depend on the ingredients in the hair conditioner. Would some of the ingredients cause a build up. Many contain some type of emulsifying WAX in one form or another. Emuslifying Wax or BTMS (Behentrimonium Methosulfate) or another similar ingredient. Or contain other ingredients that might cause a build-up that you wouldn't want. Not that you would notice right away but down the line after it's possibly done some damage.

Another thought is if the bristles needed "extra care" wouldn't the companies who sell them have a product to use on them?

 

[RobT.O.]

That's a good point, but I imagine that the shave soap or cream and the rinsing after a shave would prevent or slow the buildup process of the hair conditioner.

 

[T Rick]

Looking at this logically, conditioners are made for living (not to mention human) hair.

Since the badger hair in the brush is neither living, nor human, I think it is a safe bet that there are very substantial differences, and the benefits of a human hair conditioner would be dubious IMHO. Plus, as said above... if it benefited the brush, why wouldn't the manufacturers either recommend or market a product jsut for that purpose. They KNOW we'd buy it!

 

[ambrose]

Just use a shampoo with Panthenol aka vitamin B5 the shampoo will clean the build up of lather scum in the brush and softens the hair.
A little info on it.
http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/panthenol.html

 

[_JP_]

A condition could interfere with one of the properties of badger hair which makes it work so well for lathering - absorbing water. Simply keeping the brush clean is all that you really need to do. And it doesn't need to be done very ofter either.

 

[Tom C]

Looking at this logically, conditioners are made for living (not to mention human) hair.

This just in - hair isn't living. Story at 11:00.

 

[vitaman]

Check out the brush cleaning video at Em's Place

Keratin is a protein. It is not alive. So, hair is dead.