Cleaning and maintaining gear

[Lobwedge]

I'm sure this information is in 100 different places throughout the forums but as I cannot find it at this stage, I apologize as I'm going to ask it again. What do you do to maintain and keep your gear clear? So far once a month or so I will clean my brush with shampoo and for my razors, I've heard that dissasembling and boiling the components in water for 25 mins once a month keeps those clean. Any advice would be appreciated. As always thanks in advance.

[BlackBard]

I'm sure this information is in 100 different places throughout the forums but as I cannot find it at this stage, I apologize as I'm going to ask it again. What do you do to maintain and keep your gear clear? So far once a month or so I will clean my brush with shampoo and for my razors, I've heard that dissasembling and boiling the components in water for 25 mins once a month keeps those clean. Any advice would be appreciated. As always thanks in advance.

With the soft water I have, maintenance is easy. My brush (yes, I only have one) stays clean, so I just wipe the handle when I am done, shake it out and let it dry. I simply rinse the razor in hot water and let it air dry after each shave. When I change blades, I wipe all surfaces with a towel. That's it.

[AndreasDK]

Brush gets soaked in a water/vinegar solution (about 3-4cl of vinegar to a cup of water) when the hairs look too faded.

Razor gets rubbed with dish detergent and an old tootbrush when I change the blade.

[Giant Kiwi]

My brush is shaken of as much water as I can and about once a month I scrub my razor(s) with dish washing liquid and a toothbrush.

mostly they are left to air dry till the next shave.

[Wingnut]

A lot of members here use the bathroom cleaner Scrubbing Bubbles to clean their razors periodically. Just spray on, let sit for a few minutes, and then rinse off and dry with a soft cloth. It even "Kills 99.9 % of germs."

I would suggest not boiling your razor if it has any painted or plastic components. Neither of these like extended boiling.

Somewhere on here (perhaps check the wiki) is a method of cleaning your brush using a vinegar solution. Others use a borax solution. Neither of these needs to be done more than a few times a year even if you have very hard water. Good luck and welcome to B&B!

[ackvil]

My brushes are cleaned once a year (since I have 8 in rotation more frequently is not needed). My razor are cleaned with Scrubbing Bubbles and a soft tooth brush whenever I change blades. Otherwise it's just a rinse under hot water and a dip in isopropyl alcohol.

[Eric V]

In addition to the replies above, here are a couple of links:

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Razor_cleaning_and_restoration
http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/How_to_Clean_a_Shaving_Brush

There is no need to boil your razor in water. Yikes! It seems all this super cleaning of shaving tools is a modern spin off of the Barber Shop's needs to keep their tools contamination free. Our personal tools have no chance to spread other's germs, so we are free to clean them as we wish. Of course a certain cleanliness is necessary since the blade is capable of cutting the skin and transferring some kind of germ that way.

I'll have to do more research on brushes, but I have read somewhere that Boar brushes will retain any chemical that is used to clean them. It seems boar bristles let some of the water inside the bristle, while badger brushes do not.

[Samec87]

I 2nd. the Scrubbing Bubbles & toothbrush every blade change.

[N2theBreech]

Check out THIS LINK (http://mantic59.blogspot.com/p/essential-videos.html). About 6 videos down—How to care for your brush.

[ShaveThis]

All good advice. Thanks from me guys.
I go for the scrubby bubbles and soft toothbrush on blade changes. Not much scrubbing, just a quick light touch and I'm good to go.

[Banjoman]

Thanks for the link!