initial brush break-in

**bill mcdill** · 08-11-2009, 10:10 AM

I have a Rooney 1/1 in pure badger coming in the mail. My current brush is boar and it is so damn old I don't remember anything about when I first got it. From what I have read I can expect that when I get this new one wet, it's gonna smell like a badger (duh, wonder why). Is there a thread that outlines how best to wash a new brush after receiving?

**Spivey** · 08-11-2009, 10:13 AM

I don't remember my Rooney smelling too much when I first got it. It took a good 2 weeks to break in, though.

**82R100** · 08-11-2009, 10:53 AM

There's a Mantic59 video for that.

- Chris

**bill mcdill** · 08-11-2009, 12:00 PM

I love those Mantic videos, while much of it is common sense review, it never hurts to have some more common sense thrown at you.

**Rudy Vey** · 08-11-2009, 03:47 PM

Here is what I normally so, just sent this yesterday to a friend:

"whenever I break-in a new brush, I soak it in warm water and then use some shave cream that I massage in the hair for a few minutes. Then I wash this out in warm water and I lather up a few batches of lather with a good, strong scented cream - don't even think to use the first lathers for a shave. That has always done the trick. I have used this so far on three brushes I made for myself and two I bought from C&E - all five worked fine with this routine, although I must say that the two C&E had a slight smell after the initial warm water soak, and my own made not (knots from the Golden Nib). But any smell was gone after this break in."

**duotone** · 08-11-2009, 03:54 PM

My budget Taylors brush took about 4-5 shaves before it had totally lost its scent.

I left it in a vinegar/warm water mixture and lathered up a few cheap creams on it, but the smell hung around for those first 4-5 shaves.

After that it was fine & began to get a lot softer too.

**T Rick** · 08-12-2009, 04:17 PM

I'm a week in with my C&E Best Badger, and I wasn't expecting the smell (missed that in my research

). After day two, I lathered up with each of 4 different soaps I had (Williams Mug, Kiss My Face Vanilla and Nanna June's Vanilla and also Sandalwood). The smell is gone now, not sure exactly when it departed. Got a new C&E pure badger travel brush via UPS today, I'll probably repeat the same process.