How To Break In A Brush & Get The Funk Out

another successful story

Thanks for the info. I'll have to try this on my new Tweezerman badger brush, as well as a new VDH boar brush I have. wet piggy smell is no better than wet badger smell.

Jaymo said:

Thanks for the info. I'll have to try this on my new Tweezerman badger brush, as well as a new VDH boar brush I have. wet piggy smell is no better than wet badger smell.

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nice!, report back and let us know your results

ambrose said:

I thought I would share some of my personal tips on how to break in a brush and get rid of that badger funk. Im one who hates the funk and a stiff brush thats not at its potential. After owning many brushes and trying different things I have found a perfect solution to this problem. It has been working for me to break in a new brush every time.

1. Wash it with dawn soap
2. Soak it in dawn soapy water for a few hrs
3. Build a lather and leave it to sit and dry over night - this is were most of the magic happens


The next day rinse it and soak it in water just before use and you should have no funk and it should be nice and broken in feeling.

I used Irish moos soap for this one and my custom Rooney 3/1 from penworks.

Try it out and post your results

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+1 TIME OUT

THIS REALLY NEEDS TO BE A STICKY!!

That would be nice

Im guessing you have tried it? Im awaiting my new shavemac to give it the same treatment as I do this to them all now.

I was wrong. Wet badger smell is much worse than wet piggy smell. I did my 2 boar brushes and 1 badger brush last night. The badger brush smelled very skunky before. The boar brushes don't have any piggy smell anymore. The badger brush has about 1/2 the smell it had before treatment. Huge improvement, just not all the way there yet.
I'm going to do the badger brush again and see if I can get rid of the rest of the funk.
The bristles are noticeably softer on all 3.

This is great info! I have a new Edwin Jagger Best Badger brush on the way, and I will definitely report back on this method once it arrives.

Nice !

Jaymo, sometimes it will take a round two to get it out entirely. Wash it load it with soap and leave it till next use. Thank you for your input and feedback.

I'll have to try that when I get a new brush. Great post!

I just found this And I also just got my new Semogue 830 a few days ago and am in the process of defunkifying it. I will try this out today with it.

I don't remember my Tweezerman (the only other brush I have owned) having any funk to it but my boar definitely has a funk.

Thanks!

Real Shaving Co. cream is good at reducing, at least masking, wet badger/boar smell too.

I think the best way to break in a brush and get rid of the badger smell is simply to use it for a few times, as you would an already broken-in brush. The smell will go away after a few uses.

ambrose said:

That would be nice

Im guessing you have tried it? I'm awaiting my new shavemac to give it the same treatment as I do this to them all now.

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Jose,
Yes I have tried it. I always used Dawn, just never thought of it soaking for so long.
Works well with badger and boar.

Give yourself a hand,
John

I'm going to try this with a boar bristle brush and see what happens. I'll post results when I'm done (and if I remember to find this thread)!

Thank you John


Something magical happenes when it sits overnite with the shave lather.

DE Shaver, the more feedback the better!

Hey Gents -

My first post; been lurking for a while but not had anything worthy to contribute.

I got an Omega boar brush last week and was appalled by the wet boar stink.

The Penworks badger brush I got was great, but the omega was too funky and preventing full enjoyment.

I soaked it in a bowl of hot water with some activated carbon for about 1 hour and the smell was completely gone. For those not familiar with activated carbon it is often used to absorb odors, chemicals, colorations, etc. It'll absorb anything and is used in aquariums, water filters and air filters.

You can get it lots of places, I got some real cheap at a discount store - commonly available at aquarium shops as well.

Anyway, thought I'd pass on something that worked real well for me.

SteveM said:

Hey Gents -

My first post; been lurking for a while but not had anything worthy to contribute.

I got an Omega boar brush last week and was appalled by the wet boar stink.

The Penworks badger brush I got was great, but the omega was too funky and preventing full enjoyment.

I soaked it in a bowl of hot water with some activated carbon for about 1 hour and the smell was completely gone. For those not familiar with activated carbon it is often used to absorb odors, chemicals, colorations, etc. It'll absorb anything and is used in aquariums, water filters and air filters.

You can get it lots of places, I got some real cheap at a discount store - commonly available at aquarium shops as well.

Anyway, thought I'd pass on something that worked real well for me.

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very nice input steve and welcome to B&B

SteveM said:

I got an Omega boar brush last week and was appalled by the wet boar stink.

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By sheer coincidence, this is the same brand boar bristle brush I processed last night, specifically the Omega Boar Pura Setola shaving brush model 13522 . Well, following the instructions given in this thread, I washed the brush using Dawn Ultra (another coincidence that I had this dishwashing soap) and then let it soak for two hours in a solution of Dawn Ultra soap and water. When done, I whipped up a thick lather using an almond size amount of Proraso shaving cream. Setting the brush aside, I let it sit overnight for about 9 hours and then rinsed off the lather early this morning so it can dry.

Well, I got back home late this afternoon and looked the brush over. It appeared to have sprouted a little more loft. The bristles were definitely softer and more pliable. In retrospect, I should have noted how well the brush lathered before the processing because it seemed to lather very well, comparable to my Fendrihan Classic Silvertip, a decent silvertip badger brush.

I think I might have to perform a head-to-head comparison in the near future with both brushes. However, for the time being, I'm quite happy this shaving brush break-in process has lived up to my expectations and even exceeded them.

DE Shaver said:

By sheer coincidence, this is the same brand boar bristle brush I processed last night, specifically the Omega Boar Pura Setola shaving brush model 13522 . Well, following the instructions given in this thread, I washed the brush using Dawn Ultra (another coincidence that I had this dishwashing soap) and then let it soak for two hours in a solution of Dawn Ultra soap and water. When done, I whipped up a thick lather using an almond size amount of Proraso shaving cream. Seeting the brush aside, I let it sit overnight for about 9 hours and then rinsed off the lather early this morning so it can dry.

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I think it works better soaking it overnight.
Glad to hear 2 hours showed some improvement.

John

I tried this yesterday with a pure badger, it had no "stink" to start but was a little rough on my face, I only lathered it up and let it sit for 22 hours then rinsed but there is a noticable difference in softness, I may try this again to see if I can make this pure a best! Btw I used mwf.