Horse hair brush smells like... horse?

Mickey Oberman · Mar 5, 2014

I understand that horsehair brushes are made from the hair of the mane and the tail.

I have a Vie-Long brush. There is no doubt that mine came from the tail.
The warmer the lather the stronger the odour.

I have tried all kinds of remedies including, Febreze, mouthwash, sodium Bicarbonate, vinegar, borax (20 Mule Team no less), hand and laundry soaps and after shave.
The odour is gradually fading but I am going to try tomato juice which removes Eau de Skunk from from stricken dogs and cats.

Other than its B.O. it is an excellent brush. Much softer and gentler than I thought it would be.

Mickey

KW Driver · Mar 5, 2014

I say give it time. My Vie-Long took awhile to break in, very much like a boar.

emwolf · Dec 29, 2015

just got mine yesterday. I haven't tried the vinegar or AV Musk ideas yet, but wow. My daughter rides competitively and that reminds me of how she smells after a day on horseback.

Ole Blue · Dec 29, 2015

Well, you bought a Horse brush, What did you expect it to smell like? Take it from a farm kid, just be glad they don't make Goat hair brushes.This to me is the equivalent of people who say they don't like fish because it tastes fishy. I mean what the heck were you expecting it to taste like, Pork?

Ew, I don't like that pork chop, that tastes Porky.

Ha. Horse brushes will surprise you though in the performance dept if you stick with one long enough. I grew up on a cattle ranch as a kid, so the smell for me brings back fond memories and an old Sorrel friend or two I had.

TheShavist · Aug 10, 2016

I just got a new Vie-Long 12750. I'm here to tell you that it had a stench that I couldn't deal with. I was able to quickly and easily get the odor out. Several folks have referred to vinegar, sharing that it didn't work for them. I used vinegar and will share specifics.

I put 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup white vinegar in a small bowl, stirred it, and put the brush in it for twenty minutes. Next I washed it with shampoo. It still had some smell.

I repeated the process, shaved with it and the odor was gone.

I couldn't find any documentation talking about a solution that strong. The brush works fine, so I suspect it was fine.

There is no need to have to deal with the smell.

ciderguy · Aug 10, 2016

Debrushman said:
Use your brush with a freshly opened Arko stick. That should eliminate your ability to smell just about anything. Most of your home, including your brush will smell like Arko.
Than again most of your block will smell like Arko, but hey it's better than horse.

Arko smells wonderful. I highly recommend this. My horse brush was used with nothing but Arko for most of an Arko stick. It generally smells of Proraso Red these days. The scent of Proraso Red will linger on the brush for 4-5 shaves with other creams or soaps.

Leopold Bloom said:
So I shaved with this again this morning with some Mikes soap, got up a great bowl lather, but again the brush seems to just hold all the luxurious cream in the middle or sides, and spreads a thin surface on the face.

When i pinch the brush with my thumb and index and pull up the lather, it's very very rich and creamy, but the brush seems to clump up and hold it, but not spread it. Bit frustrating, might have to drop it from the routine. Again, it only cost 2 quid so not comlpaining, it's worth 2 quid of anyones money.

My Vie-Long does something similar, but as long as I make enough lather it'll be thick enough to coat things. I use a side to side painting motion with it. Not a round circular motion. I don't know if that makes a difference.

TheShavist said:
I just got a new Vie-Long 12750. I'm here to tell you that it had a stench that I couldn't deal with. I was able to quickly and easily get the odor out. Several folks have referred to vinegar, sharing that it didn't work for them. I used vinegar and will share specifics.

I put 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup white vinegar in a small bowl, stirred it, and put the brush in it for twenty minutes. Next I washed it with shampoo. It still had some smell.

I repeated the process, shaved with it and the odor was gone.

I couldn't find any documentation talking about a solution that strong. The brush works fine, so I suspect it was fine.

There is no need to have to deal with the smell.

Interesting. I was always told vinegar wasn't great for hair.

RobsForge · Aug 10, 2016

I like the smell of horses. my new badger has about 15 shaves with it and still smells like roadkill. It actually got worse.....I don't know what's going on

MidnightMatador · Aug 13, 2016

TheShavist said:
I just got a new Vie-Long 12750. I'm here to tell you that it had a stench that I couldn't deal with. I was able to quickly and easily get the odor out. Several folks have referred to vinegar, sharing that it didn't work for them. I used vinegar and will share specifics.

I put 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup white vinegar in a small bowl, stirred it, and put the brush in it for twenty minutes. Next I washed it with shampoo. It still had some smell.

I repeated the process, shaved with it and the odor was gone.

I couldn't find any documentation talking about a solution that strong. The brush works fine, so I suspect it was fine.

There is no need to have to deal with the smell.

I hope you like the 12750, I know I love mine! I didn't really notice a stench in mine, but then again, I've worked with animals for most of my life.

Best of luck with the brush!

Jnatcat · Aug 14, 2016

I purchased a Vie Long 13061M not that long ago and I was concerned about the smell but suprisingly there really was not even a smell right out of the box and after I bloomed the brush there their was no odor at all.

TheShavist · Sep 28, 2016

I've become a horse hair brush aficionado! I got my ex wife a Vie-Long 12750 and there was no offending scent. My take is that it's lucky to get one with no horsey scent, but that dealing with it if you do get one is easy with the process I described earlier.

ciderguy · Sep 28, 2016

I think my Vie-Long took less than a week to stop smelling like horse, but I used it with Arko everyday. I think Arko is very good for deodorizing brushes.

margor64peroez · Sep 28, 2016

Ole Blue said:
Well, you bought a Horse brush, What did you expect it to smell like? Take it from a farm kid, just be glad they don't make Goat hair brushes.

Yup - the smell of Goat, especially on a misty day, when you can smell them looooooooooooooooooooooooooooong before you can see them is the sort of childhood memory that never leaves you.

In winter I shave with a German goat milk shaving soap called, appropriately enough, Ziegenbart (Goat Beard) - smells of soap rather than goat beard, and really moisturises your skin.

SmurfK · Sep 29, 2016

pringe said:
I bought a nr.6 brush from bestshave about 2 months ago. The smell of it is really strong. Is that normal? It has been used almost every day.

It's normal, only that your "horse" hair brush smells like pig, because it's made out of boar bristles. :001_smile

Horse hair brushes actually have worse scent than that.

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Horse hair brush smells like... horse?

Mickey Oberman

KW Driver

emwolf

Ole Blue

TheShavist

ciderguy

RobsForge

MidnightMatador

Jnatcat

TheShavist

ciderguy

margor64peroez

SmurfK

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