How long should a brush last?

[Leon]

A brush should last several decades, IMHO.

I am 82 years old. My father gave me a shaving brush when I turned 16. I have used it every single day, and even brought it to D-Day, Korea and Vietnam. I intend to be buried with it. A person really doesn't need more than one brush during his life.

What an amazing history! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Klarion]

I am 82 years old. My father gave me a shaving brush when I turned 16. I have used it every single day, and even brought it to D-Day, Korea and Vietnam. I intend to be buried with it. A person really doesn't need more than one brush during his life.

Ok, not really, but I bought a $20 badger about 7+ years ago and used it every day with soap. I just sold it on the BST and it has a lot of life left. My first brush was a C&E badger, and I only got 3 years out of it before it fell apart.

As said above, it should last a very, very long time.

Too bad it's taken you so long to discover the goodness of boar! You're off to a good start, though....

 

[Wingnut]

ROTFLMAO! The "before" pic! It looks like you were determined to get your money's worth out of your brush!

Mine and about three other people's worth as well!

 

[Wingnut]

Wowza! I know it is not a word, good job!

No kidding, Rudy did an absolutely fantastic job. I could not have asked for more, or a better guy to work with.

FYI, I'm using the restored brush every day, and I'm sure it'll outlast me by a few years. Look for it on the BST in about 25 years.

 

[noahpictures]

I am 82 years old. My father gave me a shaving brush when I turned 16. I have used it every single day, and even brought it to D-Day, Korea and Vietnam. I intend to be buried with it. A person really doesn't need more than one brush during his life.

Ok, not really, but I bought a $20 badger about 7+ years ago and used it every day with soap. I just sold it on the BST and it has a lot of life left. My first brush was a C&E badger, and I only got 3 years out of it before it fell apart.

As said above, it should last a very, very long time.

LOL. Sir do you wear a cape when you step out of your house? LMAO

 

[solar]

decades if you treat it right.

I think so. My oldest badger is early 90's vintage, as are my older boar bristle brushes, all in fine working order in 2010.........

 

[dema]

Do hard soaps wear down a brush faster with face lathering? I used to use only creams and bowl lather but I recently got a face brush T+H Rooney 1/1, and the soap sticks to it even with my normal rinse cycle after. I'm thinking about rotating the 1/1 in with a cream every so often to keep the bristles softer. Anyone had experience? BTW, I'm using Col. Conk, and Mama Bears as my soaps. I find that the tips are very hard when dry. Perhaps it's because the brush is new? I suppose I can start to shampoo and condition it every season, and try the vinegar soak suggests on the boards.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Do hard soaps wear down a brush faster with face lathering? I used to use only creams and bowl lather but I recently got a face brush T+H Rooney 1/1, and the soap sticks to it even with my normal rinse cycle after. I'm thinking about rotating the 1/1 in with a cream every so often to keep the bristles softer. Anyone had experience? BTW, I'm using Col. Conk, and Mama Bears as my soaps. I find that the tips are very hard when dry. Perhaps it's because the brush is new? I suppose I can start to shampoo and condition it every season, and try the vinegar soak suggests on the boards.

Hard brush tips means you didn't fully clean out all the lather and it dried out in the bristles. It shouldn't be that hard to rinse a brush clean - what's your 'normal' rinse cycle consist of?

 

[Scissors]

I read on another board in a pro-boar brush piece that the only downside to boar is that it won't last as long as badger—a single decade to boar compared to several decades for badger. (To be fair to the author, he said the price differential between boar and badger brushes more than made up for this, and he found boar to be superior in every other way to badger.)

As some have said they'd had boars for many years, I suppose this is untrue, or at best, an exaggeration, but I wonder about boar bristles tendency to split. Does boar require more careful treatment to get long life because of this? Or does boar just change more as time goes by, while badger stays pretty much the same? Or...?

 

[dema]

Wash out the brush with pretty hot water, mushing it around in a bowl. Whipping it until it's blooming and seeing if any of the hairs are stuck together, they I rinse with hot water again, mush it around ( I use my hand sometimes too) and squeeze out (sometimes) the water and then whip out the water again. I lightly towel dry and then hang upside down. That usually did the job for when I used creams.

 

[denim]

Do hard soaps wear down a brush faster with face lathering? I used to use only creams and bowl lather but I recently got a face brush T+H Rooney 1/1, and the soap sticks to it even with my normal rinse cycle after. I'm thinking about rotating the 1/1 in with a cream every so often to keep the bristles softer. Anyone had experience? BTW, I'm using Col. Conk, and Mama Bears as my soaps. I find that the tips are very hard when dry. Perhaps it's because the brush is new? I suppose I can start to shampoo and condition it every season, and try the vinegar soak suggests on the boards.

Do you have hard water? If so, perhaps you're not getting all the soap out when you rinse the brush out.

 

[dema]

Denim, I live in NYC, Queens. I read that our water is considered soft. I just washed the brush again 2x and it's getting softer. I guess I must have packed that Mama Bear in the tips real well.

I do think the soaps stick to the tips more, but YMMV.

 

[goby]

I read on another board in a pro-boar brush piece that the only downside to boar is that it won't last as long as badger—a single decade to boar compared to several decades for badger. (To be fair to the author, he said the price differential between boar and badger brushes more than made up for this, and he found boar to be superior in every other way to badger.)

As some have said they'd had boars for many years, I suppose this is untrue, or at best, an exaggeration, but I wonder about boar bristles tendency to split. Does boar require more careful treatment to get long life because of this? Or does boar just change more as time goes by, while badger stays pretty much the same? Or...?

My C&E boar just fell apart. BTW, I think badger brushes were much more expensive back them (about 1996). Maybe I'm wrong, but I think so.

But know I'm badger-less. If I get 10 years out of my $25.00 Semogue I'll be thrilled. It will be the best 10 shaving years of my lfie.