Am I abusing my brush?

C

craiginuk

Messages
44
Hi all,

So far after maybe a month i have trashed 2 wooden handled cheap brushes. One was a cheapie off ebay and the other was one from the body shop.

Both times the brush/knot has come away from the handle. Am i dipping too much of the brush in water maybe? I always try to dry the brush on top of shaving cabinet before i put it away. Or is it the wood swells?

I want to find out what I'm doing wrong please before i buy a better one.

Thanks
Craig
 
Good squeeze of the knot, with brush facing down, after the shave. However, while you do that, you DON'T pull the knot vertically down, you just squeeze it gently with your two fingers, while you hold the handle with your other hand.

Then you take a towel, and try to pass the brush hair over the towel, just like trying to paint the towel with a brush looking vertically down but -again- gently rubbing the cotton towel. Do that for half a minute, but I repeat, gently.

By then you'll see that the brush knot, i.e. its tips and especially the core of the hair, will be more or less damp and of course not wet at all.

Take your brush and let it sit normally in a nice open space, let it dry completely for 24 hrs. Then use again.
 
craiginuk said:
Both times the brush/knot has come away from the handle. Am i dipping too much of the brush in water maybe? I always try to dry the brush on top of shaving cabinet before i put it away. Or is it the wood swells?
Click to expand...

Wood swells all round if it gets wet, so the knot hole would actually swell to hold the knot more firmly.

So it has to be the glue failing.

You are allowed to gently squeeze the hairs. But don't "wring" it. (i.e. don't twist). A simple shake/flick will get most of the water out of the hairs. Just don't let go of the handle and throw it at the sink. :)

As an immediate answer.... first test fit the knot.... then mix up a very small amount of 5 minute epoxy. Put a small amount of the glue into the bottom of the hole in the handle, and a tiny bit coating the sides of the hole (NONE on the brush knot). Push the knot in. Make sure that air pressure inside doesn't push it back out again. Wait 24 hours before using the brush again.

Rod
 
For the future, I wouldn't get cheap brushes from flea-bay or places like the Body Shop. As you found out - you get what you pay for. You can get a fairly decent brush for under $50 from a reputable shaving store or on-line shop.
 
I had the same problem with a Body Shop brush as well. It may be that I was rinsing it directly under the hot tap. What I now do is swirl the brush around the basin in clean warm, not hot, water. Then shake a few times, flick gently across the top, then dry upside down on a stand on a window sill.
 
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