Boar gone bad?

[Marcel]

Please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible for a boar brush to go bad without any visual signs? My old boar suddenly stopped creating proper lather for 3 passes. After the first pass the lather just dissapears and becomes a watery mess. This happens with several soaps and started a couple of weeks ago. I didn't change the way I create lather and I have no problem with my other brush, an omega boar. I tried cleaning the brush following the guide in the wiki, but without results. Any suggestions?

 

[Teiste]

Wiki?Wheres the wiki here....?
Anyway..If you have cleaned it,clean it really well again and even a third time.If you have borax use borax or white vinegar mixed with warm water (70% vinegar,30% water).Im saying this cuz I have cleaned old boar brushes and you would be amaze of how much scum they can hold in their bristles....if its still that way,Im sorry,but I think that theres not a solution for it and the bristles are not usable anymore.That happens very rarely,but happens unfortunately.

 

[Dipesh]

If no borax then go for a baby shampoo soak followed by a White vinegar rinse.

I find my boar can hold a load of scum too.

 

[Marcel]

Wiki?Wheres the wiki here....?
Anyway..If you have cleaned it,clean it really well again and even a third time.If you have borax use borax or white vinegar mixed with warm water (70% vinegar,30% water).Im saying this cuz I have cleaned old boar brushes and you would be amaze of how much scum they can hold in their bristles....if its still that way,Im sorry,but I think that theres not a solution for it and the bristles are not usable anymore.That happens very rarely,but happens unfortunately.

Oh, apologies, I was talking about the badger & blade wiki. I cleaned it in dishwashing soap followed by a soak in a solution of 50% vinegar and 50% warm water. Today I cleaned it again but it I let soak in the vinegar solution much, much longer. A testlather was a lot better than before so I guess it wasn't as clean as I thought it was, just like you said.

 

[Teiste]

Wiki?Wheres the wiki here....?
Anyway..If you have cleaned it,clean it really well again and even a third time.If you have borax use borax or white vinegar mixed with warm water (70% vinegar,30% water).Im saying this cuz I have cleaned old boar brushes and you would be amaze of how much scum they can hold in their bristles....if its still that way,Im sorry,but I think that theres not a solution for it and the bristles are not usable anymore.That happens very rarely,but happens unfortunately.

Oh, apologies, I was talking about the badger & blade wiki. I cleaned it in dishwashing soap followed by a soak in a solution of 50% vinegar and 50% warm water. Today I cleaned it again but it I let soak in the vinegar solution much, much longer. A testlather was a lot better than before so I guess it wasn't as clean as I thought it was, just like you said.

Im sure it wasnt.Clean it a third time like you have done this second time and lets see if it works better.

 

[henkverhaar]

Please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible for a boar brush to go bad without any visual signs?

Can't think of anything structurally that would go wrong with a (boar) brush overnight. Sounds like this brush is contaminated with something that would interfere with the soap lather, such as oil, or some other detergent.

Henk

 

[Marcel]

I gave the cleaned brush a try this morning and the results were much, much better. I suppose it was a lot dirtier than I thought.
Unfortunately, the ring around the knot on top of the handle appears to be made out of aluminium and it didn't like the long soak in vinegar as it oxidized and turned black. I am already looking out for a new badger brush, but I would like to keep this one a bit longer.

 

[henkverhaar]

I gave the cleaned brush a try this morning and the results were much, much better. I suppose it was a lot dirtier than I thought.
Unfortunately, the ring around the knot on top of the handle appears to be made out of aluminium and it didn't like the long soak in vinegar as it oxidized and turned black. I am already looking out for a new badger brush, but I would like to keep this one a bit longer.

You've just given your aluminium ring a surface treatment, making it much more durable ;-) Or it would've if the aluminium would have been of better alloy quality...

Can't think of any chemical way of removing that stain - you'll have to do that (chemo-)mechanically, so ideally you would want to remove the knot from the handle. Or start fussing with toothbrushes...

 

[Marcel]

You've just given your aluminium ring a surface treatment, making it much more durable ;-) Or it would've if the aluminium would have been of better alloy quality...

Can't think of any chemical way of removing that stain - you'll have to do that (chemo-)mechanically, so ideally you would want to remove the knot from the handle. Or start fussing with toothbrushes...

I'm not really bothered with the aluminium turning black, as the brush is pretty old. I kind of polished it away with an old toothbrush so it doesn't stain anymore. It seems the brush needed this heavy cleanup as it is softer than I can remember.

 

[Tim B]

It can depend on what cream you use. Some creams (such as Men U) disappear after the first pass. So what I do is just dip the tip of the brush into warm water, then shake dry. Then lather up by gently pressing the brush, using the tip only for the lathering, and not splaying the bristles out. The rest of the bristle stays fairly dry while only the tip is moist, and this helps stop the lather from seeping up into the rest of the brush.

But with the cream I currently use, Edwin Jagger Aloe Vera, I don't have this problem at all. I soak the brush, then thoroughly shake off the excess water before lathering up, and the lather stays thick and creamy for two or more passes.

The brush I currently use is Men U boar.