BBB Users - Do You Clarify Your Brush?

[DweamGoiL]

I own an MP I have been using for over a decade. It came with the small rectangular nylon washing brush. I love the brush, but lately found the bristles were particularly gunky. I tend to not use oils on my hair too often, but of course, your natural sebum and hair products tend to build up on hair. I clarify my hair about one a month, but I have always cleaned my brush right after using it by brushing the lint off of it. I wet clean it maybe once a month or so, but never dunk it in water to preserve the pad base and glue intact.

Today, I wet brushed it and rinsed it and the gunk was still there. Some of the bristles were stuck together, which was really gross. I filled a shallow pie pan with a small dollop of clarifying shampoo and some really warm water. I placed the brush inside (bristle side down). Only the bristles were submerged, but not the rubbery pad. I left the brush in the solution for a good 20 minutes, and when I returned, I could see all the gunky stuff on the bristles. The gunk was a light greyish color. I then brushed the BBB again with the nylon cleaning brush. All the gunk came off sooo easily. I rinsed the BBB with cool water one last time by letting the water run along the rubbery base holding the brush on its side. I am not recommending doing this regularly, but maybe once a year or so just to make sure your brush is really being cleaned properly. It was startling to see how much gunk revealed itself after clarifying that would have gone unnoticed.

Does anyone else clarify their BBB?

[Carolyn]

I've had a MP for over a decade and I've only wet cleaned it once. I just remove the shed hairs and call it good. If I remember the time I washed it I dipped the bristles in hot soapy water and used an old toothbrush to clean the bristles the best I could. I didn't see that it was any cleaner looking than before I did that.

[Cania]

I don't have a real BBB but I do have an acrylicish Denman. I clean it with clarifying shampoo and a toothbrush, my TT gets the same treatment twice a month or so :)

[Madora]

That's a novel approach, DweamGoil! Glad it worked for you!

I wash my brush daily, with a little bit of Neutrogena hand soap on a nail brush. Then I rinse off with cold running water.

Afraid I'm rather paranoid about using fresh, clean brushes. Can't stand the idea of a brush that has been used on hair that has oil (I don't mean natural sebum) and heaven knows what else. That stuff works it way down into the bristle bed and sits there gathering bacteria. The thought revolts me. I think you hit on the perfect answer to getting an oily brush squeaky clean. I'd just be careful letting it soak too long..20 minutes is a mite over the top. I'd say 8 minutes tops. I just might try this myself! Just out of curiousity!

[DweamGoiL]

That's a novel approach, DweamGoil! Glad it worked for you!

I wash my brush daily, with a little bit of Neutrogena hand soap on a nail brush. Then I rinse off with cold running water.

Afraid I'm rather paranoid about using fresh, clean brushes. Can't stand the idea of a brush that has been used on hair that has oil (I don't mean natural sebum) and heaven knows what else. That stuff works it way down into the bristle bed and sits there gathering bacteria. The thought revolts me. I think you hit on the perfect answer to getting an oily brush squeaky clean. I'd just be careful letting it soak too long..20 minutes is a mite over the top. I'd say 8 minutes tops. I just might try this myself! Just out of curiousity!

Madora, let me know how it works for you :) I will definitely leave it less time when it needs a deeper cleaning again, but this time around, it was sooo yucky.

[melusine963]

Like Madora, I use a nail brush and handsoap. It works well and only takes a minute.

[rowie]

I always clarify my bbb every other day. Hey it is real hair after all. I also use a cheap conditioner like the matching v05 kiwi conditioner to soften up the bristles. I have to keep my bbb brush clean because I wash my own hair once a month and so I depend on my bbb to clean my hair and scalp daily, which means my bbb has to be clean before it touched my scalp. The clarifying shampoo makes me feel like I've thouroughly cleaned the bristles from debris or any bacteria. The conditioner helps my bbb get a little softer and a final cold rinse makes the bristles shine!

[hennalonghair]

I also own on MP brush but also use oils on my hair. My brush gets cleaned two or three a week with that brush it comes with.
It gets cleaned with soapy warm water from clarifying shampoo.
The red rubber base gets a bit wet but I never get water inside it.
I'm extremely fussy about having a clean brush which is the very reason I like my MP brush so much.
I've never had a problem getting any of the oils out whereas other brushes I'd rather toss than clean them at times. :lol:
Most other bbb's I've found difficult to clean but not this one.

[Teazel]

Nope, I don't. My brushes don't get gunky, I suppose because I never let them touch my scalp. And I don't bother with oils, generally. So when they start to feel a little greasy I just run them under a hot tap (the bristles go directly into the wooden handles) and that's clean enough for me.

[Majorane]

I feel really agressive now towards by bbb, but I clean it with a dollop of dishwasher soap after almost every use :eek: I thought I had to keep it clean and thus wash it so often but apparently I am overdoing it compared to y'all. In my defense, I have a cheap bbb and it is still full of bristles after a loooong time of the Harsh Treatment With Dishwash Soap, so there is that. My own shampoo is too whimpy for the brush and my SO's shampoo leaves a nasty residual smell, hence the choice for no shampoos.