Touching A Dry Badger Brush

Hey DFS, 

I have a bit of an open-ended question I would like others' opinions on. When my badger brush dries and it's "crunchy" or "hard" I like to gently take my hand and rub it so the crunchy or hard gel tips are nice and soft again. I also like to from time to time gently rub the soft hair on my face when I'm reading (weird maybe) especially when the brush was used in a stunning soap scent. 

Has anyone ever seen this hurt the badger brush? I have not had any issues thus far but was curious if others maybe have. As always thanks DFS for any insight.

I don’t think it hurts it. I’ll brush the “crunch” away either with my hand or on a clean towel and I’ve never noticed anything negative. I haven’t done the face brushing but now that the seed is planted…

I dont know if its true but I have read from some brush makers that messing with the tips when they are crunchy could cause the ends to be damaged.

Ive noticed that if you get them mostly dry by gently brushing it on a good towel they tend to dry softer.

One thing I do is condition my badger brushes every few uses with either some SV preshave oil or a slight bit of mango or kokum butter. The smallest little bit in the palm and lightly coating the tips of the badger hair and on the outside of the knot. Something to consider trying since many people do like gel tip brushes as well as even non gel tip knots can have natural taper and after breaking in enough, natural/unbleached hair can eventually curl after break in and use and hook but in a milder way of hooking. I think it has to do with a varying level of tip lengths in the ends of the tapers. I think when a knot is bleached, such a large number (large %) of the ends of the knot get chemically treated and it creates such a uniformity in breaking down the keratins or natural oils, that the hairs somehow or naturally bind together as are wetted and as they dry.

If I can get around to searching through some of my old photos of knots/badger hair close up, it may be a bit easier to see and understand in a follow up post.

If folks are trying not to damage the ends of the hair on their gel tipped brushes, I would suggest against the rubbing over a dried knot that has the hairs all spiked together. One other note maybe worth debating is if you shake out a bunch of water after rinsing, can't you avoid some of the problem by rubbing the hair knot over while semi damp or before completely drying?

I doubt that gently rubbing the hair tips with the hand or face would damage them at all. In order to maintain my somewhat-vintage badger brushes, I use a good hair conditioner (Olaplex No. 3) every couple months, combing a little of it through the complete hair lengths before letting it sit for 3-5 minutes, and then rinsing it out.