My Rooney has some kind of hair loss problem

Leon · 08-31-2008, 11:34 PM

Hi gents.

I 've the Rooney Silvertip small style 1 small for a year now. In the beginning I thought it was normal that one or two hairs would come off after the shave, at least I think I read it somewhere. After many shaves, the brush is still dropping hairs, I'm afraid it will go bald before the estimated life span I plan to give it - a few decades.
After each shave, I shake it like a madman and after that I let it dry outside hoping the cool air will help the badger hair dry even better.

Any theory on what's going wrong with it?

fpessanha · 08-31-2008, 11:56 PM

Do you let the brush dry upside down? If not, maybe the brush is rottening or something... I've always heard that a brush should never air dry upside up... Other that that I have nothing else to add to this discussion.

Leon · 09-01-2008, 12:01 AM

Francisco,

Good point, after being dry, I put it inside my shaving case in "standing" position.
I got to get me a brush stand, or make my own.

fpessanha · 09-01-2008, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leon

Francisco,

Good point, after being dry, I put it inside my shaving case in "standing" position.
I got to get me a brush stand, or make my own.

Unless the brush is completely dry you should never leave it in an upright position. This is what an old barber told me... loss of hair is a quite common among cheap brushes but yours is a Rooney so that shouldn't happen. Get a brush stand for all your brushes to stand upside down. That way you insure that they dry out evenly and that no water gets stuck in the knot, thus avoiding the rottening of the hair. I had a brush that belonged to my father for years on end... and I managed to destroy it because it didn't dry out in an upright position. Lesson learnt... I now have a stand form my new (Semogue) brush!

driver/examiner · 09-16-2008, 02:33 AM

Just recently I purchased a small Rooney brush from Jim over at Vintage Blades. I too had the same problem.
At first I was loosing a few hairs each shave and attributed it to newness of the brush. After a while the brush was still loosing hairs: More than usual. I E-mailed Jim and returned the brush which he promptly
exchanged. The replacement doesn't seem to be loosing hair as the first one did. I haven't had any problem with the replacement brush other than a normal loss when it was new. It's possible they had a bad batch. Everything seems to be O.K. now. Just fyi. I rinse mine with warm water, making sure all the soap is out and let dry in a brush stand with bristles down. Seems O.K. now.

RichZ · 09-16-2008, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Unless the brush is completely dry you should never leave it in an upright position. This is what an old barber told me... loss of hair is a quite common among cheap brushes but yours is a Rooney so that shouldn't happen. Get a brush stand for all your brushes to stand upside down. That way you insure that they dry out evenly and that no water gets stuck in the knot, thus avoiding the rottening of the hair. I had a brush that belonged to my father for years on end... and I managed to destroy it because it didn't dry out in an upright position. Lesson learnt... I now have a stand form my new (Semogue) brush!

This is good advice. I just passed on my fathers silvertip badger brush from B Altman's to my son. The brush has to be over 40 years old but it was always hung dry.

Leon · 09-18-2008, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Get a brush stand for all your brushes to stand upside down.

By the way, how do you gents hang your brushes? You must have lots of stands, no?
I only have 2 brushes, a Rooney and a Semogue and what I do now is whatever brush I use is the one that goes to to stand and the other one that is there goes to the box (and is kept in an upright position - a big no-no, right?)
I don't shave everyday, so the brush is left to dry upside down for more than 48 hours, but what about you gents that shave everyday and have several brushes? How do you manage to keep them? Do you have a stand for each brush? If not, what do you do to the brushes you don't have a stand?
Am I being paranoid?

fpessanha · 09-19-2008, 01:09 PM

Imagine Freddy Merdury singing "one brush!/ One stand!"

as if he was singing "One vision"...

I guess that's what I'd do...

Of course, if you are infested with BAD the scenery changes a bit... and the song is now "1000 shaving brushes on their stands/ if one of the brushes should happen to fall.../ 999 shaving brushes on their stands..." and so forth. Get the picture? But hey... let's wait for one of them BAD coleages of ours to chime in and sing their own song!

Leon · 09-19-2008, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fpessanha

Imagine Freddy Merdury singing "one brush!/ One stand!"

as if he was singing "One vision"...

I guess that's what I'd do...

Of course, if you are infested with BAD the scenery changes a bit... and the song is now "1000 shaving brushes on their stands/ if one of the brushes should happen to fall.../ 999 shaving brushes on their stands..." and so forth. Get the picture? But hey... let's wait for one of them BAD coleages of ours to chime in and sing their own song!

Francisco, you have a wild imagination!

kca · 09-19-2008, 07:41 PM

I have about 5 or 6 brushes right now and one stand. I've heard mixed things about the necessity of a stand but I'd rather be safe than sorry so as Leon described above I dry the last brush used in the stand. I haven't been shaving daily recently but up until about a month ago I was and I felt ok taking the brush off the stand after 24 hours or even less.

I always thoroughly (not roughly) rinse, shake, squeeze and gently towel dry the brush immediately after use and then place in the stand. So far I haven't had any issues but then again my oldest brush is probably no more than a year old so who knows what will happen long term.

Cheers,

Casey

Bart · 09-19-2008, 08:27 PM

I honestly can't believe that the direction the brush stands drying would have much influence on the longevity of the brush. There are enough glues available that are totally unaffected by moisture, and I can't imagine the manufacturers not using a waterproof glue. I also think that the entire brush gets wet during use, due to capillarity. I have allowed my boars hair brush drying standing up as much as hanging down in a stand, because I wondered which way it dried soonest. Never noticed any real difference.

Some sources mention that swirling and twisting motions during shaving and drying should be avoided, because such actions can cause the hairs to become loose. Those sources advice to only use painting style motions. I personally do some careful twirling while massaging the lather into my beard. My boars brush sheds one hair every dozen shaves or so, my badger (a fabulous Semogue Silvertip) hasn't lost a single hair so far, but it has only about 6 or 7 shaves on the counter.
Grabbing the brush beyond the handle, supporting the hairs a bit more while twirling, IMHO would make more difference than the storage direction.

Kind regards,
Bart.

B R A N D X · 09-20-2008, 01:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leon

By the way, how do you gents hang your brushes? You must have lots of stands, no?

I have a clawfoot tub in the master bath. There is a wire, basket that stretches from one side to the other for holding soaps, shampoo etc.....

The grids are uneven in width; some work just right for my smallest brush.....Rooney 3/1 and others are just right for my monster Simpson CH3.

So, when I finish shaving I hang that day's brush upside down in this rack and when I get home from work I place it right side up back on my shave shelf.

Works very well and has saved me from having to buy a couple of brush stands.

This is not the tub caddy i have, but a quick search of the web pulled this one up and should better illustrate what I'm talking about...if you have a clawfoot......as everyone should......

.......this is an excellent brush stand alternative: