Is it unsanitary to PIF a brush?

Obviously we (the community) sells a lot of brushes to each other. But I haven't seen too many PIF's of brushes. Is there a reason for that? Is it viewed as unsanitary?

Brushes are mostly more expensive than razors. I've PIF'ed my share of both but far more razors

+1. brushes are the most expensive of everything (and nice straights). I've probably gone through about 40 brushes and now only have 11. of the 11 the average cost is $140. I'm happy to PIF but sending away a $140 is out of the question. The guys that do are incredibly generous and totally insane. :-)

i'm happy to PIF software, blades, and back-up razors though.

I can understand the sanitary concerns and think this is a great reason for everyone to use barbicide.
I PIF'd a Vie-Long LE. I use barbicide on everything--even brushes.
Follow the directions on the bottle.
Put the brush in a cup hair/bristle down.
Pour in the mixed barbicide solution covering the hairs/bristles.
Soak for 4 or 5 minutes.
Rinse, rinse, rinse...
After that I lather the brush in a shave soap to clean it more and remove any bad smell, hang to dry.

Some people use vinegar, but that really only cleans soap or cream residue and won't kill anything. I use vinegar every few months to clean any build up out, but barbicide is also something I like to use when refreshing my brushes.

So if not PIF'ing a brush due to the sanitary conditions is holding people back, buy some barbicide. Not all brushes are $100+, some great brushes are under $40.

I have given away a lot of Omega and Semogue boars. Badgers are just too expensive. The last thing I would do is PIF a Chubby 2 just to see it go up on EBay.

(07-13-2012, 01:32 PM)texaninkc Wrote: +1. brushes are the most expensive of everything (and nice straights). I've probably gone through about 40 brushes and now only have 11. of the 11 the average cost is $140. I'm happy to PIF but sending away a $140 is out of the question. The guys that do are incredibly generous and totally insane. :-)

i'm happy to PIF software, blades, and back-up razors though.

That makes sense. I honestly did not think about that.

The sanitary issue doesn't concern me as the trip in the mail + the fact that we use soap should kill anything serious. I think. My barber told me that she uses barbicide to disinfect a brush after each customer, so if the state says it's okay, I don't see why it is unsuitable.

I PIF boars to noobs after having spent some time hand lathering them to help break them in and give them a final wash before PIFing.

But the boars I PIF out, and I have very few left, I got from a local surplus/insurance merchandise store. They were $.50 per and worth more than that. I have one in my rotation and it gets used along with all my other brushes. I bought the entire bin of brushes, about 130 of them. Sold most of them for what I paid for them on another forum. Boxes of 10 I think it was.

BTW, I check once a week for more brushes and haven't seen any since then. It may not happen again in my lifetime.

Whether a PIF or a purchase you can clean or sanitize a brush with MAC or barbicide. The earlier comments about the cost of a brush are spot on as to the reason other shaving products are PIF'ed more often than brushes.

a bit more expensive to PIF as easily as other things.

I concur with earlier comments. Brushes are easily sanitised (MAC brush cleanser is my preferred method), but often cost prohibitive to PIF given the investment required to acquire them.

I personally dont think so. We do use shave soap