I have Steven on the line. He says, "Never use water-based soaps to clean natural hair brushes. Ask any auto mechanic who is used to cleaning up grease and dirty oil how well soap and water work. Same principle; oil and water don't mix." What he does is rinse the brushes in turpenoid and then he cleans them thoroughly with silicoil, a product made just for that purpose. It cleans and conditions and leaves the brush points intact. It can be used repeatedly and is pretty cheap. [...]
As to removing damar varnish, it requires at minimum a solvent such as turpentine (which is stronger than mineral spirits) to dissolve completely. It will not fully dissolve in either mineral spirits or some of the commercially odorless solvents such as turpenoid. That's why you are getting a residue on your brushes.
Feel free to contact us directly if you have any other technical questions. Steven has done a great deal of research and experimentation with his materials and I'm a chemist by training [...].
Best to you,
Caryn
