Hot take: buying new paint brushes is a waste when you can restore old ones

I was about to drop $20 on a new set of brushes for my painting hobby until a friend showed me how to clean my old dried-up ones with vinegar and a wire brush. Turns out soaking them in cheap white vinegar for 30 minutes breaks down all the crusty acrylic, and a little rubbing alcohol gets the rest. Saved myself a trip to the craft store and my old brushes work better than the cheap pack I was gonna grab. Has anyone else found weird household stuff that works way better than the fancy hobby products?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicaw1118d ago

Totally thought people were just being cheap about brushes until I tried it myself last month. I let my brushes get rock hard after forgetting to rinse them and the vinegar trick had them looking brand new in no time. Honestly feel kinda dumb for tossing perfectly good brushes in the past.

troy43918d ago

Dumb for tossing perfectly good brushes" - story of my life with so many things lol. I was the exact same way for years, thought everyone was just being extra or trying to save a few bucks. But then I grabbed an old flat brush that was crusty beyond belief, dunked it in vinegar and dish soap for like an hour and it came out looking practically new. Made me realize I've probably thrown away hundreds of dollars worth of brushes that could have been saved with a 15 minute soak. Now I'm that guy telling everyone to stop buying new brushes and just try cleaning them first.