Got a new set of brushes and a few of them have one or two strands that extend to almost twice the length of the brush's tip (as indicated by the contour). How do I trim them without destroying the brush? I understand about using water to get the splayed strands back into shape so I'm not worried about those.

I wouldn't trim the brushes. This always destroys them.

Water alone is not enough to take care of those brushes. You'll need some cleaning soap since after painting and cleaning the bristles are very dry and therefore prone to fraying out. This soap is designed specificially for reapplying oil to dried brushes to keep the brushes in shape while not painting.

I use the Da Vinci Cleaning Soap , which I recommend.

2 hours ago, Laminidas said:

I wouldn't trim the brushes. This always destroys them.

Water alone is not enough to take care of those brushes. You'll need some cleaning soap since after painting and cleaning the bristles are very dry and therefore prone to fraying out. This soap is designed specificially for reapplying oil to dried brushes to keep the brushes in shape while not painting.

I use the Da Vinci Cleaning Soap , which I recommend.

So you're saying throw out the ones with the extra long strands and buy a special "soap" to do what boiling water and a cloth or paper towel does just fine...

If it’s just some strands you trim, it should work. Pull with tweezers cut with modelling knife or nail scissors?

trimming all Hairs ruins natural hair brushes. Synthetics too but they tend to curl up anyway and ruin themselves quickly.

Always depends how you paint though, maybe fully trimmed works for you.

1 minute ago, Xeletor said:

If it’s just some strands you trim, it should work. Pull with tweezers cut with modelling knife or nail scissors?

trimming all Hairs ruins natural hair brushes. Synthetics too but they tend to curl up anyway and ruin themselves quickly.

Always depends how you paint though, maybe fully trimmed works for you.

Just want to get the extra long strands to the correct length.

11 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

Just want to get the extra long strands to the correct length.

I think Its better to cut them shorter even, the cut hairs behave differently even if they’re same length. For fine work with thinned colors anyway.

18 hours ago, Xeletor said:

I think Its better to cut them shorter even, the cut hairs behave differently even if they’re same length. For fine work with thinned colors anyway.

I agree. Don't try to "reshape" the brush tip like you're giving a haircut. I think this is what Laminidas was trying to say. You can get rid of a few errant bristles to improve a cheaper or worn out brush, but there's a limit on what you can gain.

If I get some rogue hairs that need to be culled, I usually try to tease them out to the side with a knife, then pull them back and cut against the ferrule to just trim them right off the brush.

Also, don't be dismissive about proper cleaning. I wouldn't use boiling water on your brushes, and be careful about solvents. You can soften or damage the glue that holds the bristles in the ferrule, which can cause them to fray or even fall out.

Exactly what Hatemonger writes. 👍

If you're going to trim the tip of a fine-detail brush, you'll get a wholly different brush likely to be no longer suited for detailed painting. This brush doesn't have a pointed tip anymore but a flat one, which is better for painting big flat surfaces but not for details. On the other side, if you want to create a brush specifically for drybrushing techniques, go ahead.

The brush soap I mentioned before isn't just for cleaning alone. The soap can be used to smoothen out the stray bristles and after leaving the brush for a while should stay in place. Not to mention that you can use your brushes much longer.

What kind of brushes are we talking about, anyway?

6 minutes ago, Laminidas said:

What kind of brushes are we talking about, anyway?

Creatology all purpose (the 12pc set). I don't assume they're great quality by any stretch of the term and I'm not to fussed about the bristles (I finally remembered the word) that are slightly longer (I'll check them after I've seen how the tip forms and do some testing with paint for those), it's the bristles that extend well past the rest of the bristles (disturbingly the smallest brush, their #1, has the longest overlength bristle being roughly a pinky nail's width longer than the rest of the brush, the #2's brush has a few more that are extremely long, with a couple that are bent, but not as long as the #1's) that I'm planning on trimming the way @Xeletor suggested once I get the scissors (ordered, waiting on delivery).

Do you guys trim off a single hair if it is constantly sticking out from time to time?

23 hours ago, Ghosthacked said:

Do you guys trim off a single hair if it is constantly sticking out from time to time?

Yes, that's what I meant by this section here:

On 4/21/2020 at 8:24 AM, Hatemonger said:

If I get some rogue hairs that need to be culled, I usually try to tease them out to the side with a knife, then pull them back and cut against the ferrule to just trim them right off the brush.

Usually, this happens one or two bristles at a time, although I did not make that clear.

👍

Follow up. The brushes I didn't try to fix started falling apart when I wet them and wouldn't hold a tip useable for miniatures. The ones I did try and fix lost bristles as well. 😞 Not buying supplies of the Creatology brand again.

@Ghosthacked ? A bit of schadenfreude?

No, Just that its unfortunate that there are so many brands of poorly made products these days.