Brushes and Cleaning Tools That Last

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Brushes and Cleaning Tools That Last

Natural and synthetic bristles, what suits which job, care and buying once

Cleaning tools are bought cheaply, replaced constantly and are one of the easier places to buy something that lasts decades instead.

Natural and synthetic bristles

Natural bristle — horsehair, goat, coco fibre — is soft, holds dust well through static and is ideal for dry sweeping and delicate surfaces. It should not be left wet.

Synthetic bristle is stiffer, tolerates water and chemicals, and suits scrubbing and outdoor use. Stiff natural fibres such as union mix sit between the two.

Matching brush to job

Soft natural for hard floors and stairs, where a stiff brush scatters dust rather than gathering it. Stiff synthetic for outdoors, tiles and anything wet.

A banister brush is for stairs, upholstery and edges, and is the tool most households lack. A dustpan brush is not a substitute.

Handles and construction

Wooden handles with a proper ferrule outlast plastic. Look for bristles set in blocks rather than glued in a strip, since glued bristles shed.

A threaded handle means a worn head can be replaced rather than the whole brush.

Care

Comb debris and hair out of the bristles rather than pulling at it. Wash synthetic brushes in warm soapy water and dry bristles down, and never soak natural bristle or leave any brush standing on its bristles.

Hang brushes or store them head up, since standing on the bristles splays them permanently.

Buying once

A good brush costs several times a supermarket one and lasts far longer than several times as long. Replaceable heads extend that further.

Reducing what you need

Most households own several cleaning products that do the same thing. Warm water with a little washing-up liquid, a decent cloth and one good brush handles the large majority of household cleaning.

Never mix cleaning products, and particularly never combine anything containing bleach with anything acidic, since that releases toxic gas.

Storing them

Keep cleaning products locked away from children and pets, in their original labelled containers, and never decanted into drinks bottles or unlabelled containers.

Sweeping well

Short controlled strokes towards yourself rather than long sweeping ones, which throw dust into the air. Damp the head slightly on a dusty hard floor, which holds fine dust rather than scattering it.

Work from the edges inwards and finish with a dustpan rather than sweeping debris out through a doorway.

The rest of the kit

Microfibre cloths clean with far less product and shed plastic fibres in the wash, so use a filter bag. Wash cloths at sixty degrees and dry them out fully between uses, since damp cloths breed bacteria quickly.

WHERE TO BUY

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