The Resurrection of a Paint Brush

Tom, that's a great tip! Acetone, by itself, is a much more powerful degreaser than most alcohols. Use it alone to clean brushes and it will remove oils and other lipids from the bristle fibers themselves. The glycerine in the nail polish remover will restore some of this damage, but eventually the acetone will win.

And that is true of almost anything you can use to clean a brush, even soap (like Woolite) and water. In fact, I can't think of anything that won't eventually relegate the brush to the dry-brush bin. The key word here is "eventually."

Another thing you can do to preserve your brushes is to use hair conditioner on them, especially if you are going to store them for a long time. After cleaning, just dip them in the conditioner, massage it gently into the bristles, let stand a minute, and rinse with water, then wipe dry and shape. You don't need to buy the expensive brush conditioners sold by artist's supply stores and some hobby concerns. Just "borrow" an ounce or two from the bottle in the shower. That will last you for years.

Also I use the polish remover as an air-brush cleaner.

Since it has a pleasent odor, I can do this indoors without any complaints from family members, and again the glycerin helps preserve the lubricity of the packing O-rings in the brush, whereas alcahol can dry and swell them, causing them to bind the needle's adjusting action.

Tom