How To Use Dawn Dish Soap To Restore Old, Crusty Paint Brushes

Whether you're changing living room colors or finishing up that creative masterpiece you've been working on for months, cleaning paint brushes is probably one of your least favorite activities after an afternoon of painting. But we've all been there. At the end of the day, you give your brushes a quick rinse in the sink and then set them aside to dry. Within the next few days, you reach for those same brushes only to find they are still filled with leftover paint, and the bristles feel hard and crusty. If you paint often, buying new paint brushes each time gets expensive. You can save yourself a lot of money with a simple household product you probably have in your cabinets. It turns out that cleaning paint brushes is one surprising use for Dawn dish soap.

Dawn dish detergent contains a chemical called sodium laureth sulfate, which is a surfactant. When mixed with water, the surfactants in Dawn decrease the surface tension, which helps pull oils and dirt away from paint brushes, dishes, and other objects it comes in contact with. If you leave paint brushes out and they have paint that's still a little tacky or relatively fresh, you can easily loosen the mess with a solution of Dawn dish soap and water. It's important to note that while Dawn works well on acrylic and water-based paints, it will not remove oil-based paint that's been dried on for weeks.

To bring stiff bristles back to life, start by grabbing a cup or a glass jar and fill it with warm water. Add a few squirts of Dawn dish soap and give the water a quick stir. Place your paint brushes into the cup, making sure the bristles are completely submerged in the water. Let the paint brushes soak for at least 20 minutes to help soften the paint. Remove the paint brushes and run them under water while rubbing the bristles with your fingers to get them clean.

One thing to keep in mind is that, if you're dealing with oil-based paint, you'll probably need to take an extra step to clean your brushes. Fill a cup with a heavy-duty solvent, like mineral spirits, vinegar, or turpentine, to break down the dried paint. Start by soaking for an hour. Test that the paint has softened by pressing your bristles into the side of the cup. If your brush bends and the solution is cloudy, remove the brush from the solvent and finish cleaning with Dawn dish soap to remove any residue.

When cleaning your paint brushes, try to avoid soaking the handle or the ferrule. If you soak too long, it can melt the glue under the ferrule, or the metal part that holds the bristles in place, causing them to fall out. Also, you should avoid soaking overnight in solvent. This will eventually destroy natural bristles.