Shoe brushes: more than one?

[Fabro]

Is it OK to use the same shoe horse hair shoe brush for all colours (black, browns, burgundy), or is it best to keep separate brushes?

What about the smaller application brushes?

 

[skalogre]

Partly because of what I had seen in the army (brushes becoming useless for polishing due to being used as applicators)... I keep separate brushes for application and polishing. I also keep one black brush and one for brown/dark burgundy, et.c. Same for applicators.

 

[JLibourel]

We have had threads like this before. Like Skalogre, I keep one brush for brown/tan/burgundy and one for black. Some men like to have a separate brush for burgundy although I have never had occasion to rue using the same brush for burgundy and the browns.

I have never had much use for applicator brushes or those sponge devices, preferring to use an old T-shirt or polo shirt for this purpose. In the opinion of the shoe mavens on this forum, am I doing anything amiss in so doing?

 

[whoopee]

I also use separate brushes for black and browns/burgundys. I don't fuss if they get mixed up though, since I use pretty much every polish I have on most of my shoes.

Wouldn't dare to claim to be a shoe maven but I find rags, tees, or socks to be vastly more effective and user-friendly than applicators, which are really for men who want to keep their hands clean. Shoemakers and well-trained staff tend not to use them, too.

 

[odoreater]

I have a seperate brush for brown shoes (which I use for all shades of brown) and a seperate brush for black shoes. I use an old t-shirt to apply polish from tins, but most of the time I just use the polish that comes in the tube with the little sponge thing on the end. Maybe this isn't the best way, but I can't be bothered to spend hours polishing a pair of shoes. It takes me about ten minutes to polish a pair (I just apply using the spong thing on one shoe, then on the other, then I brush the first shoe, then I brush the second shoe, then I go over the first shoe with a wet sock, then I go over the second shoe with a wet sock, then I go over the first shoe with a dry sock, then I go over the second shoe with a dry sock, and voila, a perfectly adequate shine).

 

[zjpj83]

I use the same brush for everything and have never had a problem.

And ditto the above, I use old tee shirts to apply polish.

 

[ATM]

I have one brush for black and another for everything else. I use old socks as applicators (one for every color). I've tried using brush applicators but they seemed to put too much polish on the shoe.

 

[coachvu]

I use one for black, one for brown/tan, but I also try to rinse most of the polish out of the brush after each use.

 

[Charley]

I have one that I use for Black/cordovan.
Another for all browns and oxbloods.

I'm getting a third to use just for the very light brown / english tan shoes.

However, I can write that I've used that light brush on the brown shoes for probably 20 years. It still is very light colored. However, I just may want to keep one pair of shoes (or a few) in a very light color. In that case, I will not want to introduce any dark colored polish.

It is easy to take a swipe at the shoes with the darker brush from time to time to get a bit more color. Darned hard to remove it - or to remove it evenly.