Thread: need help worms on a brush

Today I wash with vinegar my two brushes , a Rooney and a Vulfix , when I dry my Rooney brush I see some very small white worms , first I think was a dry soap but not, the small think was moving and for my sorprise I see more inside .
I dont understand when I use the brush I shake very hard and dry with a cloth .
Im a clean person I clean my house 3 time a week and I mean decinfecting all the house , the brush was buy new from vintage blade two years ago .

As disgusting as it may sound a fly may have laid eegs in the brush. I had a shaggy dog a number of years ago when I bent over to pet her I noticed maggots in her fur, I went nuts trying to find a wound on the animal and then took her to the vet, he told me this was not unusual, flies will lay eggs in fur. This may be what happened to your brush, soak it in some disinfectant and burn/drown the little buggers. Then thoroughly clean the brush. I hope this helps.

I don't know how large they get but it could be vinegar worms. They are a type of eelworm that feeds on fermenting vinegar.

Mmmmmmm... delicious! I live for these threads! Come for the shaving advice and newbie horror stories... stay for the brush worms! Look at it this way, if you were starving it would be free protein!

put it in the microwave,about 30 secs at a time.

Does it make me a bad person to want to see photos of the worms?

Buy a new brush! No more vinegar on brushes.

Originally Posted by bharner

Does it make me a bad person to want to see photos of the worms?

No, it might indicate it at the very worst, and it could perfectly well be coincidence.

It sounds as if they may be capable of living with vinegar, which is only a very weak acid. Our gastric juices are much stronger hydrochloric, and that doesn't prevent certain things you may not want to know about. Denatured alcohol (methylated spirit, more or less, in the UK), or the strength of hydrogen peroxide available as a home antiseptic, will teach them to be worms. Only don't soak the brush too long, as it may weaken the adhesive or substances which give the hairs their springiness.

It isn't totally impossible that living organisms can live on keratin, of which horns, fingernails and hair are principally made. In the wreck of the "Mary Rose", salvaged after over 450 years from the approaches to Portsmouth harbour, yew bows were found which could be cautiously drawn by machine after careful drawing, and might have survived shooting an arrow with great force. But the horn tips had vanished, consumed by bacteria in the mud. Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

It is much more likely, though, that something on the hair of the brush, and of the dog, provided the little blighters with sustenance. Regular rinsing in something only mildly aggressive should put paid to that. Worms in human hair are unknown, except perhaps in some quite exceptional circles.

Originally Posted by bharner

Does it make me a bad person to want to see photos of the worms?

Heck no,whats the phrase? without pics it never happend

Vinegar worms?! And all this time I thought those were pine nuts in my salad....