Using a pot, simmer or boil any white vinegar you have in it. Place your brush in the vinegar after it has been heated. Take it for 20 minutes and relax. Use warm, soapy water to wash and remove the dry paint, then wipe them.
You can simply use washing-up liquid for emulsion paints or white spirits for oil-based or gloss paints. If you don't have white spirits lying around just use some vinegar. Using vinegar might take longer and it might stink the place up, but it works just as well and can be a fair bit cheaper.
B&Q's Clean Spirit is a non-toxic alternative to white spirit. Like white spirit, it can be used to clean up solvent-based paint, but is much safer, non-flammable and is water based. You do need to work the cleaner into your brushes a little more than with white spirit.
How to clean oil-based paint off brushes. If you've used a gloss paint, scrape as much of the brush and back into the tin as you can. Fill an old glass jar with white spirit and put the brush in, pressing it against the sides to work the liquid into the brush. Leave to soak for a couple of hours.
White Vinegar Method:
Pour any white vinegar into a pot and bring it to a simmer or boil. Once heated, place your brush in the hot vinegar. Let sit for about 20 minutes. Wash them with warm, soapy water, and use your hands to remove the dried paint.
Heat vinegar up in a pot on the stove to almost boiling. Pour the hot vinegar over the paintbrush in the pan. Allow the brush to soak for 10 minutes or longer. Use a brush comb or wire brush to remove the softened paint.
Don't throw away expensive paintbrushes—they can be saved!
Paintbrushes full of dried paint or varnish don't have to be discarded. Done properly, a good soak in brush cleaner can restore the bristles to almost-new condition.
A mixture of warm water and mild soap suds is the best cleaning solution for water-based paints. Prepare soapy water and pour into a clean container. Dip the paint brush into the mixture, working the soap through the brush bristles. Follow with a clear water rinse.
Don't Use Nail Polish Remover
Nail polish remover may seem like a good idea for removing paint. It removes nail polish, after all. But depending on the type of paintbrush, the acetone can also weaken the glue that holds your bristles in place, causing them to fall out and leaving you with a bald brush.
Soak the brush with hardened paint in vinegar for an hour. If the bristles don't bend, soak for an additional hour. If it needs more loosening after two hours, submerge the head of the brush in vinegar in a pot, place the pot on a stove and bring to a boil. Afterwards, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool off.
Mineral spirits and turpentine are excellent brush cleaners, as they can remove paint that has hardened a little. Paint that is still fresh will dissolve only when it is diluted with mineral spirits.
Is white spirit the same as methylated spirit? So, white spirit is a petroleum-based solvent, and methylated spirit is an alcohol-based solvent.
When using a solvent based paint like a varnish or oil based gloss you will need to soak your brushes in a solvent cleaner such as white spirit or a specific brush cleaning solution and work the cleaner into the brush to ensure it is thoroughly covered then leave it to soak for around 2 hours.
In addition to being a solvent that can be used for thinning paints, lacquers, and cleaning paint brushes, methylated spirits can also be used for lacquers.
You should never clean paint brushes in the sink. The biggest reason is paint can ruin a septic system. Even a small amount of paint can lead to blockages, contamination, a flammable hazard and costly repairs.
Having some soap on hand is a crucial tool in effectively cleaning paintbrushes. If you remove most of the paint from your brushes, soaking your brushes in water with dish soap will help remove the remainder of the paint. Speedball Pink soap is made specifically for cleaning paintbrushes.
The turpentine-cleaning method works best for brushes used with oil-based, acrylic, latex and enamel paints. Most water-based paints clean easily with warm water and soap. For stuck-on paint of all types, a soak in turpentine might just do the trick.
Clean Paintbrushes
No problem! On the stovetop, boil a little apple cider vinegar, once you've got a rolling boil, put your paintbrushes in the vinegar and swish them around until the paint comes out. You'll want to use a saucepan that you don't use for cooking for this task.
We would avoid soaking hairbrushes with wooden handles altogether to err on the side of caution. Instead, a pea size amount of shampoo or hand-wash and a quick wash under a running tap of warm water (without a toothbrush) should do the trick. Do this every other month and you'll be keeping that bacteria at bay.
Place the brush in the boiling water. Rotate the brush in the water for approximately 5 minutes. You should begin to notice that the bristles will start to come back together from the heat and water.
A Guide to White Spirit
White Spirit is known by a number of names. In the US/Canada it is most commonly known as Mineral Spirits. In Australia and New Zealand it is known as mineral turpentine. Turpentine Substitute, Petroleum Spirits and Paint Thinner are some other names for White Spirit.