Dirty paint brushes on a white background
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Dryer Sheets Are Ideal For Cleaning Your Paint Brushes
By BROOKE YOUNGER
According to a popular internet hack, soaking your paint brushes with a dryer sheet can help them shed some stuck-on paint and regain their pliability.
Many dryer sheets contain acetone, which is water-soluble, so when the dryer sheet is left in hot water, the acetone dissolves the crusted-on paint to restore paint brushes.
Fold and add one dryer sheet into a mason jar, and pour in the hot water, filling the jar to the 16-ounce mark. Soak the paintbrushes in the jar for an hour.
After an hour of soaking, the water will become cloudier, and the old paint will peel away from the metal ferrules. Remove the brushes and rinse them under a faucet.
With some picking and rubbing, the old paint will fall away. The crusty paint might be easy to remove, but some wood-handled brushes and really cakey bristles may still be tough.
A few more hours of soaking for wood-handled brushes and cakey bristles will probably remove all of the paint. Dry them overnight and the bristles should be cleaner and softer.