I teach and am often asked what soap I use to clean my brushes. In the past I used Masters Brush soap, which is a good product but a bit pricy. 24oz container is about $20 and a 4.5 oz bar retails for around $10.
It wasn’t until one of my students told me about this laundry soap called Fels-Naptha. Fels-Naptha is a heavy-duty laundry bar soap that is great for cleaning brushes and has a much better price point. A 5.5 oz bar is about $1.50 and can be found at most grocery stores including Trader Joes.
Here is what it looks like at the store.
I usually clean my brushes by moving the brush back and forth on the bar or sometimes in a circular motion while running warm water over it. I like to use little water so I can keep the package to hold the soap and keep my hands clean.
Fels-Naptha is a soap and has several other uses one being a great stain remover. It works especially well on oil-based stains. Just rub the stain with a wet bar of Fels Naptha Soap. Let it sit for a while and launder as usual. It works great on baby clothes which have formula stains.
Here is a link for some of the other uses of Fels-Naptha, which range from bug repellant to tanning animal hides!