These are slightly fragile and require a little bit of care. But with reasonable handling, they should not be damage due to usage. I like that each of these guards can fit a number of size of brushes. They allow brushes to maintain their shape, as well the guards are porous and made of a mesh material so that they allow your brushes to dry.

Bristles dry softly
In perfect shape
Brushes pack safely for travel / storage
Have many sizes
squeeze water out from the brushes.
Shape the bristles in a perfect way
Slip on the guard
Dry then store

When you have good make-up brushes, you need to take good care of them by cleaning them regularly. One of the important steps in brush cleaning is actually drying them properly. For this purpose, I found this nifty little gadget online called The Brush Guard. It is a flexible tube that is used to hold the bristles of the brush together when it dries. You insert the handle of the brush through one end of the tube and then pull it through to cover the hairs of the brush. In doing so, it keeps the hairs together so the brush retains its proper shape. Thus, it prolongs the life of the brush.

Before I physically saw the brush guards, I thought they were going to be of light foamy texture (like the protector thingys you sometimes see on pears at the supermarket). When I received my actual brush guards in the mail though, I was pleasantly surprised by how durable they were. They almost looked like they were made with fishing wire. That makes stretching them out to fit around the handle a little bit more difficult, but it definitely holds better. I really like the fact that the ends are glued or burned together so the “wires” don’t come apart easily.

The brush guards come in 4 different sizes and you can get packages with specific size brush guards or try them all in the variety pack. That comes with 6 brush guards - one large (for powder/kabuki brushes), 2 mediums (for foundation brushes), 2 smalls (for blush brushes), and 1 extra small (for eye liner/shadow brushes).

The Brush Guard is a tool you slide over the hairs on your bush. It is said to help the hairs retain their shape, wet or dry. Also, you can use this when you place your brushes upside down after you wash them so the water does not get into the farrow, the metal part connecting the hairs and handle. I have used these for a month now and want to share my opinion on them. I highly recommend the variety pack because you get all different sizes so you can find which size best fits your brushes. I definitely am going to repurchase when I get more brushes. Go to thebrushguard.com to see the different packages available. You can buy the brush guard on thebrushguard.com ($5.50 shipping included, there is an additional $2.00 charge for Canadian orders and an additional $3.00 charge for international orders up to five packages) or Coastal Scents at coastalscents.com ($4.95 without shipping, but coastal scents shipping is high). I use these all the time when I wash my brushes and i honestly like them.
PROS
It does help to keep the shape of the hairs on your brush
affordable
comes in different sizes
good way to dry your brushes
great for traveling
makeup must-have
fast and friendly service (thebrushguard.com)
different packs available
variety
shadow/liner
blush
foundation
powder/kabuki
CONS
- ends slightly fray after using (does not affect use though)
- too long for travel size brushes
- annoying to take on and off when using brushes on a daily basis