This Danish Laptop Brush Is Surprisingly Effective

I once worked with a guy who wiped his laptop down with adisinfectant wipeevery day when he came into the office. His commitment to clean keys was shocking and inspiring, but I knew I would never do the same. I’ve worked on messy desks and computers for a lifetime (I’ll admit that during one dark period, I spent over a year using a laptop with a broken screen) — and I’ve always been more the type of person to flip my keyboard over, shake out the crumbs, and move on.

But one day, on a deep online dive fordesk accessories, I found theHay laptop brush. I’ve known the Danish design brand since it opened a mini-market of playfulhome goodsin the basement of MoMA’s Soho design store, and loved it from thebright-yellow toothbrushI’ve been using for the past few months to make me feel like an extra inHer, so I called one in to test it out on my work computer.

And in a turn of events that even I couldn’t anticipate, thanks to this little brush, I’ve becomethatguy. To start, it’s like the mid-century modern teak console of desk accessories: perfect in its simplistic elegance (and now that you know what it is, much like with the console, you’re going to see it everywhere). The front piece — made of tough, short, black goat-hair bristles — is meant for the keyboard. You can hold it vertically and either swipe straight across the keys from top to bottom, or, as I prefer, horizontally to get a more thorough swipe between each row of keys. This also means that you don’t have to press down a jumble of keys, and accidentally close all your tabs (like with that disinfecting wipe), just to get out the crumbs stuffed betweenKandL, which is incredibly satisfying. The longer and softer horsehair bristles are meant for the screen, gently swiping away any pockets of dust bunnies. I also tested the horsehair out on some piles of dust half-hidden behind my computer, where it worked just as well as a mini-duster. The best part is probably that it all folds up into a narrow 1.75-inch-wide beechwood base that can stand up on its own — I’ve taken to leaving mine on the foot of my monitor, a new furry desk mate — and it’s only 3 inches long, so it can also easily fit into a laptop carrying case or bag. Dusting on the go — at La Colombe, on the subway, wherever you open your laptop — has never been this elegant.