What jan said, but remember it's important to know if they are real hair ( which is much like your paper or your own hair when you forget to comb it out of the shower, it keeps its shape it dries in ) or plastic ( nylon or polyester which is what synthetics are made out of ) which hot water helps the most.
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Careful on soaps, some have additives which aren't good for watercolor brushes. Look at the ingredients and avoid anything that has a complicated word ending with 'cone' ( especially shampoos this clogs up the brushes ability to carry water ), as well as harsh laundry detergents. If you can you really want to research this, or use something like masters brush cleaner.
I'd go ahead and get some gum arabic next chance you get. For my brushes I am not using, I go ahead and dilute some gum arabic ( you only need a tiny bit ) and dip the brushes in and shape them. This is how you buy them in the store and ensures they keep a nice sharp tip ' just rewet them to let the gum arabic dissolve away.
If it's urgent, I'd say get your brushes wet and shape them with your fingers, this might be enough to fix them. If stubborn then take some paper towels and wrap them so they reinforce the point of your brush. Let them dry like this. This won't work as well as gum arabic or lots of soap, but it basically is the opposite of what caused them to bend.
It can take a while for the brush to get trained back to a good tip, you might just be stuck with bent brushes ' just keep training them into a nice tip when they dry, and as soon as possible get some gum arabic which is the best approach.
A paintbrush's worst enemy is paint build up. This is particularly bad around the ferrule, the metal band that binds the bristles to the handle. Every time the brush is used and cleaned, a little bit of paint is left behind. This causes the bristles to splay out preventing you from getting a clean line.
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I used mineral spirits in a shallow pan to soak the brush. It doesn't have to be submerged- if the brush sits in a small puddle of spirits it will absorb it through capillary action. I let it sit for 30-60 minutes depending on the amount of build up.
After the brush soaked for a bit I used a putty knife and a wire brush to carefully remove the paint build up. I used the putty knife to gently scrape the base of the bristles from the ferrule down to the tip. I used the wire brush to brush the bristles in the same direction. Never force the bristles in the other direction, whether with a wire brush, putty knife or even water. Brushes are one-way.
I payed special attention to the sides of the brush. Paint always seems to collect here no matter how thoroughly I clean it. The wire brush is very useful there. I placed the brush in the puddle of spirits and gently bent the bristles to make them fan out and rocked the handle back and forth. This causes the bristles to spread and contract and 'pump' the spirits through, flushing out any loose paint. I did this repeatedly while I removed the paint to keep it wet and free of paint.
Another place that paint builds up is on the very tip of the bristles. Quality brushes have bristles with polished tips. The brush is put in a machine that moves the bristles in a circular motion on an abrasive surface. This rounds the ends of the bristles for a smoother, less streaky finish. While this makes for a better paint job it also means that paint tends to stick to the ends. At the ferrule the bristles are bound tightly together, so the putty knife and wire brush can get enough pressure to scrape the paint away. The ends of the bristles tend to spread out when you press on them making the paint hard to remove.
I chucked a 4" wire wheel into my hand drill and used it to scrub the bristle tips. I pressed the brush down flat and raised the handle vertically to make the bristles fan out and I kept the wire wheel moving back and forth. Make sure that your drill id turning in the right direction so it doesn't bend back the bristle tips. Go ferrule-to-bristle always.
While I had the wheel in the drill I also cleaned the rust and paint build up from the metal ferrule. This makes the brush more comfortable to work with.
Finally I took the brush over to a dead grapefruit tree and gave it a good Bob Ross style whack. The idea is to wave the brush back and forth quickly so that the bristles strike a surface on each pass. This knocks the excess spirits out of the brush so it will be easier to clean in the next step.
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