I have tried many methods to clean the stylus over the years and they all have their pro's and con's. I stay clear of anything that contains alcohol, as as mentioned before can weaken the adhesive used for bonding some styli. I do not like using carbon based brushes, as I feel carbon is a very hard material and although diamond is much harder it would still wear the tip quicker than say a nylon type. I have tried using Blu-Tac/White-Tac and this I have found works very well and is cheap as chips, although I don't use it any more as I have a VP Dust Buster and I feel this is the best for general cleaning routines.

If after careful inspection using a 200x microscope I find there is any build-up of black crud that sometimes sticks to the stylus, I use L'art Du Son cleaning fluid diluted and carefully clean with a soft dabbing action, before resting on a soft micro-fibre cloth on the turntable to remove residue fluid.

As said before the proper cleaning of all your records is essential in vinyl hygiene, but it is inevitable that some dust and other airborne particles will get onto your stylus over time, unless you have your Hi-Fi in a controlled clean room, then stylus cleaning will become necessary and this cleaning will prolong the life of your stylus. Just my view.