Originally Posted by Amt0571

If you apply degreaser to the brakes what you're doing is contaminating the brake pads and rotor. Afterwards you're not bedding the pads again, you're basically burning the contamination, and the brake starts braking normally again once it's clean.

I accidentally contaminated my pads several times (not with degreaser, but with brake fluid). What I usually do is drop on a steep 1km street near my house while dragging the brake at "high" speed. They squeal like mad but there's a point where everything suddenly burns off and the brake power returns to normal and the squealing stops. Never required more than 2 drops to restore the brakes to working order.