Why I'm Washing My Makeup Brushes!

Hey lovelies,

As part of my drive to streamline beauty products, I'm making a conscious effort to wash my makeup brushes regularly. Because much to my shame, it's a chore I tend to neglect.

make-up brushes in a roll


Confession time: Please, don't judge... but I reckon it's been 3 months since I washed my makeup brushes. My makeup application is suffering and I dread to think how my skin is suffering under the onslaught of all that old gunk and bacteria....eeek!

I've read conflicting advice on how often you should wash brushes, from every time you use them, to every 2 weeks. But realistically, unless you're a make up artist using your brushes on numerous clients then I don't believe you need to wash after every use...and anyway who has the blinking time to do that?!

If your brushes are solely for your own use, then I think every fortnight is fine. And obviously if you only wear make up occasionally, then you won't need to wash them as often as that. So with that in mind I'm challenging myself to wash my brushes every 2 weeks.

So here are my tips for washing make-up brushes:

1 - Use a cleansing shampoo: Yes you can buy specific brush cleaning products, but it's cheaper and just as effective to use a cleansing shampoo, which are excellent at removing oil and dirt yet gentle on the bristles. I mean if it's suitable for the hair on our heads, then it's good enough for make-up brushes.

2 - Fill your basin with warm water, swish your brush around to wet it thoroughly, squirt some shampoo or cleanser into your palm and swirl your brush around in it gently. Don't scrub, the aim is to try and keep the bristles straight and not matted. Massage the brush hairs between your fingers to get the lather into bristles, and then swirl your brush through the water to rise it.

3 - Repeat this process for each brush, changing the water in the basin often and using a fresh squirt of shampoo/cleanser for each.


4 - Final Rinse: rinse your brushes under running water with the brush heads facing down to give them a final rinse in clean water. Facing the brush head down helps to straighten the bristles.

5 - Squeeze the excess water out of the brushes and pat them with kitchen roll.

makeup brushes drying

6 - Dry your brushes heads facing down, to avoid the water pooling in base of the bristles and rusting the metal. The easiest way to do this is to dry them over a warm (not hot radiator), the grill makes a great brush holder!

make-up brushes drying on radiator
Patented drying technique! :-)
7 - Don't forget to wash your make-up brush storage. I'm still using the trusty make-up brush roll that I made in this post 4 years ago.

washed make up brush roll


Ahh that's better! Love, love, love fresh clean brushes, they just feel so much softer, colours are more accurate and application is neater.




I do hope my hints and tips for washing your make-up brushes have helped. How often do you wash your make-up brushes and storage? Please comment below ...if only to make me feel like I'm not the dirtiest girl in the world :-) !

Comments

Unknown said…
That's reminded me that I need to do this, I use something called the polishing bar, it has sooo many uses and it's soap free, gets rid of excess oil and dirt and even fake tan and so much more including making make up brushes look brand new �� X
Wag Doll said…
Ooh that sounds intriguing! Will go and check it out :-) x
Jet Slade said…
Great blog post as always Wag Doll, thanks for sharing this with us.
Unknown said…
Let me know if you'd like some more info :) x
SammyGregory said…
Great article! I don't think anyone cleans their makeup brushes enough! I know I don't! Your brushes are beautiful once my IT Cosmetics makeup brushes from b-glowing go on their last leg I may have to get a similar set.

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