How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes?

     One of the most important tools in makeup arsenals are brushes. There’s a brush for everything for concealing, contouring, applying foundation, buffing, blending, and priming. And every brush picks up the product over time. And after a period of use, you should consider cleaning them. And not just dusting them off, but actually cleaning them. 

     Why? Because you want to prevent acne. You can learn more about it here. But every time you use brushes they tend to contain bacteria if they were open and from your product as well. This leads to clogged pores, infections, and acne. If brushes still have older makeup on them, they won’t help you apply the right color you’re aiming for. Let’s say you did a black smokey eye and used the same brush the very next day to a nude eye palette. You won’t achieve that look because your brush still contains product from the last application. 

How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes?

      With continuous use, makeup brushes tend to get caked with the product and become quite brittle. Brittle brushes pick up less color and also don’t buff and sweep well over the skin. Over time these bristles become hard and start falling off. If you want to preserve your brushes for a long time, you should clean them regularly. Especially since brushes are expensive and are considered an investment of money. 

How often should you clean makeup brushes?

     Ideally, you should be using a brush cleanser after each use. However, a deeper cleanse is advisable every week. And you don’t need fancy equipment and cleaning stuff. You can use your liquid soap or shampoo to clean your brushes. Your skin will thank you for it. 

Here’s the step by step breakdown of how you clean makeup brushes. 

1. Squeeze some shampoo in a mug of water. Foam it up. 

2. Allow your brushes to sit in this soapy water. How much time depends on how much gunk you have on it. 

3. Gently rinse out any material caked on the bristles, until you find them soft and flexible. 

4. Rinse in clean water until the water runs clear. 

5. For extra softness, you can put in a dollop of conditioner. 

6. Squeeze out any excess water from the brushes. 

7. Pat them dry and then lay them flat to allow any moisture to dry. 

8. Brushes must be dried upside down. When brushes dry up they tend to lose their original shape, leaving them completely useless. Instead, if you dry them upside down then tend to retain their shape. 

9. Also, make sure you're not losing strands of the brush.

10 Use a brush cleaner if you have the cash to splurge. These tend to deep clean right from the base of the brush. 

11. The same goes for sponges and blenders. Most sponges and beauty blenders are usually for a single-use. Unless specified to be reusable, you might want to be careful with how many times you use this. These are porous and not only can they harbor bacteria but they can also pick up skin cells which later disintegrate and can clog your pores. 

     If your brush has lost its shape or you find the bristles are fraying easily. Or if the brush is shedding then it may be time to toss your makeup brush. For a list of when to toss your makeup, here’s some more information. Now that you know how to clean your makeup brush, here are a few ways not to do it. 

     Don’t use a hairdryer to dry your hairbrush. The high heat can damage your brush so allow them to air dry naturally. Don’t leave the brushes in the water for longer than 15 minutes. You may think you’re giving them a good old soak, but you may cause the glue that holds the bristles to the brush to break down. 

     Makeup brushes are now an essential and pricey part of a beauty kit. But they can be a source of infection if not maintained regularly. So take the time to do a deep clean of your arsenal and if possible a daily cleanse for the brushes that tend to be used more often.