Beauty Tips: Cleaning Your Brushes

I thought that today I'll quickly take you through how I wash my brushes. It's taken me a bit of trial and error to get a method that really works for me and helps get my brushes spotless. Now that I've got it down though, I'm going to share it with you!

How often should I wash my brushes?
This is a question that is often asked. And its answer really depends on how often you use your brushes, and with what products. If you have a foundation brush that you use daily with liquid foundation, then you should wash that about once a week to help keep germs away. If you use a powder foundation, you can get away with washing your brushes a lot less often - maybe once every three weeks, or once a month.
I spot-clean my eye brushes every time I use them. The method I am going to show you is super quick so not only is it really easy, but you don't really have the excuse of it being too much of a hassle.

The method I'm going to show you below is my montly full-on clean. But it also includes spot cleaning at the beginning.

What do I need?

This is literally all you will need to clean your brushes. The brushes (obviously), some paper towels, olive oil and a cleanser. Some people like to use shampoo - but I don't like the way that it makes my brushes smell (I'm really particular with scents...) so I use Cetaphil. This is a really gentle cleanser, with no scent. I've heard of people also using anti-bac dishwashing liquid but I feel that not only is that taking it a bit too far, but you don't really need anti-bac since you're cleaning everything off the brushes anyway.

How do I clean my brushes?

I start with a paper towel, and fold it into ninths so you end up with a little square. 

This is how you're going to spot clean the brushes. 

Dab some olive oil on it, and then wipe the brushes in the olive oil. This is going to get all the colour and product off the brushes to begin with. This is why this part is so good for spot-cleaning, especially with eye brushes. If you're going from a dark to light eyeshadow, just wipe the dark colour off, leave it to dry for about 5 minutes and continue on your merry way. 

Continue to do this with all your brushes. You'll probably be a bit horrified at first at just how much product comes off them. Gross, yeah?

But once you're done that, your brushes are more or less clean. It's just on to giving them a bit more of a scrub. 

Get a tiny amount of the soap / shampoo that you've chosen to use and put it in the palm of your hand. Add a bit of water, and just gently swirl the brush into your palm. This will really help clean it. 

NB: If you're using Cetaphil - this product doesn't lather that much. But! Fun fact of the day: Lathering is a marketing scam and makes no difference to how well the soap actually cleans. So don't be put off by that. If anything, I think it's better for your brushes because it's not as harsh. 

Anyway, continue to do this with all your brushes, and make sure they're rinsed thoroughly. Be careful to not let any water or soap get into the ferrule. That's the metal bit that binds your brush hairs together. Getting water in there can upset the glue and make your brushes fall apart. And, I'm guessing, that since you've paid good money for them that's the last thing you want to happen. 

 

Finally - lay them all flat to dry, on top of a paper towel. I prefer to use quality paper towels (like Viva) because they do actually absorb more water. 

Be careful that you don't pull on the brushes, and don't fan them out or tug on them while they're wet. Again, this can damage them and pull the fibres out. 

I usually leave them laying flat like that on my kitchen bench for about an hour or two, then will move them so  the brush heads lean over the edge. That way, they continue to air-dry. I'd leave them there overnight, come back in the morning and have them all dry and fluffy!