How To Properly Clean Your Makeup Brushes

How to Properly Clean Your Makeup Brushes

Cleaning makeup brushes is a time consuming, annoying process, and as a result is often neglected even though it is essential for hygienic purposes, as well as maintaining the integrity of your brushes.
Not surprisingly, a study at Loyola Marymount University found that there were significant amounts of bacterial activity on unwashed makeup brushes after just one week, and after two weeks, the bacteria had doubled.
Using bacteria-ridden brushes on your skin can cause acne and may even result in more serious problems, such as eye and skin infections. To make matters even worse, contaminated brushes can also transfer these unwanted germs into whichever products you are dipping them into.
Additionally, brushes that come into contact with cream or liquid products are even bigger breeding grounds for bacteria, as they thrive in moist conditions.

How to Properly Clean Your Brushes:

Put a squirt of a mild facial cleanser or shampoo onto your hand and swirl the brush around in it, letting water lightly run over your hand from the faucet. (Try your best to keep the handle of your brush dry to prevent the glue that holds it together from breaking down.) It is recommended to clean your brushes at least once per week.

How to Properly Dry Your Brushes:

It is best to clean your brushes at night, because it takes about 6-8 hours for them to dry completely. Lay your freshly cleansed brushes on a paper towel (which absorbs moisture better and faster than on a cotton or terry cloth towel). It is also very important to let your brushes dry flat, because it allows them to better maintain their shape.
It can be tempting to use a hair dryer to speed up the drying process, but this should be avoided, as the direct heat can melt the glue used to hold your brushes together. This can result in the shedding of your brush hairs, or even worse, make your brushes completely unusable.

In Between Cleanings:

Sometimes it is necessary to clean your brushes in between your regularly weekly cleansing process, especially if you are switching between highly pigmented colors (for a smokey eye application, etc). In this case, a store-bought daily brush cleaner spray can be useful. I would highly recommend Elf’s Daily Brush Cleaner ($3 at Target).

To use, simply spray brush several times after use, then wipe off on a clean towel or cloth to remove makeup. Allow to fully dry before next use.

Tell me, How do you clean YOUR brushes and how often?