How To Wash Your Makeup Brushes!

Today's post is going to be all about washing your makeup brushes! 

Now if you're sitting in front of the computer screen saying

"I need to be washing my makeup brushes? I've never done that!"

It's okay! I have talked to many friends that had no idea this was an important step in their beauty routine. Although, it is extremely important.

The main reason you need to be cleaning your makeup brushes is to clean bacteria that is trapped inside the brush bristles. Bacteria in your makeup brushes can lead to clogged pores and unwanted breakouts so cleaning your brushes often can really help your skin out! It also helps the longevity of your makeup brushes by keeping them nice and clean!! 

There are many different ways to achieve clean brushes, and also many different products you could use. I am just going to show the way I do mine, since I have found it to be the easiest. 

1. Choose a Shampoo

1. Mac Brush Shampoo

This brush shampoo will run you about $15 which I believe isn't necessary to spend that much on a brush shampoo. I have gone through 2 bottles of this in the past and can say that choice #2 and #3 are just as good at a fraction of the price. If you don't mind splurging though, the MAC shampoo is a great choice that will definitely do the job. You can also "Back-To-Mac" the brush shampoo bottles so that is an added plus :) 

2. Baby Shampoo

Baby shampoo is probably the best choice to use. It is super affordable, and also readily available at your nearest drugstore. Baby shampoo is made for delicate hairs which is exactly what makeup brushes consist of. It is effective and I will continue to purchase baby shampoo to clean my brushes from here on out! 

3. Elf Brush Shampoo

This brush shampoo is just as effective as the baby shampoo option. It runs you around $3 and you can find Elf Cosmetics at Target, and recently I have seen it trickling into Walmart, ShopKo, and other stores. This option is just as good as the baby shampoo, it just isn't readily available for everyone. 

Whatever shampoo you use is totally up to you, just make sure it is a delicate shampoo without any added fragrances or weird ingredients! 

2. Cleaning

Now onto the good stuff, cleaning your brushes!! Like I said above, there are different methods you can use to wash your brushes. If the following way doesn't seem familiar to you, I can just tell you that it is the most simple way I have found and doesn't require any additional supplies like a bowl or anything like other methods might require. 

First step, put a squeeze of your shampoo of choice into the palm of your hand. Obviously lets make sure that your hands are clean before we start this process. 

This is the method I use, so use your shampoo sparingly, it doesn't take much and you will be squeezing a dot of it into your palm for each brush. 

For my smaller brushes such as eyeshadow brushes, I do two at a time. It is really up to you and what works the quickest but the most effective way. There is no wrong way to do this, as long as they get clean! 

Next, choose your brush and start swirling the brush in your palm with a tiny bit of water running on to your hand. It should start to bubble up, and you should be able to see the product really coming out of the brush. If you can't see that yet, then keep swirling your brush in your palm until only shampoo is being rinsed off. For some larger brushes, this step might need to be repeated twice. Below I added some pictures of different brushes that I cleaned so that you can see what different sizes/types should look like! 

Foundation/Concealer Brush. These often need cleaned twice
because of the amount of product in the brush and
they often hold the most bacteria. 

Blush Brush. This should be the end result of cleansing
a brush. Only shampoo suds are showing and the
majority of the blush has been cleansed.

Eyeshadow brushes. These should be cleansed a few times until there
isn't any color being deposited onto your hand and only
shampoo is appearing. 

Eyeliner Brush. These often are really stiff, because gel eyeliner
dries hard. This makes cleansing these brushes a challenge.
Keep swirling until the water really helps the bristles loosen up.


3. Drying Your Brushes

Drying your brushes is just as important as cleansing them. The most important thing to remember is to store them as upside-down as you can.
The #1 thing you shouldn't do once you have finished cleaning your brushes is to return them to the normal way you store them, standing straight up in a jar like pictured below.

Please, please, please don't put your brushes back
in their jar right-side-up while they 
are still wet from cleaning. 

The reasoning for this, is because we want to eliminate the possibility of water getting down into the ferrel of the makeup brush. The Ferrell is the silver part of the brush that holds the handle onto the actual brush. If water gets down into this part of the brush, it often will loosen the glue that holds your brush together and potentially ruin your makeup brush. It also will cause brush hairs to fall out.

Below is a picture of how I dry my brushes. It is totally a make-shift idea that isn't something you can go buy at the store. I lay down a roll of tin foil, and cover that with a bath towel. You could use a variety of things to achieve this angle for drying your brushes. Broom stick, bandana, paper towel roll, pretty much anything! I've also seen people lean them up against a wall, with a towel on the floor.

Well, that is it! It sounds like a long process but I can do all of the brushes you are seeing above and more in about 15 minutes. Ideally, you should have around 24 hours to dry your brushes, but the smaller ones dry in about 12 hours I have found so just plan accordingly.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask! If I forgot any details just let me know!

Thanks for reading!
-Jaimie