The Importance of Washing Makeup Brushes

Hello all of you beautiful makeup lovers! It is easy to say we love makeup, but do you pay attention to what you are putting on your face? No, not the makeup, we will get into that later… but the brushes. How often do you clean your brushes?

Before I really started getting into makeup, I never even thought about washing makeup brushes. Someone gave me a brush cleaner for Christmas a couple of years ago and it just sat in my bathroom until a few months ago when I finally decided to clean the brushes that I have also had for years.

Why is it important to wash your makeup brushes? 

Makeup brushes continuously collect bacteria. Just think, all the skin cells collected each time you use it. Then think about all of the germs already in your makeup that are being picked up by your brushes. Lastly, your brushes are being left out in the open, so they are picking up bacteria and germs every day from the air.  Unwashed brushes can have many harmful effects on your face.

1. Acne
2. Inflammation
3. Rash
4. Infection which can lead to pink eye or something as serious as organ failure.

What is the best way to clean makeup brushes?

When I finally broke out the makeup brush cleaner spray, I didn’t know what in the world I was doing. I sprayed my brushes down and rinsed them out. They were left looking cleaner, but not feeling that great.  While I have heard that shampoo and soap and water are great, I discovered a cheap and easy way to clean my brushes. Zote laundry bar! It is between .99-$1.50 at many stores, such as Wal-Mart. You follow these steps:

1. Wet your brushes
2. Add entire Zote bar or a piece of Zote bar to a bowl filled with water
3. Rub brush over Zote bar.
4. Scrub the brush with your hands, swirling it around on your palm. Make sure you get soap on every bristle! Important Make sure to get the very middle of your brush clean, as this is where most of the bacteria is collected*
5. At this point you will already see that your brush is sparkling! Rinse your brush.
6. Squeeze your brush to ring out the extra water. If the water is running clear then your brush is clean.
7. Lay your brushes out on a towel to let them dry. Drying time varies depending on your brush size. My smaller brushes dry within 4-6 hours and my larger brushes within 10-12 hours.

 Results: Your will notice that your brushes are softer, shiner, and clean! Most people that use Zote say that some of their brushes are softer than what they were when they first bought them! That’s impressive!

How often should you clean your makeup brushes?

This is a debateable subject. Some think that you should clean them ever 1-2 months; other believe that it depends on how much you use them. Based on the fact that the bacteria can build up so fast on my makeup brushes, I choose to wash them once every 1-2 weeks. I think that is a good practice. Just pick a day that you dedicate to washing your brushes and organizing your makeup every week and stick to it! How often do you wash your brushes? What do you use to clean them? Are you washing makeup brushes at all?