A Basic Guide to Washing Makeup Brushes

After three months of lockdown, we are slowly moving out towards a new sense of normality, so we can finally experiment with our eye shadows again, wear foundation, concealer, and bronzer as opposed to our lockdown zoom meeting some mascara every third-day look. However, have you ever seen what a counter looks like if it has not been cleaned in three months? Dusty and grimy and dirty! So those makeup brushes that have been sitting for three months? Do you really want to put that on your face? Of course not!!!

Perhaps, like me, you did have reason to wear makeup during lockdown, I, for example, had auditions to do or videos to shoot, other people may experiment with looks that work for them, some find a sense of sanity in doing makeup, however, those brushes are still built up from all the makeup used. Either way, it’s time to wash your makeup brushes. What's the point of a skincare routine and spending money on foundation if you don’t wash your brushes?

The benefits of washing your makeup brushes are literally having clean brushes. This results in smoother application, it does not get bacteria into your palettes, it minimizes the chance of getting acne when wearing makeup and it is honestly a hygiene practice, I mean, you wash your panties.... right? Because if you don’t, all sorts of infections can occur & the same goes for your skin and the tools used to apply any products. Luckily washing brushes is very easy and can be done with most items found in your home already.

B’s Do’s & Don’ts for washing brushes

Do:

• Wash your brushes!!!

• Use warm water to help kill bacteria

• Use something that is soft on your skin and won’t damage your brushes, I would recommend a rooibos soap bar (African extracts rooibos has them and so does clicks) or a brush cleanser (my favourite one is from Pink Cosmetics, this is highly recommended), shampoo with sensitive orientated ingredients could also work (such as baby shampoo, but not, for example blonding shampoo) and in some cases even your face wash, however an expensive face wash on makeup brushes might seem like a waste of money

• Let your brushes dry in the sun

• Clean them thoroughly and one by one, if they are hard to clean, put in some elbow grease or double cleanse them

Don’t

• Despite what most makeup artists say, cleansing your personal use brushes everyday is not the best idea, mainly because you don’t want to damage the brush. For example, I’ve had my foundation brush since I was 16 (that’s 8 years!) and only wash it every three weeks (depending on how many times I wear make-up) or after every 7-10 uses.

• Leave the water running. Wasting water is such a big no no, why waste water when there are people who don’t even have access to clean drinking water?

• Use any detergent! Sunlight is a no! Baking soda is a no! Laundry detergent is a no! Body soap is a no! Just ask yourself, would you use this on your face?

• Let them dry in the bathroom. Due to high humidity in the bathroom, they may home different bacterias

*last note, a makeup brush pad, such as featured in the video is not essential, but very helpful and inexpensive, I got mine from Dischem.

Happy cleaning my lovelies!

• B x