Brush Cleaning Basics

Before - what dirty brushes!

I think you all know what a bowl of soapy water looks like, but ya know... just in case.

After! What beauties :D

So my makeup brushes have been getting pretty gnarly lately. I tend to majorly slack when it comes to cleaning my brushes, just because I'm lazy and am the complete opposite of a germaphobe. BUT I've been reading lately about the importance of taking care of your makeup brushes and cleaning them on a regular basis, so I decided to give them a good scrub a dub dub today. There are many different ways to wash your brushes, but here's how I did it:

1. Fill up a large bowl with hot soapy water. You can buy special brush cleaning shampoo but I just use regular shampoo. Your brushes are made of hair so it's no biggy to use normal shampoo. Just use a basic one, with it's primary purpose being to clean hair. I used the Fructis Clean and Fresh shampoo. Neutrogena Anti-Residue shampoo would also be a good option.
2. Fill up another large bowl with clean, warm water.
3. Start by dipping your brush in the first bowl with soapy water to get it wet. Then apply a dot of shampoo to the palm of your hand, and swirl your brush around until you create a nice lather. You can keep dipping your brush back into the soapy water and then swirl it in the palm of your hand again until you're satisfied that your brush is squeaky clean.
4. Dip your soapy brush in the second bowl of clean water and swish it around to get rid of the excess soap.
5. Finally, rinse your brush under warm running water until it rinses clean.
6. Reshape your brush and lay it flat on a piece of paper towel to dry. DON'T leave your brushes to dry standing upright, because the water will drip down into the base of your brush where the glue is, and it'll loosen up the glue and cause the brush hairs to fall out easier.

Now that I've typed out my steps, I'm realizing how completely unnecessary the two bowls of water are. You can totally just wet your brush under running water, lather it up in the palm of your hand with your shampoo and then rinse again under water, but I like to make things difficult for myself, which is why I did it this way.

People tend to recommend that you should wash your brushes on a weekly basis, and spot clean them using an alcohol based brush cleaner after every use. This seems totally unnecessary to me if you only use your brushes for personal use. I'd recommend washing your brushes every couple weeks. It's nice to use clean brushes every time you apply makeup, but it would just take way too long, especially if you have a ton of brushes. Remember though, clean brushes are happy brushes, and you really should make an effort to clean them on a regular basis. It'll not only prolong their life but your makeup will also apply a lot nicer onto your skin.

Hope this helped for you all!