Hey Ladies,
Last night I washed some of my brushes so I thought I would do a quick post on how I wash them. I wash my brushes about 2-3 times a week depending on if I am in college or not or if I am doing make-up on clients. Usually I just use my brushes on myself so I spot clean them before I use them with surgical spirits, which you can find in any boots at the pharmacy counter. It only takes me at most 20 minutes to clean all of my brushes as I am so used to doing it. It is important to clean your brushes at least once a week to avoid increasing the bacteria/spots on your skin and spreading any bacteria or infections your brushes could have picked up.
Let's get started...
First of all, what do I use to clean my brushes? This is something EVERYONE in the beauty world has, every beauty guru, youtuber's all say the same thing, Johnson's Baby Shampoo. I like to buy the lavender one as it smells lovely, I also buy the largest bottle because then I rarely have to re buy it. Although, when I run out of baby shampoo and am in a fix, I just use normal shampoo. Same difference, baby shampoo is just lighter and less harsh.
I begin by setting up, we have two bathrooms in the house and I like to use the smaller of the two as then I don't have to move as much. I also place a folded towel on top of the toilet so I can just turn and it is at hand to place the brushes on. I also make sure that there is hot enough water so I can give my brushes a good clean.
Begin by running the brush bristles under some luke warm water. NEVER turn your brush upside down and expose the part where the metal meets the wood to the warm water, or let it run into the barrel this way as that will damage the brush and the handle will fall off.
Next, I squeeze a small amount of the shampoo into the palm of my hand, it is very hard to see but it is there and it is only a pea sized amount, depending on the brush of course.
I then begin moving the brush in circular motions in the shampoo to build up a lather. I use circular motions for all brush shapes, for angled brushes I do the same and then I move the brush back and forth to work the shampoo in.
Once there is a nice lather, run the brush under the water again to remove the bulk of the shampoo, then in a similar way as you did with the shampoo make circular motions on the palm of your hand under the water to get the shampoo out from high up in the brush. Make sure not to go to close to the metal/barrel area!
Making sure there is no more shampoo or suds, squeeze the bristles in a down ward moving motion to not only re shape the brush but to also remove most of the water. Once the brush is shaped to the way it would normally be, place it down on a clean towel making sure it is flat.
Then your done! I do this before I go to bed so the rad above where I keep the drying brushes isn't on and they can air dry for hours, that way they will be bone dry in the morning. Never blow-dry or towel dry your brushes or leave them on top of a heated rad as it will ruin them. Also many believe that brushes should be left with the bristles leaning over the edge of a table or a shelf but, to be honest, I never do that once you use a clean towel, leave them to air dry and most importantly didn't get water into the barrel of the brush then you don't need to.
I hope this post helps you!
Love,
S
