Friday, October 8, 2010

Cleaning Makeup Brushes


Cleaning Makeup Brushes is a very important part of makeup. Your makeup brushes are your instruments of beautification and if you are spending any kind of money on these things, you want them to stay in tip top shape! Right? Of course you do.

If you are not cleaning your makeup brushes at all or incorrectly, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. Using dirty or not completely clean brushes can not only harm your brushes but it can do serious harm to your face. Bacteria can build up on the brush and get onto your skin causing all kinds of problems from clogged pores to infections.

Makeup brushes come in all types of hairs from synthetic to expensive animal hair. High quality natural hair brushes are often used by professionals or regular consumers who want to use what the pros use. There are several types of natural animal hair available for makeup brushes from, goat, squirrel, badger, pony, sable, and more. Each different hair has its pros and cons depending on what you are using it for.

It is important to keep these clean, especially the natural animal hair makeup brushes. With the proper cleaning, you will keep your skin from acting up, your brushes to last longer, and be able to apply makeup properly.

Hygeine is a very important reason to clean your brushes. Skin oils and other bacteria filled materials get all over your brush and without cleaning, you will be spreading that all over your face with every use.

Using a makeup brush cleaner weekly on your brushes will keep them cleaner for longer and you wont have to hand wash them as much.

Here is a quick step by step guide for a thorough clean

-          Be certain that you will not need your brushes until the next day as it will take overnight for them to dry properly.
-          If you are cleaning multiple brushes, fill up a bowl with warm water and anti-bacterial shampoo or even a face wash.
-          Wash each brush thoroughly but gently, taking care to not get too much water on the base as to not upset the adhesive.
-          Take brush and wash in palm with circle motions while not pressing to hard. Then rinse off in warm water. Rinse and repeat until clean.
-          Dab them dry in a paper towel and reshape them appropriately
-          Lay them out in a ventilated dry place.
-          Give them several hours to dry, preferably over night.

Be sure to keep up with cleaning, a monthly clean will do fine especially if you are using a spray makeup brush cleaner weekly to keep them fairly clean. Cleaning solely with cleaner is not recommended, a thorough clean is needed once a month.