Let’s chat, ladies! When was the last time you washed your makeup brushes? As you go about sanitizing your home, put this task on your list. This is so often forgotten, but think about how your makeup brushes touch your face, eyes, and lips! We wash our face, and wash our towels, but neglect our makeup brushes. It is so important for them to be sanitized on a regular basis. It is better for your skin, better for your brushes and lengthens their life, and keeps you protected from germs! Especially now that we are in a new era of being proactive about keeping our personal environments safe, this is a needed cleaning task to make a part of your routine.

Wash those makeup brushes! With this super-contagious virus going around, you also want more cleaning and sanitizing power than the “quick and easy” spray or alcohol-based brush cleaners. Think about the comparison that hand sanitizer is helpful, but doesn’t come close to actually washing your hands. This is the same concept for cleaning your brushes.

• Use soap and water. You can use a bar soap (coconut oil based soap is great, as is a charcoal bar of soap), your shampoo, or my favorite easy option to find, Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap. Sonia Roselli also makes a beautiful makeup brush soap called Tiger’s Eye with natural disinfectants. I love this one.
• Do NOT submerge the entire brush in water. You do not want excess water seeping into the handle. Wet the bristles under running water or in a bowl of water, rub soap into the bristles, work it through really well, either in the palm of your hand, with your fingers, or with a makeup brush cleansing pad.
• Rinse them with the bristles facing down. Running water is preferred here to get them thoroughly clean, but you could also swish it in a second bowl of clean water.
• Wipe the handles clean with a washcloth or wipe.
• Squeeze out excess water on a towel and dry them overnight on their side. (Do NOT dry them standing up in a cup. The water drains down into the handle, loosens the bristles, and traps water at the base of the brush. This will ruin your brushes).
• Find joy in your super clean brushes!

When should you use the “quick and easy” alcohol-based brush cleaners? I love them for a quick frequent clean up (even daily or a few times a week). This allows you to pick up your makeup colors in their true form without the process and wait time of a deep soap-and-water cleanse.

Don’t forget the other makeup tools to sanitize, like your sponges and eyelash curlers. Use soap on your sponges and work it through with your hands, rinsing it well afterwards. Many beauty sponge companies sell their own cleanser. I have also seen the idea that you could wash them in the washing machine in a lingerie bag. I tried this once just to see how well it worked, and I could still see plenty of makeup stains on the sponge. That does not seem truly clean to me, so I always wash them by hand, but I guess that is a better option than not washing them! Your eyelash curler should be cleaned with alcohol wipes, and the cushion should be replaced on a regular basis. Do you use a tool to apply false eyelashes? Sanitize that, too!

You are going to be so happy with the final state of your makeup tools. Clean brushes make for a much prettier makeup application! Better for your skin, better for your health and safety, better for your final look.

How often should you do this? There isn’t a perfect answer here. But as we all become more aware of keeping our environments more sanitized, I would say once a month is a minimum. If you can do it weekly, that would be ideal. If you can do weekly with at least with the alcohol-based sanitizers, which are a quick and easy cleaning, that is better than not cleaning them. If you are a professional makeup artist, your brushes should be cleaned with soap and water after every client (so yes, investing in more brushes is a smart move).

Stay clean and stay beautiful!