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Most people don’t clean their makeup brushes often enough, and some folks never clean them at all. But dirty makeup brushes can cause all sorts of hygiene and health issues, from acne to E. coli infections. Professionals we spoke with—including a dermatologist, a makeup-brush designer, and makeup artists—recommend that you clean your makeup brushes at least once a week. Blending Sponge
“Makeup brushes accumulate sebum, pollution, dust, bacteria, dead skin cells, and product buildup,” said Dr. Anne Chapas, a dermatologist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
Eye-area brushes and those used for liquid makeup should be washed after every use because germs typically thrive in moist environments.
Whether you have brushes with natural hair bristles or a set of synthetics, proper cleaning usually takes less than a minute per tool and has benefits beyond purely hygienic ones. Cleaning your brushes prolongs their lifespan, and clean tools help makeup apply more smoothly. (The same applies when cleaning makeup sponges, too.)
Yet professionals like brush designer Tim Casper also recognize that “not everybody has time or patience for this.” That’s why, in consultation with various experts, we’ve created a simple plan to keep your brushes and your beautiful face clean.
To thoroughly clean makeup brushes, you will need:
Beyond soap and water, the following supplies can make brush cleaning quicker, easier, and (quite possibly) more enjoyable:
With makeup-cleansing wipes, it takes just a few seconds to clean each brush you use around your eyes and/or with liquid makeup. And it takes less than a minute to deep-clean each of your tools with soap and water. Air-drying, though, can take several hours.
Get started by wetting your bar of soap or squirting a few drops of liquid soap onto your palm or a brush-washing mat. Then, using lukewarm to warm water, wet the bristles of a dirty brush. Using a gentle circular motion, rub the brush head directly into the soap for about 15 seconds, to loosen any product buildup. “Always clean brushes individually,” Tilbury said. “That way you ensure you’re washing out all impurities.”
Rinse the bristles in lukewarm water until they run clean. Try to avoid letting water seep into the ferrule or the brush handle. Substantial water intrusion could cause your brush to fall apart, Casper said. You can expedite the drying process by gently squeezing water out of the bristles. To minimize shedding and fraying, be sure not to pull on the bristles as you squeeze them.
To keep freshly cleaned brush heads properly shaped, wrap them with mesh covers. To speed up air-drying, Tilbury suggests laying brushes flat, with the brush heads hanging over the edge of a table or sink. You can also use a drying rack so that your brushes dry evenly on both sides. Never dry brushes upright (bristles pointing skyward) because “water seepage can loosen the glue that binds the hairs together and cause excessive shedding,” Dedivanovic said.
Air-drying can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You can use a blow dryer on cool to speed up the process, though this can lead to misshapen bristles.
To avoid cross-contamination, Chapas recommended that you store clean, fully dry brushes separate from your makeup. You can store brushes, with the bristles up, in your drying rack or in a makeup bag—just be sure to keep the bag as clean and dry as your brushes.
Compared with synthetic bristles, animal-derived, natural ones are more delicate and fragile. “You should definitely be more careful washing natural brushes,” said Dedivanovic. “I like using a little conditioner after washing to soften and detangle the natural hairs.” Any conditioner you’d use after shampooing your hair works fine for this purpose (be sure to rinse it out before drying).
Nancy Redd is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering everything from Santa hats to bath bombs. She is also a GLAAD Award–nominated on-air host and a New York Times best-selling author. Her latest picture book, The Real Santa, follows a determined little Black boy's journey to discover what the jolly icon truly looks like.
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