Why You Should Be Cleaning Your Makeup Brushes

If you are rocking your bare skin, kudos to you. But even the most die-hard no-makeup proponents are probably using a little dusting of mineral powder to keep the shine down throughout the day. Whether you’re a minimalist or a maximalist when it comes to makeup, you can’t escape the fact that your brushes need cleaning as often as once a week. Here’s why.

Oils from your skin, dead skin cells, old makeup, and dirt all accumulate on makeup brushes. Every time you touch the brush to your face your applying all those things along with your fresh makeup. And if you store your brushes on the counter in a cup, they could be gathering hairspray, perfume, dust, and anything else floating around in your bathroom air. All that muck is getting concentrated in the bristles of your makeup brush and potentially clogging your pores.

Professional makeup artists wash their brushes every day, notes Digital Beauty Reporter Devon Abelman in Allure Magazine. “The hyper-diligence is for hygienic reasons. Horror stories often pop up on social media after a model gets an infection from dirty brushes.” A good reason not to share your brushes. At least not without washing before and after.

Additionally, you could be transferring bacteria from your face to back to your makeup products, contaminating them and shortening their lifespan.

If you use makeup sponges, it’s even more important to keep them clean because sponges are porous and tend to stay moist, the perfect conditions for growing bacteria.

From a purely practical standpoint, clean brushes will make your makeup application smoother and extend the life of your brushes.

Give your brushes a cleansing once a month at the minimum, once a week best case. Use a gentle cleanser like Cleansing Milk, Green Tea Antioxidant Cleanser, your shampoo, or even a mild dishwashing liquid like Dawn.

Just place a drop of the cleanser in the palm of your hand, wet the bristles and massage the tips of the bristles in your palm. You can also put the cleanser directly on wet bristles and work it into a lather with your fingertips. Rinse thoroughly, squeeze out excess water, reshape, and allow the brush to air dry with the bristles hanging off the edge of the counter. You want airflow all the way around to avoid mildewing. Don’t stand the brush upright because water can drip into the area where the bristles are glued to the wand and cause separation.

We know, the last thing you need is more to do, but it’s a small thing that yields a big benefit. Keeping your brushes clean, keeps your skin clean and that’s the first step toward keeping clear and glowing.