How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes

In this post, I will give a step-by step explanation of how to deep clean your makeup brushes. 

To wash my brushes, I use Johnson's Baby Shampoo and MAC Cleanse Off Oil. 

1. Take your dirty brush (this is a MAC 150 if you're curious). 

2. Rinse it under warm running water. 

3. Apply a pea-sized amount of Baby Shampoo to the palm of your hand.

4. Swirl the brush head into the Shampoo, creating a soapy lather. 

5. Rinse your brush under warm running water, squeezing out the soap.

6. Rinse until the water runs clean. You may need to add repeat steps 2-4 if your brush is really dirty. 

7. Shape the brush hairs and place it on a towel to dry. 

For brushes with white hairs, such as the MAC 187 shown here, the Baby Shampoo may not remove all the colour from the white hairs. 

After washing the brush with Baby Shampoo, apply a small amount of MAC Cleanse Off Oil to the palm off your hand.

In the same way as before, swirl the brush in the palm of your hand and rinse it. I then wash it with Baby Shampoo once more, so that none of the Cleanse Off Oil is left behind. 

Your white brush hairs should now appear whiter! 

To dry the brushes, place them on a towel which is folded, allowing them to slope downwards. This will mean that any water left in the brush hairs will be forced down, instead of into the handle of the brush. 

To make sure your brushes retain their shape, you can use Brush Guards. You can purchase Brush Guards here. 

These are a stretchy plastic woven tube which you place over the handle, and then push upwards over the brush hairs.

Leave your brushes to dry overnight, or until the hairs are completely dry. 

It is best to deep clean your brushes once a week, or every fortnight depending on how often you use them. This will ensure that bacteria does not remain, and will help them to last longer. 

IIf you have any tips to share about washing your makeup brushes, feel free to leave them in a comment below!