Are Your Brushes Breaking You Out?
Are your brushes breaking you out? If you're not washing them it's absolutely possible! The oil and bacteria that collects over time is literally getting rubbed into your face over and over so this is a thing.
"How often should I wash my brushes?" - it's another question I get asked a lot. It's better than "oh wait, I'm supposed to wash my brushes?!" which is also a question I've been asked more than once! Spring always gets me in the mood to do some tidying and it's the perfect time to step up your brush game.
Ideally you're doing this once a week but once a month is good too. If you're breakout-prone and you have an "open" breakout then I'd rec washing your brush every night until it's healed.
Why bother as a concept? Oil, dirt and other funky players gather in your brushes and you're not allowing them to do their job to the best of their ability if they're gunky with all of that old makeup. So what do you do? Here's the skinny:
You always want to keep your brush head down so you don't get water up into the ferrule (the metal part) - otherwise water can get in there and cause it to separate from the handle.
I love to use our Lavender Baby Castile Wash to clean brushes as it gets everything super clean and the formula is very simple.
When you're rinsing you have to get up in your brush's business - especially the larger brushes like blush, powder or foundation - they get so much color packed into them you have to manhandle them a little bit to get them cleaned up.
It's really satisfying to see all of the makeup that's stored in your brushes as you clean them - rivers of different colors stream into your sink which is kind of gross but also makes you really happy that you're cleaning them!
When you're finished lay them flat after squeezing out the excess water - don't stand them straight up, again, because of water getting into the ferrule. Natural bristles generally dry more quickly than synthetic ones so make sure you know your timeline if you need to use your brushes the next day to make sure they're not still wet.
Your face will be so happy!
Stephanie – YES! You can absolutely use your shampoo or face wash – it’s also great to do this if you’re sensitive and/or breakout-prone as you know those two items don’t break you out since you’re using them. The only hiccup here is sometimes the formula someone is using is focused on hydrating and not clarifying so you can can’t really get your brushes super CLEAN if that makes sense. But you’ll know by looking at them if they’re clean or not (if they have light fibers anyhow). Great question!
I was once told I could use shampoo and/or facewash as a brush cleaner, if I didn’t have a special brush soap. What are your thoughts? For those of us who are fiscally conscious, but know some cleaning is better than none, what can we use that we may already have on our shelves?
Julia – right?! it’s so nice. And yay :) – so happy you’re already good at this!!
My brushes always feel so good after I wash them. I tend to procrastinate in this area, but you have me trained pretty well. I can only go so long and I have to wash them.
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