Money Saving Monday How to Clean Your Makeup Brushes

If you clean your makeup brushes regularly, you are going to extend their life and keep their original quality much longer. There are many great techniques and tools out there to do this, but today I'm going to show you a simple method I use to clean my brushes.

The first step is to gather all of your brushes. If you have a lot of brushes you might want to wash your face brushes at one time and your eye brushes the next time. All of mine were very dirty, so I did them all at once.

I like to fill a bowl with warm water and baby shampoo. There are plenty of great brush cleansers out there, but baby shampoo will work if you're on a budget or you just have some around. I simply dip the brush into the bowl, swish it around and start to squeeze the bristles, working the suds through and the makeup product out.

You just want to gently squeeze and work your fingers in sections down the bristles. If you pull too hard, you will get a lot of shedding (The hairs coming out).

Once the water is coming out clear and you feel the brush is satisfactory, you want to rinse it under running water, again squeezing the bristles to get the shampoo out . It is important to keep the brush angled down so the ferrule (the connective collar between the bristles and the handle) does not fill up with water. It's okay if a little water gets in there, but if you get it soaking wet the glue might break down and your brush could fall apart.

Once your brush is rinsed, you can speed up the drying process by gently rolling it in a towel and squeezing the water from the bristles. Reshape the ends with your fingers and lay flat to dry.

Lay all your brushes out on a towel to dry for about 4 hours or longer for larger, thicker brushes. My dense Kabuki brush sometimes takes overnight! You will get to know your brushes and figure out how long you need.

Many people recommend you spot clean your brushes with a daily cleanser after every use and deep clean them once a week. Being realistic, I try to give mine a deep clean wash at least a few times a month. Not only will your brushes thank you, but your face will too. Your brushes can build up oils and bacteria over time, which you don't want to reapply to your face day after day. Not to mention, you don't want yesterday's purple eyeshadow interfering with today's more natural look. Washing your brushes is just an all around good thing to do.

There are so many methods and products for cleaning your brushes. I just showed you how I wash mine, now it's up to you to find out what works best for yours. What's most important is that you are cleaning them. It's not only good for hygiene practices, but it can save you money by prolonging the life of your brushes.

- - Happy Saving! - -