By Stephanie Luciano
Dry them standing upright with bristles down!!
Hey guys, welcome back ! I hope your school year is turning out DIVINE!
For this month’s issue, I know I promised you guys a Bold Lip Tutorial, however I felt that the topic below is especially important to those interested in cosmetology. It will be one of my shortest articles, and yet, one of the most important. Yep, you guessed it: how to maintain your brushes CLEAN & bacteria free!
Ladies, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to wash your brushes every other week or so. Makeup brushes collect bacteria whenever they are left out in the open. While your bristles pick up pigments, they also collect dirt, oil, and bacteria—an unhealthy combination that irritates sensitive or acne-prone skin the most! This grimy build-up can be transferred to your skin and cause breakouts, which none of us would like! It is especially important to wash any eye shadow or eyeliner brushes because it can transfer bacteria to your eye, causing pink eye or other infections we wouldn’t want to know about.
But hey, don’t be scared. There’s bacteria all around us. And if you haven’t washed your brushes since the first day of school, you still have time! Many dermatologists say that washing your brushes every 3 months helps prevent the accumulation of bacteria. So hey, it’s only been a month! Cheer up!!
In addition to nasty side effects, filthy tips can interfere with your artwork. Washing your brushes once a week or so keeps bristles soft for easier application, and allows you to grab the true pigment you want. Personally, I shampoo my brushes every other week, but sometimes extend the time between washings a little longer. I mean, am I the only one who gets lazy??
To wash my brushes I like to use the same shampoo and conditioner I use on myown hair. You can also use other home remedies, like vinegar and hot water, dish soap with olive oil and water, etc. Personally, I think those take too long to prepare, so I stick to the basics! I find that shampoo and conditioner really work well into my brushes, especially the thick ones. They not only smooth and cleanse each brush but they also help keep the brushes fluffy!
I start off by putting my brushes in a large round bowl and letting them soak in luke-warm water. I find that hot water actually dries my bristles and makes them a little rough, so I use warm water to semi-kill any bacteria they’ve accumulated so far. After I let them soak for about 2-5 minutes I get a little bit of shampoo on the palm of my hand to work into the bristles, using circular motions with each individual brush . I do this for about 4 minutes then rinse. Towards the end I repeat the same routine, but with the conditioner. I let the conditioner sit for about 7 minutes or so. I later rinse all my brushes with warm water and gently squeeze out the excess liquid. (These are brushes ladies, PLEASE HANDLE WITH CARE!! )
To dry them out, I NEVER, EVER plop them lying down. I always put them up against a wall, bristles facing down, so that the water can run down and out, not in. When water goes inside your brushes, it usually tends to make the “stick” diminish over time, and lengthens the drying time your brushes require. So please, remember…. BRISTLES FACING DOWN!
Ladies, it was great having this talk and I hope you guys remember to always keep your brushes clean! I pinky-promise to give you a Bold Lip Tutorial next month, Winter edition!
Stay Beautiful . XoXO.
(Photo by Stephanie Luciano/MCSM Rampage)