I have a confession to make. Until recently, I didn't wash my makeup brushes. Go on, judge away, but somehow, out of a combination of procrastination (my middle name), laziness, and generally not realising how important it was, it was so far down my list of jobs, that it didn't happen. You might be reading this thinking that you don't wash yours either, which is fine, but I recommend that now is a good time to start!
First up, perhaps the most obvious reason that I didn't seem to realise, is that they get very full of germs very quickly. Imagine you've got a big old spot, or many in my case, that you happily paint over with concealer and foundation. Imagine now that any bacteria in those spots, are now on your brushes, which you then proceed to brush over the rest of your face without even thinking. Now imagine how fast that bacteria could spread, and suddenly you wonder why your spots are not going away, or even getting worse. You wouldn't not wash your face, so why would you not wash something you put on your face every day? Sound familiar? Well that was my issue. I now try and clean my brushes every week to minimise the amount of bacteria on my face.
Secondly, those clever little brushes of yours work by picking up product onto the brushes and depositing it on your face. Well unfortunately, not all the product goes that way, and a lot of it will build up on the inside of the bristles. After cleaning your brushes, they are almost as good as new, and the first use post wash feels like you've got a brand new set of brushes, and if you're a beauty addict like me, this is a pretty good feeling!
I wash mine with Johnson's Baby Shampoo, a very gentle foaming wash that is perfect for delicate fibres on the brushes. I squeeze a little into my hand, dampen the brush and swirl it around in the shampoo to foam it up. Be prepared for a whole lot of old product to come out at this point, my face buffing brush literally filled up my sink with the colour of my face in old foundation, it was pretty gross. I then keep swirling and then rinse under warm water until the water runs clear, and leave them to dry on the edge of the bath, and then transfer them to a towel to dry over night. I normally do mine in the afternoon and then they are dry enough to use again the following morning. I have definitely noticed a positive change in my skin since I started doing this regularly, so would recommend that if you don't, you should definitely start!Labels: beauty, brushes, makeup, real techniques, routine