Deep cleaning your brushes takes dedication and a couple of ounces of “give a damn”. You spend all this money on your brushes so you better take proper care of them, right? The ever famous MAC Brush Cleanser is a popular staple amongst makeup enthusiasts, including myself. I absolutely love it — but only for spot cleaning. I prefer to use something else that actually isn’t a brush cleanser at all…

I’ve used so many different cleansers to deep clean my brushes — super oil stripping facial cleansers (yes, girl..I said facial cleansers lol), regular shampoo, baby shampoo, you name it, I’ve tried it. They all gave me okay results, but the true test for me was “What’s gonna clean the crap out of my Too Faced Kabuki?”, because that thing there…sadly didn’t get cleaned as often as it should this past month or so (I know, I know). So you can imagine by the end of maybe 2-3 weeks, it’s filthy. The synthetic bristles start to stick together if you don’t clean it often enough, and I admit to totally slacking on that one brush alone. It got so bad that just pulling the sleeve up and down was hard as hell to do. Never ever do what I did and never let your brushes get THAT dirty. It’s amazing I haven’t broken out because of it, seriously. I was being lazy and kept putting it off, but never again!!!

So how did I clean my disgustingly gross kabuki? I used this incredibly wonderful stuff here..

ORGANIC Root Stimulator Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo 12.5oz/370ml

Yes. Organic Root Stimulator Olive Oil Creamy Aloe Shampoo. Mmhmmm…

This is seriously, hands down the best product to clean a disgusting brush that I’ve come across thus far. I’ve been using it for the past several months and it’s the poo! This will remove the nasty oils that build up in your brushes over time, and clean it with ease. Not only that, it leaves them incredibly soft and conditioned. This stuff removes calcium build-up from your hair, so of course it’s gonna bless your brushes. It costs around $6.95 a bottle and is simply amazing with cosmetic brushes, I swear…I love it.

For some dumb reason, I didn’t think to even make this post until I was in the middle of cleaning my brushes. So I didn’t get to take a pic of how gross my kabuki was beforehand, you’ll just have to take my word for it. I had used my Pantene shampoo on my kabuki before, but it left this…kinda filmy residue and I didn’t like it. This stuff here doesn’t.


My dirty MAC 217 brush


ewwwww


My sorta dirty MAC 217 after adding just a tiny drizzle of the shampoo

soapy 217
My no longer dirty MAC 217 brush, soaped up and ready to be rinsed clean

cleaned 217
My super squeaky clean, yet soft MAC 217 brush lookin’ fresh as all get out! *poplock*

cleaned kabuki
My incredibly clean, no longer disgusting Too Faced Kabuki brush

cleaned kabuki
Awww yea! Look how deeply it cleaned my brush (not that you could see the before, but trust me, it was nasty in there)

HOW I DEEP CLEAN MY BRUSHES

  • 1. Hold the brush pointing down and wet it up under the faucet. I use super warm/almost hot water, but you don’t have to. Use whatever is comfortable for you.
  • 2. Squeeze a small amount of shampoo (about the size of a sunflower seed out of the shell) into the palm of your hand for eye brushes, and the size of a skittle or dime for larger face brushes.
  • 3. With your brush still pointing down or at an angle that won’t allow water to run up into the ferrule, GENTLY swirl the bristles into the shampoo to create a lather. Be aware that you may not develop a lather the first time because your brush is probably that dirty. Wash it anyway for a few seconds, then rinse.
  • 4. Repeat step 3 until the water runs clean. Do not scrape your brush back and forth into your hand, use very gentle but firm strokes. You may notice a tiny bit of shedding depending on which brush you’re cleaning. That’s fine. If it’s a ton of shedding, you may wanna buy better brushes lol.
  • 5. Rinse thoroughly!
  • 6. You can use those “brush guards” if you want, but I just take a normal piece of tissue (usually one sheet and tear it into pieces) and wrap it around your brushes so they keep their shape.
  • 7. Lay your brushes on a flat surface to dry

That’s it! When I clean my larger brushes, I tend to let them dry pointing down at an angle just because I’m a spaz about water possibly ruining my brushes and loosening the glue that holds them in place. I paid too much money to have my brushes fall apart. You should spot clean your brushes in between uses, but deep clean every 1-2 weeks. Don’t do what I did this past month and a half and let your kabuki get down and dirty like a bunch of hookers in Vegas.

TIPS ON SPOT CLEANING

I also recommend the MAC Brush Cleanser for spot cleaning. It’s super concentrated, so you can actually pour a little in a small spray bottle from the Dollar Store and add water to it to stretch out the life of the cleanser. I am still on the same bottle of brush cleanser for over a year now because I keep adding water to it in a separate container and it cleans just as effectively. I promise it works, it’s like adding water to Pine-Sol (I’ll let you figure that one out).

IF YOUR BRUSHES BECOME STAINED

…because let’s face it, some products will stain your brushes. Try to fix it as soon as possible by adding a bit of oil-based makeup remover to the bristles and let it soak for a few minutes, then wash as you normally would (repeat if you need to). I stained the heck out of my MAC 187 brush with Revlon’s Colorstay Foundation, and added a bit of Lancome Bi-facil makeup remover and it’s perfectly white again. The oil-based removers that break up the makeup on your face can do the same for your brushes :)

How do you guys clean your brushes? I’d love to know :)

-Stay beautiful (and keep your brushes clean!)

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