Make Up Brush Cleaning 101

Friday, March 20, 2015 Unknown 3 Comments

Brushes can get very expensive, especially if you are purchasing high end brushes at high end cost. As Artists ourselves, we understand how crucial brushes can be during a makeup application.  Some people  will invest more money into them for it's craftsmanship, durability, or features etc.  This being said, you would want to keep them for as long as possible.  Years...

One of the main reason why some makeup artist tend to buy numerous of the same brushes is mainly the "in between cleaning".  As great as some of the makeup brush cleaners  we currently have in the market, some can very damaging to your brushes because most brush cleaners are alcohol based which disinfects and dries quicker for instant use. Which makes complete sense but also very drying and harsh on your brushes. We suggest using instant brush cleaners when necessary, even after a shoot its always great to go home and give your brushes some TLC that it deserves.

Just remember
  • Avoid getting any water on your brush handle.  If you have wooden handles, the water will seep through and ruin the paint and the wood of your handles.  
  • Avoid getting water around the ferrel ( the metal clamp that is attached to the hair ) it will start to ruin the glue or bond and will eventually separate . 
  • If you are soaking your brushes for whatever reason, try not to let the liquids go pass the ferrel. 
  • Lay it flat to dry on a clean towel on the edge of a flat surface ( i.e. table, sink). Do not dry them upwards as you will allow the water from the damp hair make its way to the ferrel and/or brush
Natural Brushes:
We suggest you shampoo all your natural brushes with a clear shampoo , baby shampoo is great! Most shampoos that are not clear tend to have wax in them which  can cause build up.

Synthetic Brushes: 
We suggest you shampoo all your natural brushes  with either bar soap, olive oil or even dish detergent soap.   If your brushes were used for cream products, we suggest using olive oil to break down the oils then go back using bar soap to remove the excess oils.

For Professional Use : After every client or on the spot cleaning we like these brands



For Personal Use : We suggest you wash them once a week if you are using powders.  If you are using creams ( foundation / concealer ) brush, we recommend that you clean them immediately. Creams have moisture in it which means bacteria can grow.

If you have any cool tips that we can add to this, please let us know.

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3 comments:

cleaning brushes is definitely manual labor...when you do your gigs...do you pack your pre-made brush sets in bushels like in rubber bands? Does that make it easier to do? I put my brushes in my brush apron and put the same kind of brushes in each slot...i.e. all my eyeliner brushes in one slot, all my crease brushes in another and then i put my big powder brushes in their own compartment at the top.
also, i use olive oil to clean my lip and eyeliner brushes first...same goes with any synthetic brushes with cream products...then i shampoo...it makes it a lot easier.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tip RenRen about the olive oil. I prepackaged my brushes ( Powder, Brow, Liner, Lip, Blush, Contour and 1 shadow and crase shadow) in clear bags with colour coded on it so when the client needs touch ups I know which bag belongs to them. I do wear the belt sometimes only to find that I dont know which brush I've used on whom. So I decided to do that bag thing so when a new clinet sits down I take out a new bag and throw the dirty ones back in the other bag.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. I have been using alcohol spray for a long time, and my brushes are dry... I guess I am too late =(

May Nguyen