How To Clean Your Makeup Brushes on a Budget

Tweet

Pin It

This post might be a bit redundant for veteran makeup users since a lot of people have blogged about this topic, but for those of you who are just starting out using makeup brushes and don’t want to pay $10-$20 dollars on a small makeup brush cleaner, then read on!

The most important part of using makeup brushes is to take care of them, basically washing them after using them.  The reason for that is because makeup brushes can collect bacteria and germs and if you constantly use those dirty brushes you will eventually get acne and even a rash on your face!

What I use to clean my makeup brushes is Johnson and Johnson's Baby Shampoo, it is very affordable, smells wonderful, and gets the job done right!  Here are the steps I take to clean my makeup brushes:

Step 1: Set up a small area in your kitchen or bathroom and gather your brushes and get the baby shampoo.

Step 2: One at a time, wet bristles of your bushes with warm water, underneath the facet (try not to wet the handle since water can damage wood which is what causes the handles to crack).

Step 3: Put a small quarter sized amount of shampoo on the palm of your hands and in a circular motion move your brush around until the shampoo forms a lather (you will see the makeup coming off).

Step 4: Rinse brush with warm water underneath the facet until shampoo comes off. Then repeat Step 3 & 4 (I do this to make sure all the dirt and makeup has come off).

Step 5: Gently squeeze the water out of the bristles and lay each brush down to dry.

I usually do this at night, and by morning time the brushes are fully dried.  It’s really bad for your skin to use dirty makeup bushes; when I didn’t know better I hardly washed my brushes so I would use them weeks after weeks, until I started to get pimples particularly around my cheeks where I applied blush.  Once I started washing them the pimples never came back.

A few bloggers have stated that Johnson and Johnson's Baby Shampoo is not anti-bacterial (unlike some high end makeup brush cleaners) so it doesn’t remove germs and bacteria, but quite honestly I believe the shampoo does the job right; it is very gentle on my brushes, it has not damaged any of them, and it really has cleaned off the most stubborn makeup/foundation – and the bonus is that it smells wonderfully! 

Johnson and Johnson's Baby Shampoo can be purchased at any drugstore nationwide, it retails for less than $6.00 for a 20 oz bottle (vs a popular higher end Sephora brand bush cleaner which is $6.00 for a 2 oz bottle); you can check out the Johnson and Johnson's site for more info on the shampoo by clicking here. 


What do you use to clean your brushes? Have you tried this shampoo on your set of brushes? Any higher end makeup brush cleaners that are worth the money?

Find a Way To Follow: