Brushes 101 "Care for Brushes"

Do you treat your brushes right? They need as much caring as pets do. No matter where you get your brushes, expensive or not you need to take good care of your brushes because they are your friend. The better care you give your brushes the longer you can use it, so you don't have to constantly replace it. Believe me you will save a lot of money and maybe spend it on something you like. Now with quality brushes you can probably keep it longer than others, so I definitely prefer and suggest investing in quality brushes. Drug store brushes are just as good but with the quality you may not be able to keep it as long. Now it all depends on you, on how clean and new you want your brush to be. It all starts with taking good care of your brushes.

Taking good care of your brushes include a few factors: Cleaning & Drying.

Cleaning is the first step to taking good care of your brushes and your skin too. Dust and bacteria can form on your brushes through time, and it will be transfer onto your face causing breakouts and much more. Here's a rule of thumb on cleaning your brushes.

-Deep Clean your brushes at least once per week. This means washing it at the sink with a baby shampoo. You want to wash your brushes with a gentle shampoo so don't use your regular shampoo. Wet your brush first and take a bit of shampoo and work your brush on one side/one direction first. Do not sweep back and forth/ flipping side because this can be too harsh on the bristles. This can cause the bristles to be loosen at the ferrel.

-Spot Clean your dirty brushes every day to get rid of any product so bacteria doesn't form. Also the color or product wont transfer on to your face or other product. Spot clean with a brush cleanser you can purchase these at Sephora, any department store, drug store and you can even make your own.

You may see that drying a brush is not a big deal just put it out there and let it air dry. Well you are wrong if you dry your brush the wrong way,it can shorten the life of your brush.

-Never try to scrub dry your brush cause that is never good

-You want to place your brush to dry against something a wall, a book anything to get it to stand up straight. You want the bristles of your brush facing towards the floor and the barrel up the ceiling. This way the excess water wont run down the ferrel and loosen the glue that binds the bristles.

-If you are afraid of your brush loosing shape after stand on the bristles all night. You can wrap the bristles with tissue to keep its shape while it air dry, or you can purchase brush guards instead of using tissue.

So that is how I take care of my brushes, if you do this right you can actually keep your brushes for 5 years. Which than is time to switch your brushes out and replace it with new ones.