Brush Cleaning Method It is important to keep your makeup brushes in a clean and sanitary condition in order to avoid irritating the skin of those that you apply makeup to and to protect your makeup products from contamination. Any unsanitary makeup brush can collect oil, create excess makeup build-up on the brush hairs, attract dust particles and can contain bacteria.
Clean brushes enable the artist to create better makeup applications, give a professional appearance in the work area and provide the artist with esteem in the eyes of the talent, maintain and lengthen the life of the brushes and protect the makeup artist from any liabilities due to unsanitary brushes.
Professional Brush Cleaning Fluid Method
One may clean their brushes by using a professional brush cleaner that is available from one of the numerous professional makeup supply stores. Such brush cleaning fluids dry quickly, often in a few minutes. As for a brush cleaning container, one may purchase from an art store, a glass brush cleaning container. It features a coiled device in the bottom of the container to permit excess waste to fall to the bottom of the container while cleaning the brushes. Immerse your brush hairs into the cleaning solution at a slight angle and gently brush the brush hairs over the coil to remove any unwanted properties from the brush. Do not permit the solution to soak or seep into the metal ferrule area of the brush. To do so can weaken the adhesive inside the ferrule that holds the hair to the brush and it may cause shedding of hair from the brush ferrule and make the brush handle become wobbly. Once you feel that you have cleaned the brush well, stroke it against the sides of the top of the container wall to remove as much excess cleaning liquid from the brush hairs. Afterwards, gently brush the brush hairs against several layers of tissues or a few folded soft paper towels in order to permit any remaining cleaning fluid to be absorbed into the tissues or folded paper towels. Once you have done this to see how clean the brush is and to remove as much brush cleaning fluid as possible, shape your brush into its normal brush shape. Afterwards, place the brush over the edge of your makeup counter or a table so air can circulate all around the brush hairs and permit the brush to quickly air dry. This liquid cleaning fluid method dries quickly.
It is important to remember that some cleaning fluids can scar and stick to plastic items (such as plastic eye shadow, blush and lipstick palettes) and possibly scar or damage fine furniture, so do not let your brush or the brush cleaning product touch any item that is plastic or comes into contact with fine furniture or any items that can be damaged by the cleaning fluid that you have selected to use. Please remember to be aware of this matter when using any liquid brush cleanser.
Instant Spray-on Brush Cleaning Method
There are several instant spray-on brush cleansers (available at professional makeup supply stores,) that one may purchase and use to cleanse their brushes with while one is working on an assignment. These instant cleansers are fine for those makeup artists who may have a need to quickly cleanse their brushes in between multiple makeup applications. Such instant cleansers have disinfectant properties and dry quickly. But one should never substitute such a cleaning process for a regular immersion cleaning method that provides a thorough cleansing of the brush.
Using a Good Quality Shampoo Method
One may also use a good quality hair shampoo to clean their brushes. However, avoid a shampoo that contains any kind of oils, glycerin or heavy conditioners. Such products tend to soften and make brushes feel greasy and less fluffy like real hair does if it was not rinsed well and still contains too much shampoo or conditioner in it. Make sure you rinse your brushes very well. When using this method, place a small amount of shampoo (that has been semi-diluted with water) in the palm of your hand and gently stroke the brush back and forth over the shampoo to permit the shampoo to beabsorbed into the hair and cleanse the hairs of the brush. Do not let the shampoo get into the metal ferrule area of thebrush. After cleansing, gently rinse your brushes well under clean, lukewarm running water. Then use cool water as a final rinse water. Afterwards, gently blot the brush with tissues or a soft folded paper towel to remove any excess water. Finally, shape your brush hairs into its normal shape and permit the brush to dry by placing your brush over the edge of a counter or table so the brushes can dry as quickly as possible in an even manner by permitting the air to circulatearound the brush hairs.
One should note that this shampoo cleaning method takes a longer period of time to dry the brushes (especially brushes that are thick and full), so it is best to clean your brushes at night when using this method so they will have ample time to dry.
No matter which cleaning method that you may select to use, please do not permit your brushes to stand on the hair ends, to do so will distort the shape of your brush hairs. Also, do not permit your brushes to dry with the brush hair and ferrule facing upwards.To do so will allow brush cleaning fluid or water to enter the metal brush ferrule and weaken the adhesive that holds the hair to the brush. Weak adhesive can cause the brush to shed hair and make the brushhandle become wobbly.
Our premium quality makeup brushes are an important asset to the professional makeup artist and their ability to perform their craft to the best of their ability in order to create a variety of artistic creations. Such brushes are anequally important investment in the makeup artists current and future career, so proper maintenance and care is advisable in order to ensure their premium quality condition and ability to perform well for you.
