What you need
To thoroughly clean makeup brushes, you will need:
- Soap: Any soap or shampoo will technically work for deep cleaning your makeup tools, but Dial (liquid or bar) is a popular choice for synthetic brushes.“It’s antibacterial and gets rid of stubborn buildup,” said makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic. Dr. Bronner’s unscented castile soap (liquid or bar) is gentle, effective, and safe for all brushes, including natural-haired ones.
- Warm to lukewarm water: Makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury advises against using hot water to clean your brushes because it can damage the bristles and ferrule (the metal part of the brush).
Beyond soap and water, the following supplies can make brush cleaning quicker, easier, and (quite possibly) more enjoyable:
- Brush cleaner: For frequent cleaning of eye-area brushes and brushes used with liquid makeup, all of our experts recommended using a brush cleaner, for efficiency and effectiveness. Dedivanovic likes Sephora’s Daily Brush Cleaner, particularly for sensitive skin. To make it easier to clean on the go, we like Olivia Rose’s Cleansing Makeup Brush Wipes.
- Brush-washing mat: You can, of course, use your hand to work liquid soap into each brush. But Dedivanovic recommends using a brush-washing mat with grooves that help clean between all the bristles. We like this one with suction cups on the bottom, and it comes with our recommended drying rack (below). But if you don’t need a rack, the mats in this $6 two-pack also work well. A bar of soap acts as its own washing mat, though it lacks the clean-enhancing grooves.
- Drying/storage rack: To keep water from damaging the handles of your makeup brushes, they should always be dried lying flat or with the bristles pointing down. This $9 drying rack is also great for storing brushes between cleanings.
- Mesh covers: Consider sliding mesh covers over freshly washed brush heads. This will help keep them properly shaped by staving off bristle fray, and these covers still allow plenty of airflow for drying.
How long will this take to clean?
With makeup-cleansing wipes, it takes just a few seconds to clean each brush you use around your eyes and/or with liquid makeup. And it takes less than a minute to deep-clean each of your tools with soap and water. Air-drying, though, can take several hours.
Lather up
Get started by wetting your bar of soap or squirting a few drops of liquid soap onto your palm or a brush-washing mat. Then, using lukewarm to warm water, wet the bristles of a dirty brush. Using a gentle circular motion, rub the brush head directly into the soap for about 15 seconds, to loosen any product buildup. “Always clean brushes individually,” Tilbury said. “That way you ensure you’re washing out all impurities.”
Rinse and squeeze
Rinse the bristles in lukewarm water until they run clean. Try to avoid letting water seep into the ferrule or the brush handle. Substantial water intrusion could cause your brush to fall apart, Casper said. You can expedite the drying process by gently squeezing water out of the bristles. To minimize shedding and fraying, be sure not to pull on the bristles as you squeeze them.
Sheath and dry
To keep freshly cleaned brush heads properly shaped, wrap them with mesh covers. To speed up air-drying, Tilbury suggests laying brushes flat, with the brush heads hanging over the edge of a table or sink. You can also use a drying rack so that your brushes dry evenly on both sides. Never dry brushes upright (bristles pointing skyward) because “water seepage can loosen the glue that binds the hairs together and cause excessive shedding,” Dedivanovic said.
Air-drying can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You can use a blow dryer on cool to speed up the process, though this can lead to misshapen bristles.
Store properly
To avoid cross-contamination, Chapas recommended that you store clean, fully dry brushes separate from your makeup. You can store brushes, with the bristles up, in your drying rack or in a makeup bag—just be sure to keep the bag as clean and dry as your brushes.
What about natural vs. synthetic bristles?
Compared with synthetic bristles, animal-derived, natural ones are more delicate and fragile. “You should definitely be more careful washing natural brushes,” said Dedivanovic. “I like using a little conditioner after washing to soften and detangle the natural hairs.” Any conditioner you’d use after shampooing your hair works fine for this purpose (be sure to rinse it out before drying).