Cleaning makeup brushes is right up there with filing taxes and flossing on the checklist of items that we’d rather not do but know we should anyways. It’s tempting to just pick up yesterday’s foundation brush, keep on buffing powder with it, and reuse it for today’s makeup look—but for your own peace of mind, cleaning your makeup brushes is really, really, truly worth it for a variety of health reasons.
“As makeup and oils build up on brushes and sponges, they create a breeding ground for bacteria and other microorganisms, which can cause breakouts, styes, staph, or even herpes outbreaks,” board-certified dermatologist Hadley King, M.D., tells SELF. “Using dirty makeup brushes and sponges can lead to not only skin irritation, but also potentially infections.” That’s not to mention the longevity of your brushes themselves. Gunk and buildup that gathers on dirty makeup brushes can also cause them to deteriorate more quickly, affecting your makeup application.
There are a variety of methods popularized on YouTube and Reddit for washing brushes and makeup sponges—from swirling with dish soap and olive oil to putting your Beautyblender in the microwave—but it’s often best to seek out expert advice. Here, we asked three makeup artists for their suggestions on exactly how to clean makeup brushes, when it’s worth purging your makeup brushes, and which cleaners and cleaning accessories they like to use.
How often should you be cleaning your makeup brushes?
Because makeup brushes can be such a breeding ground for bacteria, King says makeup brushes and sponges should be washed at least once per week. “This is a good policy for tools used in the delicate eye area, and particularly if the tools are used for liquid and cream-based products, which are more likely to become contaminated.” For tools used with dry powders only (which she says are “a more challenging environment for microbes to grow in”), and those concentrated on other areas of the face like the cheeks and brows, King recommends washing your brushes at least every other week.
The makeup artists we spoke with were on a similar page. When they’re not working with clients (which requires cleaning after every job), New York–based makeup artists Jennifer Nam and Marie Schumacher like to clean their personal brushes with soap water around once a week, and do touch-ups in between with a brush-cleaning spray (typically after every use). Nam also recommends rubbing alcohol wipes for more delicate tools like lip brushes.
For makeup sponges in particular, NYC makeup artist Holly Gowers recommends cleaning them after every single use with liquid soap or bar soap.
When should you replace your makeup brushes and sponges altogether?
Everyone seemed to agree that if you treat your makeup brushes right, you can use them faithfully for years without running into issues. “I very rarely throw a brush away,” says Schumacher, “and if it doesn’t make the cut for my kit any longer, I would usually recycle them by using them for craft art brushes.”
It all depends on your mileage, and how regularly you’re using your brushes, but the real signs that you need to throw a brush away, according to Nam and Gowers, is when you notice the brush hairs are splitting off or falling out, or have a foul smell. Ditto for makeup sponges. “When your Beautyblender is cracking, or smelling funky, you should replace it,” says Gowers. To prolong the life of your brushes, Gowers also recommends giving the container that your makeup brushes sit in a cleaning every once in a while.
And if you’re noticing that the bristles on your brushes are getting mangled from being stuffed in the same cramped container, Nam recommends going the extra mile and slipping brush guards ($13, Beautylish) on your brushes to keep them in good condition.
