Tip: How to Clean Your Hair Brushes

Last Tips Thursday I showed you some gratuitous pics of what’s in my bathroom cupboards and showed you how to clean your makeup brushes. This week we’re going get those hair brushes squeaky clean!

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When you brush your hair, your brush gets coated in oils, skin, hair and product. Plus brushes get pretty dusty. You put all that effort into keeping your locks clean and shiny, it makes sense to keep your brushes clean. Different brushes need slightly different approaches, so I’ve numbered them for easy reference. I have shoulder length curly hair, which responds better to a wide tooth comb than a brush,  so only one of these brushes belong to me. The others pictured belong to Mummy Ask. She removes hair from her brushes after every use, which makes cleaning so much easier. In fact brush (1) is about 25yrs old!

You’ll need a few things:

Tail comb (4)

Scissors

Towel

Old tooth brush (optional)

Baby or clarifying shampoo or dishwashing liquid

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Start by removing as much hair and dust as you can. Use the tail of the comb to weave between the bristles to lift up the hair. Use scissors to cut the hair, so that it can be peeled away from the brush.

Once most of the hair is out, use the teeth of the comb to brush out any remaining hair, lint and dust.  Just a warning here – you may bend the tines of your comb, so please don’t use an irreplaceable favourite! You can see how much ick came out of brush (1), that’s partly because it’s often used with hairspray.

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Now it’s time to give them a wash in warm, soapy water.

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For brushes with a sold plastic core and plastic or nylon bristles like brushes 1 & 2, you can soak them & scrub them as much as you like in warm soapy water. Use the toothbrush to scrub between the bristles too. Rinse well. Same goes for the comb 4.

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For brushes like 3 & 5, that have a domed, air filled, rubbery pad that will fill with water if soaked. Dip the bristles in shallow soapy water, scrub carefully, re soap and rinse.

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For wooden handled or boar bristle brushes like 6, do your best to keep the handle dry. Dip the bristles in shallow soapy water, scrub carefully, re soap and rinse.

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Lay your brushes, bristle side down, on a clean towel to dry.

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If you enjoyed this post you might like some of my other tips or you can ask me a question, here or on Facebook xxxx