hair

HOW TO PROPERLY CLEAN YOUR HAIR BRUSH

photos/post: Kristin Ess

This might seem pretty obvious to some people, but you’d be surprised at how many lovely ladies don’t clean out their hair brushes. Too often I walk into a friend’s bathroom, see a brush full of hair and I can’t help myself, so I clean it out. Within the next couple days I usually hear about how much it changed the way their hair looks. It may not seem like a big deal but hair brushes are total traps! Dust, conditioner, oil, germs, even dust mites can be in your dirty hair brush, which is DISGUSTING. For example: if you wash, brush and blowdry your hair on a Monday and then “re-finish” it on Tuesday with the same brush, the oils and dirt from all day Monday will be sitting in that brush. Pile those up for a couple weeks, months… years? Ew. Personally, I recommend you clean out your brush once every week or two. It takes a couple minutes! It’s not something we really think about but you should try to become conscious of the hair piling up in your brush. Cleaning out your round brushes will allow you to get SO much more tension which will lead to smoothness and shine. Here’s how I like to clean out my brushes at home:

1. Grab any brush that’s gathered a visible amount of hair. Here I’m showing you how to clean out a flat (paddle) brush but this can be done exactly the same on a round brush.
2. In the hair world, we have tools to clean out brushes, but when I’m at home I grab a pen or pencil and slide it under the hair in the brush. Now pull up until the hair starts to loosen. (You do this so you don’t end up cutting your bristles with the next step!)
3. Next, go in with your scissors and cut straight down the middle as seen above. TIP: If you’re cleaning out a round brush, flip it over and do the same on the opposite side.
4. Now “peel” the hair open and remove. You can go back in with your pen or pencil to loosen up any more tight spots.
5. Discard that gorgeous hairball.

I like to shampoo my brushes each time I clean out the hair. To do that, just fill up the sink with warm water and add a tablespoon of cleansing/clarifying shampoo. Wash the brush + bristles thoroughly, rinse well, and let it dry (or blow it dry).