How often should you wash your makeup brushes?

I wash my eye brushes and powder brushes about once a month at most, but I wash my foundation/concealer brushes every couple of weeks as cream/liquid products are obviously messier.

If you are prone to break-outs, I would suggest washing foundation and concealer brushes more often, maybe once a week, as you don't want any bacteria to be lurking in there.

The best and cheapest way to wash brushes in my opinion is warm (not hot - it can melt the glue that holds the bristles in place) water and a small amount of baby shampoo. Soak brushes in warm water, put a few drops of shampoo in the palm of your hand and swirl the brush vigorously in it, then rinse and repeat until the brush is clean. Make sure you rinse the brushes thoroughly, then dry them as much as you can by squeezing them in paper towels. Then just leave them to finish drying naturally - if it's summer you can leave them on paper towels by an open window and they'll dry nicely in the fresh air.

Don't dry them with a hairdryer as, again, the heat can melt the glue that fixes the bristles in place.

After reading several blogs, I'm getting the idea that "washing" and "cleaning" your brushes are two different things. Here are the definitions that I've come up with for each.

Washing your brush involves water, shampoo, and a thorough cleaning. I use a natural bar soap a friend of mine makes (baby shampoo also works great)- wet the brush under warm running water, lather it over the soap a little, then run the soap through the bristles, rinse, and repeat. Once clean, I lay my brushes on a towel, with the bristles tilted down so any water in the top can run out, and let them air dry completely. This is a process that I do once a month to ensure that all makeup residue is out of the brush.

Cleaning your brush involves a cleanser spray and can quickly be done after applying makeup daily. I spritz my brushes and then dust them over a clean towel to remove any immediate residual makeup off the bristles. I have been using the ELF antibacterial spray. This is something I've been doing daily, or every other day.

I have oily skin, and I tend to notice lots of breaking out if I don't clean my brushes out, so I feel like I have to clean mine a bit more frequently than most. For those that don't have as oily skin, it might not be as important.

Once again, these are what I'm understanding from various sources I've read online- I could be wrong, but this is the method that seems to work the best for me.

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

How often should you wash your makeup brushes?

Should you wash makeup brushes after each use? Once a week? Month? What should you use to wash them? Shampoo? Soap? A special cleaner? Could you include anything else about makeup brush maintenance and how to make them last longer?

I wash them every week or 7 - 10 days. I just use hand soap and water, but if you want them to last very long, I'd recommend getting a brush cleaner and being gentle while using and washing them.

Cosmetologists i've spoken with say once a month is fine and that a gentle shampoo would be ok to do it with (so I think something with vitamin E in it or something like that would be good). To keep them in good shape, just let them air dry. Heat from nearly anything will RUIN your brushes. I lost a really nice blush brush doing that :(

Many experts agree that once a month is fine.

Once a month.