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Makeup brushes can become bacteria hotbeds if you don’t care for the tools properly. The American Academy of Dermatology Association recommends cleaning makeup brushes every seven to 10 days to avoid nasty skin infections. Thankfully, you can sanitize your grubby brushes with simple ingredients from your kitchen, including vinegar, olive oil, baking soda, and lemon.
Making a DIY makeup brush cleaner is easier, cheaper, and more eco-friendly than buying cosmetic cleaning agents. Conventional cleaners often contain soaps and chemicals that disrupt ecosystems and wreak havoc on sensitive skin types. Plus, there’s no plastic packaging involved when you whip up a fresh vinegar cleaner at home.
Below are five recipes for DIY makeup brush cleaners. These homemade cleaners contain only common, healthy, and mostly food-grade ingredients.
How to Properly Clean a Makeup Brush
Contrary to instinct, never use hot water to clean your makeup brushes. The heat can weaken the glue that connects the bristles to the handle, ultimately shortening your brush’s lifespan.
When cleaning your makeup brush, agitate the bristles to loosen up gunk. But don’t pull at them. Instead, dab the brush in your cleaning solution and swirl it gently against your palm or a clean textured surface. Try not to get the cleaning solution on wooden handles.
Reshape your brush while it’s wet and lay it flat on a clean towel. Or, better yet, prop it up in a cup to dry overnight.
White Vinegar and Lemon
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Vinegar is one of the most widely used and adored nontoxic cleaning ingredients. You can use it to scrub toilets, polish mirrors and windows, descruff hardwood floors, and—Yes!—even sanitize makeup brushes.
To make a natural and effective makeup brush cleaner, combine two tablespoons of white vinegar with a cup of warm water.
Whirl the bristles in the mixture, rinse, dip in fresh lemon juice, rinse again, and repeat as needed until the water runs clean.
Baking Soda
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This one-ingredient wonder uses alkali’s dissolving power to break down dirt and bad oils in your brushes. Sodium bicarbonate—better known by its street name— baking soda—has a pH of 8.3. Baking soda’s alkalinity is the antidote to bacteria that thrive in neutral or acidic conditions, which is why the common kitchen ingredient is so popular as a deep cleaning agent.
Add a teaspoon of baking soda to a glass of room-temperature water and let your brushes soak in the mixture for 20 minutes (don’t worry: baking soda isn’t corrosive). Rinse and repeat with a fresh batch of baking soda-spiked water, as needed, until the water runs clear.
The average box of baking soda costs only about $1, so this is probably the most economical method of brush-cleaning you’ll find.
Castile Soap and Jojoba Oil
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Store-bought brush cleaners contain harsh soaps, but this recipe uses a gentle (i.e., skin-friendly) Castile soap made of vegetables instead of chemicals and animal fat.
Besides being vegan and better for your skin, Castile soap also biodegrades faster because it doesn’t contain synthetic ingredients. Although Castile soap is sulfate-free and shouldn’t dry out your brushes, you can keep brush bristles extra soft by adding a gentle oil—such as jojoba—to the mix.
Combine a tablespoon of liquid Castile soap, half a tablespoon of jojoba oil, and about a cup and a half of warm water in a bowl.
Submerge the bristles in the solution and agitate to loosen up gunk. Rinse and repeat until the water runs clean.
Witch Hazel and Grapeseed Oil
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Witch hazel, an astringent extracted from the witch hazel plant’s bark and leaves, is another natural product commonly used in DIY skin care. The ingredient contains 14% alcohol, which is effective for sanitizing brushes but could also dry them out. You can counteract this witch hazel’s drying effects with a nourishing oil like grapeseed.
Mix two tablespoons of witch hazel and a tablespoon of grapeseed oil. Work the mixture into the makeup brush bristles, rinse, and repeat until the water runs clean. Let your brushes dry overnight and you should have a soft, sparkling-clean makeup tool by morning.
Tea Tree Oil
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Tea tree oil is gentle enough to use with most skin types and leaves a refreshing earthy scent.
To make a tea tree oil cosmetic brush cleaner, dilute five drops of the essential oil (in pure form) in a cup of lukewarm water. Add another five drops of coconut oil to keep the bristles soft. Then, massage, rinse, and repeat as needed.
