You Should Be Cleaning Your Hairbrush! Here's How.
We're embarrassed to admit that from time to time - we still end up avoiding staring to intentionally at our hairbrush so we can avoid acknowledging the all of the discolored (ugh) gunk and buildup, the matted hair, and occasional dust even that clings to the bristles whenever we let it clumsily fall to the floor. Are you doing the same? Bad, bad!
A dirty hairbrush means you're reintroducing old hair product back into your hair each time you give it a nice brush and that you're brush likely isn't doing as good a job at removing dead hair during your hair brushing routine. It also could cause additional snags if you're bristles aren't properly exposed resulting in more dead ends than when you began.
Like most beauty accessories, we recommend you give your hairbrush a deliberate cleaning at least once a week. The steps are incredibly simple!
1. Remove Hair and Product Gunk.
Whether you do this before or after you soak your brush is a matter of preference. We like to do it while dry with a moderately fine comb. It's a great way to easily lift the hair and gunk out at the same time (likely in a big, super, nasty ball that looks 10 times worse than any lent ball you've ever pulled out of your dryer! Ugh!). Also there's nothing that grosses us (me) our more than loose wet hair. (I just can't.) Peel that hair and gunk right out of your brush bristles and toss it straight into the trash. We also like to take that comb and rake out any remaining residue or product - this makes soaking your brush sooooo much faster and means the water isn't being immediately polluted by all the extra hair and gunk that's literally going to get thrown away anyway.
2. Soak Your Hairbrush.
Toss your brush in your sink or a large bowl and fill it with hot water with your soap of choice. We're sure most of you use a shampoo, but we've also found that a gentle dishwashing liquid can work WONDERS too. Think about how Dawn is gently enough to clean little duckies caught in oil spills? Don't know about you - but that's the level of clean we're looking for! We normally let soak overnight just because nighttime tends to be the most convenient time to do this, but honestly - a good 1-2 hours will work just fine.
3. Dry Your Hairbrush.
Leave it face down on a toweled surface or blow dry and you're good to go! Make sure you're squeezing out any excess moisture (this is particularly true with paddle brushes) because you definitely don't want water remaining trapped inside.
And that's it! Yes! It is - that - easy. Honestly, it is really just a matter of discipline like most things. That and not wanting to be completely embarrassed anytime you let someone use your bathroom and realize you left a filthy brush sitting out on the counter! And! Your hair will thank you.
Go clean those hairbrushes! And talk to you later.
xoxo