(For my male audience, I apologize. This one's for the ladies!) 

This is a dare that, for too long, I avoided, denied its importance, neglected.  But finally, about a year ago, I came around and gave in and decided it was time to start cleaning my makeup brushes.



This is SO necessary!  It's really disgusting to think about how much old makeup is dried up in there.  Being lazy, I'd sooner have bought a new brush than deal with washing my own.  However, after some research and experimentation, I learned that it's really not that hard at all, just one of those inconveniences that seems like a bigger deal than it is.

The internet is a wonderful resource for "How To" anything.  Finding sites and videos was incredibly easy.  With so many options to choose from, I browsed a bit before choosing to follow this one, which shows several techniques:



But there are tons more, so you  can search for one that appeals to you!

I still remember after that first cleaning, seeing the color stream off my brushes.  That was enough convincing that I need to do this regularly.  And, once I did it, it was so simple to do it again, and again.  Clean brushes, clean skin!

So how to do it?  Start with water and a basic soap.  Don't use that scented, creamy stuff; those contain some really unnatural ingredients that can irritate your skin.  I also use olive oil.  The video above uses lots of materials, but after the first two times, I found that soap and oil were enough to do the job well.

Simplest way:
1. Rinse your brush and rub the bristles gently on basic bar soap.  Don't get soap into the metal part.
2. Rinse well--remove all soap!
3. Lay it on a towel to dry!

Another option (this is what I found worked best):
1. Wet a clean sponge or paper towel and put a drop of soap or detergent on it.
2. Rub the brush into the sponge and work the soap to a lather.
3. Rinse well.
4. Lay flat on towel to dry.

The video above shows how to use a bit of olive oil to remove really badly stuck-on product.  I thought that was a neat trick.  Dare you to try it!  More info can be found here.

Most experts recommend that you wash brushes at least once per month.  Others even suggest as often as weekly.  Either way, this is hardly difficult, because it doesn't take very long at all, depending on how many brushes you use regularly.  For me, it takes about 10 minutes to do the washing for the seven brushes photographed above, and then just the time for them to dry--give them a few hours to dry thoroughly.  But I hardly ever need to wash that many, usually just the two that I use on a regular basis.  It takes no time at all.

Dare you to wash your dirty makeup brushes!  Another habit to establish!  Put it on your calendar!  Remind yourself to wash those brushes, so that old, dried up makeup doesn't keep irritating your skin. When you see the runoff into the sink, you'll know how important this little chore is.

So: How often do you wash your makeup brushes? Any methods you've found work particularly well?