Washing your brushes is pretty important. It’s important for your makeup application and the health of your skin. If you don’t wash your brushes regularly PLEASE READ THIS POST where I threaten to punch your face right off of your head for not washing them. Right. Off. Your. Head.

I’ve tried a lot of brush cleaners, brush soaps, deep cleaners, gentle shampoos, spot cleaners etc. etc. But for the last six months or so I have been using one soap for my weekly deep brush cleaning and the verdict is in: The Best soap for makeup brushes is Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. In my opinion anyway.

For those of you who have never heard of Dr. Bronner’s It is a very simple Castile soap with a lot of natural ingredients, and the packaging on the bottle is . . .interesting to say the least. As a matter of fact there’s an entire documentary about the label and the man behind the soap itself. I have yet to watch it, it’s been one of those things I’ve been meaning to watch for a while and then I fall asleep by the fireplace instead. I’m like a cat.

But yeah, when I first bought the soap and started reading the label I had a serious WTF moment, and had to start looking up what I purchased because seriously. . .it’s a very intensely weird way to label a bottle of soap. On an exponential scale from one to Al Pacino the intensity is like a solid 9. Soap labelling should usually fall somewhere under a three, but that’s just one woman’s opinion. Honestly though in between the rambling about commies and birds that are written on it (no I’m not kidding) it’s mostly positive vibes about people being one with each other so I ain’t mad at it …I guess.

In the grand scheme of things the label isn’t important though, because Dr. Bronner’s is the best soap for makeup brushes that I have ever used. I still mix some dish soap in with it for extremely stubborn brushes that have long wear concealer or eyeliner dried into them. Mac Pro Longwear Concealer is a mother effer to get off, for example. But for 99% of the brushes I wash this stuff gets everything off in a matter of seconds.

I just wet each brush, swirl it with a little Dr Bronner’s in my palm, rinse it and let it dry. It work’s so well, and the ingredient list is short and not scary, so thats a big win for something you use to wash things that you put on your face, right?

A Few Tips:

• A little goes a long way. You only need a tiny dab for each brush. Like half of a dime size in your palm.
• Make sure to rinse them well. I was lazy and didn’t rinse enough once and it made my brushes a little stuff and I had to re-rinse. It was annoying.
• If you hate washing brushes because it makes your hands all wrinkly and stuff from being wet, don’t bother going out to buy a fancy brush glove. Just use a pair of regular latex or vinyl gloves. It makes a world of difference if your hands are dry the whole time. It’s way less miserable. That’s more of a general tip, but useful non the less.

Fun Fact, I also use it to clean my wooden cutting boards and it works great for that as well!

Personally I enjoy the mint and hemp formula because I think mint is a nice, fresh and clean smell for brushes. It just seems sanitary to me ya know? But there are several different scents available, so you’ll find one that works for you I think.

If you’re looking for the best soap for makeup brushes, give this one a try. . .or at least take a look at the label if you see it in the store. So intense.