The One Thing To Remember When Cleaning A Hairbrush With A Wooden Handle

Making sure that you clean your beauty tools on a regular basis is important for a number of reasons. For instance, it will ensure that they're safe for you to use, keep them in better condition, and potentially prolong the amount of time you're able to keep them around. While that includes everything from your eyeshadow brushes and foundation brushes to your contour brush and toothbrush, you also need to clean your hairbrushes. Despite your best efforts to keep your hair pristine, you can still end up with flakes of skin, grains of sweat, and product buildup on your strands that can make their way onto your brush, and all need to be removed from time to time.

In order to do so effectively, you need to wash your brush once a month or more. Beyond that, you need to do it properly. Anthony Nader, a celebrity hairstylist and the owner of Raw Anthony Nader salon in Sydney, Australia, offered his professional technique, telling Byrdie, "I just mix warm water with clarifying shampoo and let the brushes soak for an hour; that way, all the buildup can disappear. Then, I rinse them in cool water and lay them out in the sun to dry."

But wait! If you have a brush that boasts a wooden handle, you definitely shouldn't use that method. In fact, washing your wooden brush like you would other brushes could end up permanently ruining it.

While washing a hairbrush that has a plastic handle may be pretty simple and straightforward, you shouldn't use the same technique for a brush that has a wooden handle. That means no soaking it in shampoo and water. LeAna McKnight, the founder of SL Raw Virgin Hair, told Martha Stewart, "This will reduce the brush's lifespan and can potentially cause severe damage by swelling or creating cracks."

Instead, you'll want to take a few specific steps that will keep your hairbrush clean and the wooden handle in great shape. First, you need to get stray hair out of the bristles. You can do this by gently pulling them out with your fingers. You can also use tweezers or a comb to do the same. If there's an excessive amount of product buildup on your bristles, you can be sure to pull it away at the same time. Next, place the bristle-covered section of your brush under cool water while doing your best to keep the wood handle dry. Once the bristles are wet, add shampoo to give them a good wash before rinsing the brush off while still keeping the handle as dry as possible. When you're done, place the brush somewhere it can be left face down on the bristles to dry out.

Although this method should do the trick, there is something else that you can try to clean your wooden hairbrush.

If you're a fan of tea tree oil or just feel like your hairbrush needs a little more TLC, then you can use the popular product to give your wooden brush a gentle yet thorough cleaning. This will also allow you to give the handle a wash without harming it. All you need is your hairbrush, the oil, water, a small towel, a bowl, and a toothbrush, according to NailRock. Although, FYI, this apparently isn't an ideal option if you color your hair.

Once again, start out by removing any hair from the bristles. Now, fill your bowl with around 250ml of hot water and add five drops of tea tree oil before giving it a stir. Dip the towel into the mixture and use that to clean the entire hairbrush including the handle by giving it a good scrub. Just be sure not to get too much water on the wood. Next, take the toothbrush — one that you don't intend to use for your teeth, of course — and pop it into the water and tea tree oil mixture. You can now use the toothbrush to get in between the bristles to clean them, as well as the bed of the brush. Once you've gotten rid of any gunk, leave it to dry with the bristles pointing down.

When it's all dry, it will be clean and ready for you to use.