DIY Brush Cleaning Board

Hi everybody! Today I will be making a cleaning board for my brushes. I usually would just use my hands and dish soap and just lay them to dry. What I found was that the bristles were getting lose because the water was loosening them up. Plus, the brushes never got that clean. So before we get started, let me list the materials we need:

• Plastic/Waterproof clip board (you can also use a plastic cutting board or a plastic place mat.)

• Glue gun

• Glue gun sticks (1-4, depending on the size)

• Dish soap (or any gentle cleansing soap)

• Rubber bands or and type of band that is stretchy

So if you have a plastic clipboard, or any plastic board of your preference at home that you don't need, go ahead and use it. If not, go take a trip to your local Dollar Tree or dollar store of your preference, and look for any of these materials you need. Before I show my materials I will show you my embarrassingly dirty brushes just so we can compare the before and after. I wanted them to have as much makeup as possible so I didn't clean them for 15 days. Everybody is different but I like washing them on a weekly basis. 

Now I'll start actually creating the board. I had bought this at Target for $5 because I thought it was cute and I was originally going to use it as a clip board, but it became my the base of my next project. But again, you can use something that you have lying around the house or go to the dollar store and get something for  $1.

Before you start, go plug in your glue gun to get it ready to go. You are going to want to wash and dry the board, just to make sure you get the dirt and dust off. If you don't, the glue might not stick as well. Once you have done that, go to the glue gun and start making patterns on there that will help you clean the brushes as best possible. You can search online what patterns work best for the brushes you have. These patterns work best for my brushes.

After you have done that, go ahead and make sure it's dry. Then, run it under the water to make sure the patterns are on properly.

After that, go ahead and put the soap that you prefer over the patterns you will use.

Ok, I went a little bit over board with the soap. You can use a couple of drops and it should clean it perfectly well.

Then go ahead and grab the first brush and put it at an angle under the water. Putting a brush face up can make the bristles to loosen up the glue and get the bristles to come off of the brush.

When it is saturated with water, go ahead and put a couple of drops of soap and start scrubbing the brush.

Repeat as often as you need until clean.

When you are done cleaning the brushes, you can put the brush face down with a hand towel or paper towel.

Another way to effectively dry the brushes is to use the same board when you are done. Dry it well and use rubber bands or  any bands that can hold them in place. I didn't  have rubber bands at home so I just used some head bands that I really don't use anymore. They're a little big but they'll do in the meantime.

When that is ready, go ahead and lay 2 layers of paper towels (or a regular hand towel) perpendicular to a wall and place the board with the brushes on top.  When place the brushes, go ahead and weave them with the bands.

The brushes will be dry in about an hour. Once they are completely dry, go ahead and put them away in your brush holder.