My favorite brush cleaner

Psssst: would you like to know what I use to clean my brushes?

Aaaah. I love the smell of clean makeup brushes in the morning...

It's actually not even a "real" brush cleaner, but it's awesome, inexpensive, and it's good for the environment. 

Any guesses?

 Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps 18-in-1 Pure Castile Soap in Almond

(retail: around $7, 8 oz)

I'm sure that many of you are already quite familiar with Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. But if you're new to the brand, let's get you up to speed before I tell you why I love this stuff so much for cleaning my makeup brushes:

Long before planet-friendly ingredients and products were in fashion, Dr. Bronner's was busy making their famous "All-One" products in Escondido, CA (a suburb of good 'ol San Diego, where I was born and raised and still reside). They've been at it for over 150 years and they seem to become even greener as the years roll by.

(from drbronner.com)

Completely Biodegradable and Vegetable-Based 
Made with Certified Fair Trade and Organic Oils 
Multi-Purpose: 18-in-1 Uses 
No Synthetic Foaming Agents, Thickeners or Preservatives
100% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Cylinder Bottles and Paper Labels
Simple, Ecological Formulations Based on Old-World Quality and Expertise
 #1-Selling Natural Brand of Soaps in North America

INGREDIENTS: Water, Saponified Organic Coconut*, Organic Palm* and Organic Olive* Oils (w/Retained Glycerin), Organic Hemp Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Essential Oils**, Citric Acid, Vitamin E

* FAIR TRADE Ingredients
** Available in Peppermint, Lavender, Almond, Tea Tree, Eucalyptus, Rose and Citrus Orange

All soaps are not only certified by Oregon Tilth to the same rigorous USDA National Organic Program standards that certify organic foods, but also are certified Fair Trade by the respected Swiss certifier IMO.

The thing that Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap is probably best known for is its iconic packaging. Some may call it "rambling" and some may called it "prose" but, regardless of your opinion, it makes for some good shower-time reading (that I can personally attest to).

Since this is an 18-in-1 product, here are some of Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap's more common uses (in addition to cleaning brushes):

(from the Dr. Bronner's website)

For everyday body-washing: Get wet and pour soap full-strength onto hands-washcloth-loofah. Lather up, scrub down, rinse off, and tingle fresh and clean.

For other uses, dilute from one part soap into 40 parts water for light cleaning, to cutting it in half or using it full strength for heavy-duty grease-cutting jobs.

For shampoo, people have been telling us for years that they like using our soaps to shampoo their hair. Now, paired with our new Citrus Conditioning Rinse and Organic Leave-In Conditioning Crème, it works better than ever. For details, click here.

For the laundry, use 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup for one regular load; adjust as needed depending on hardness of water. I've been told that adding a dash of baking soda makes it even better.
 

For pets, lather up well and apply to their body. Be careful to keep the soap and the lather away from their eyes. I find a mixture of peppermint and eucalyptus works best.

For toothbrushing, apply a drop or two of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap (I prefer the peppermint) to a wet toothbrush. Brush as you normally would, rinsing accordingly. Be careful about using more than a couple drops of soap, as you might start foaming at the mouth (last time I checked "rabid chic" was not hip). Many people with sensitive or softer teeth like to use our soap as toothpaste because it lacks abrasives.

Sidenote: a few years ago, I was chit-chatting with a woman in line at the grocery store. When I saw that she had a bottle of Dr. Bronner's in her cart, I said something like, "Oh, I love that stuff." She then proceeded to tell me that she was in the Navy, and right before every deployment, she buys herself a big bottle of Dr. Bronner's to take with her on the ship. She said she uses it for everything--washing her clothes, her hair, her body, her hands...she said she'd be at a loss without it, and that one 16-oz bottle usually lasts her a full six months out to sea. For some reason I always think about that every time I use this product. I just think it's great that she found something that worked so well for her and that is so truly multi-purpose.


So now let's get to why I love this product so much for cleaning my brushes:

The ingredients. I use my makeup brushes on just about every nook and cranny of my face. We worry about controversial ingredients in our makeup enough as it is, so it's nice not to have to worry about them in our brushes too.

It's readily available. Granted, I live in San Diego, where their headquarters are located, so I probably have easier access than most. Our CVS stores in San Diego have an extended natural beauty aisle with a nice selection of Dr. Bronner's products, and they're also available at Target, my local Japanese market, as well as most natural foods markets in my area. I suspect you can find Dr. Bronner's products at your natural foods markets as well, and you can also order their products online via their own website and others.

It's inexpensive and one bottle lasts forever. The eight ounce bottle that I currently own will set you back about $7, and it will last you a very long time if you only use it for your makeup brushes. They sell their liquid soap in increments ranging from 2 oz ($2.99) all the way up to 1 gallon ($59.99).

It's fast, efficient, rinses clean and also conditions your bristles. I like to get my brush wet, apply a few drops of Dr. Bronner's directly onto the bristles, and then rub my brush in the palm of my hand to work up a good lather. I then rinse my brush under cool water, and repeat the process until the lather in my hand is pure white, with no makeup residue. What I love is that Dr. Bronner's seems to instantly pull my makeup out of my brushes, so much so that I rarely need to do a second cleaning. I also love that this product rinses very quickly and easily.

NOTE: Not all Dr. Bronner's formulas are the same. In other words, the formula I'm featuring in this review is Almond. The Almond formula contains almond oil, and thus it leaves behind a very light coating of almond oil on both skin and brushes (it also make my brushes smell yummy). This may or may not be for you, but I find that if my brushes are feeling particularly dry after repeated cleanings, I like to use Dr. Bronner's Almond soap to get them nice and soft again. The natural almond oil really makes dry bristles soft and plush. But I don't recommend using the Almond soap every time--Peppermint and Citrus are great, as well as Baby Mild. And those three varieties don't leave the slight oil residue behind.

I hope this long and Dr.-Bronner's-esque rambling post has given you a better insight into why I love this soap so much as a brush cleaner. Mr. G loves this soap for bathing (he also loves Dr. Bronner's Bar Soaps and has a bar of Tea Tree in the shower as I write this), and whenever he sees that I've purchased a new bottle for cleaning my brushes, without fail, the bottle mysteriously find its way into the shower.

What do you use to clean your brushes? Have you tried Dr. Bronner's? 

PS: I also enjoy their lip balms; especially Orange Ginger. 

The product feature in this post was purchased with personal funds.