HYGEINE AND SAFETY

These days it’s more important than ever to keep your applications safe and sanitary. Poor hygiene practices not only reflect poorly on the artist, but they can also put you and your clients in danger of infection.

The main rule to keep in mind is that no product brush or tool should be shared between people. Even if they don’t look sick, we as humans have plenty of microbes living on us that will do no harm to ourselves but may make someone else sick!

So, what’s the best way to keep clean?

Decant your products:

It’s always best to keep your products as separate as possible. If possible, take a small amount of product out of the main container onto a clean surface. Never use the back of your hand! This is great for loose powders and pigments, creams and liquid products.

Our mixing palette and spatula sets are perfect for this! Made of stainless steel so it’s easy to clean between uses.

When you can’t decant, clean!

What about things like pressed powder or pencils that can’t be decanted? The most obvious thing is to use a fresh, clean brush with your powders. Afterwards give them a spray down with Isopropyl alcohol that is 60-70% concentration then wipe down the top layer with a clean tissue after it has dried.

As for pencils, give them a spray with your 60-70% isopropyl, wipe off a layer then sharpen them with a good clean sharpener. I like to spray and wipe them down again after sharpening just to be sure!
Make sure to keep your sharpener clean by cleaning out debris and spraying with 60-70% alcohol between uses.

Pro Tip: If you only have 99% Isopropyl Alcohol you can dilute it yourself by filling a 1/3 of a container with clean water then topping up with alcohol. This will create the ideal sanitising mixture of 60-70% alcohol to water by volume.

Clean Brushes
Now for the elephant in the room, keeping the main tools of your trade clean. For our purposes there are two ways to clean brushes, a quick sanitise and a deep clean.

Quick Sanitising: This process is for quickly making your brushes safe between clients on the same day. If you’re doing several makeups in a row and you need to reuse brushes, you’ll need a liquid Brush Cleaner.
Spray the bristles until they are well saturated then wipe them down on a clean paper towel. Wipe the brush as you would use it, that is; if it’s a blending brush use swirling motions, if it’s a liner brush, brush back and forth in straight lines. Repeat this process until there is no product left in the brush.
It's best to use a dedicated brush cleaner, not alcohol to protect the integrity of the brush and prevent the bristles from drying out and fraying.
Make sure to lay the brushes sideways to dry and ensure the cleaner has completely evaporated before using the brush on the next client!

Deep Clean: The deep clean process is for the end of the day and must be performed every time you use your brushes. Sanitising your brushes unfortunately is not enough to clean them properly as sanitiser is not strong enough to eliminate microbial spores so soap and water must be used!

Kryolan Brush Soap is strong enough to effectively deep clean your brushes while thyme extract disinfects, and orange peel extract degreases while keeping the bristles supple and conditioned.

To use, soak the bristles in lukewarm water then swirl them on the soap to build up a lather. Massage the soap into the bristles for 30 seconds before rinsing under running lukewarm water.

Gently squeeze out the excess water and reshape the bristles with your fingers. Lay the brushes down on a clean towel to dry on their sides.

Ensure you hold the brush upside-down throughout the process and dry them on their sides. This is to prevent water dripping into the ferrule and potentially dissolving the glue holding the brush together.

Clean and Safe for Everyone!

Keeping yourself and your clients safe is the responsibility of every makeup artist and that includes keeping your tools and products clean and safe.
We should also all remember to clean our hands properly before and after makeup application and using the appropriate Disposable Tools for safe applications.

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Visit us online or in-store for all of your skincare, make-up and make-up education needs.

See you soon,

The Kryolan Education Team.