Are You Cleaning Your Hair Straightener Enough?

Bad news guys, our beauty regimens might actually be wreaking havoc on our skin. DailyMail revealed that in addition to makeup brushes, hair straighteners, if not cleaned properly, encourage breakouts. Looking back, the last time I thoroughly cleaned my straightener was, uhmmmmm, never.

Apparently our tools for getting sleek, straight hair or the fiercest contoured look could be harboring months and months' worth of accumulated bacteria, dust, and dirt. And let's be real, a Ryan Gosling meme that's like "Hey girl, your skin and hair are looking so...infected" doesn't exactly have a pleasant ring to it. Fortunately, the steps to cleaning make up brushes and hair tools are surprisingly simple. The hardest part is really just remembering to actually do it.

To clean a hair straightener, Jo Robertson, ghd's Head of UK & Republic of Ireland education, tells us to "use a lightly damp soft cloth or a baby wipe or the plates and never submerse [the] styler in water." It's literally that easy.

Make up brushes require a little more effort, but it's well worth it to keep your skin glowing. Lisa Potter-Dixon, Head Makeup and Trend Artist for Benefit Cosmetics, said, "If you don't clean them, you could be prone to infection. If you suffer from problem skin, I recommend cleaning your brushes daily with a brush cleaner and weekly with baby shampoo before leaving them on a towel to dry overnight. Cleaning them also means that your make up will look more flawless." Fewer breakout and smoother makeup application? Sign me up.

I personally started cleaning my brushes once a week about a month ago, and legit noticed I had fewer breakouts than usual. My best advice is to literally write reminders in your planner or else it just doesn't happen! I will, however, need to up my same-dirty-straightener-since-middle-school game.

Image Credit: @surfaddictfashionista/Instagram