As professional hairdressers, maintaining a clean and hygienic salon is essential to ensuring your clients gain the best salon experience. But, one essential task often gets overlooked: cleaning your hairbrushes. These tools collect hair, product residue, oils and dust on the daily, meaning that regular maintenance is critical for both your client's hair health and your brush's durability. Here’s why cleaning your hairbrushes on a regular basis is an important matter, along with a simple how-to guide to ensure they stay in top nick!

Let’s face it. We’re all guilty of quickly removing loose hair from our brushes, but in the salon, this isn’t enough. Hairbrushes collect scalp oils, styling products, and even dead skin cells that can in turn put your clients at risk when using brushes between clients.

A freshly clean brush can allow your styling products to distribute evenly throughout the hair, ensuring flawless results with every style. Using dirty brushes can transfer residue onto freshly cleaned hair, undermining the desired outcome you want to create with your client.

Over time, dirt build-up can damage the bristles, wearing them down, and making them less effective for salon use. By regularly cleaning your brushes, you’ll prevent wear and tear so your brushes perform better, and of course, last longer through those demanding styling sessions.

Using a comb or spare brush, dislodge the detangled hair from the bristles. This makes removing larger amounts of hair a much easier process.

Prepare a bowl of warm water mixed with a dash of shampoo or mild disinfectant, and stir until the water is soapy.

Submerge your brushes in the solution, ensuring the bristles are fully covered. Allow to soak for 10-15 minutes to loosen the dirt from between the bristles.

Using an old toothbrush, gently scrub between the bristles, focusing on the base of the brush. This step is crucial to ensure all debris has been removed from the brush.

Hold the brush under running water with the bristles facing down to wash away all soap and dirt. When cleaning a paddle brush, avoid letting the water seep into the cushion to prevent further damage.

Once rinsed, shake off excess water, pat the brush with a clean towel, and allow the brushes to air dry. Although this may seem a quicker process, avoid using a hairdryer, as the heat can cause damage to the bristles.

Within your salon environment, cleanliness isn’t just about keeping your salon space aesthetic, it’s the key to exceptional service. Regularly cleaning your hairbrushes protects your client's health, elevates your salon’s reputation, and ensures your tools can deliver stunning results. By incorporating these simple steps into your routine, you’ll maintain the highest standards of hygiene and keep your clients coming back for styles they’ll love!