writing now: washing makeup brushes

I'm the first to admit I don't take care of my brushes the way that I should!  When I was in college I was religious about it!  Every Sunday I would wash ALL of my brushes that had been used that week. I purchased special makeup brush wash and took care to use that as a pre-rinse, followed by a "gentle" baby shampoo.  Then, real life came along.  Work, a social life, things just got in the way.  I was lucky if I washed my brushes once a MONTH, let alone once a week.  Did I mention that I love liquid foundation?  Yeah, kinda gross!

Now that I've moved to a new area and don't have much of a life, it's time to start again.  I immediately searched blogs and you tubes for the hot new trend in make up brush washing.  You can find ANYTHING on the internet these days!  While searching I found some interesting things that I've started to incorporate into my wash routine.

1.) Make a soapy solution of shampoo (I'm using some samples I've snagged from hotels throughout the years) and a couple of drops of tea tree oil in a cup.  Tea tree oil is a great way to remove the bacteria from brushes, especially face brushes.  I add tea tree oil weekly to my face brushes and just about once a month to my other brushes.
2.) Rinse brushes and drop into the cup for a short soak.
3.) A few minutes later, I put a couple of drops of shampoo in my hands, and swirl a brush around in it.  Then rinse until the water runs clear.  Sometimes I have to repeat this more than once, especially with a foundation brush.
4.) Then I place each brush on my bathroom counter with the head of the brush hanging over the edge like so:

5.) Once my brushes have been rinsed, I wrap a couple of squares of toilet paper around the head of each brush to shape them like so:

This helps to shape the brushes as they dry.  I have found that it increases drying time, so that's something to take into consideration!  Hope this helps :)