How To Properly Clean Your Hair Tools

One thing that we probably never think about is cleaning our hair tools regularly, such as our brushes and straighteners. However, it is in fact one of the most important things to consider to make sure that you are taking utmost care with them so they can give you perfect hair. 

At Additional Lengths we’ve compiled a guide for you to take note of:

Cleaning Brushes And Combs

We’ve all noticed that hair becomes trapped in brushes and combs, and that’s probably the only thing that we think to remove. But in fact, there is also oils from your scalp, residue, thousands of germs, dust, hairspray and other particles stuck in there too. Of course you don't want to be brushing your hair with all of this. 

So how do you properly clean them? We recommend taking a long and thin tool like a tail comb and tug gently at any hair in the brush to loosen it. Try to remove all of the hair before proceeding to the next step, which involves filling your sink up with warm water. Once the sink is filled, add cleansing shampoo into the mix, and either let it soak or use a spare toothbrush to ease off the buildup. Once this is finished, let it air dry and it's ready to use again! We recommend doing this at least once a month to maintain the cleanliness.

Cleaning Your Hair Dryer

Something you can probably notice in your hair dryer vent is lint and dirt, which means it’s time for a clean. This build up is a completely normal thing, but this can prevent the hair dryer from working both properly and safely. Most hair dryers do come with a removable filter for the vent which should easily twist off. If it doesn’t, make sure you take a look at your instruction manual for help. Once it’s off, you can clean it with a dry toothbrush to remove all of the grit and dirt and then rinse it with warm water. It’s very important to make sure that this is dry completely before reattaching it to the hair dryer and using it again. 

Cleaning Your Hair Accessories 

Accessories such as scrunchies, hair ties and headbands can also have buildup. Similarly to hair brushes, pop them in the sink with a couple drops of shampoo and warm water, then leave them to air dry or speed up the drying process with a tea towel. Like us, you may have easy access to one if you accidentally leave them in your dressing gown when that goes through the wash… totally no judgement from us. 

Cleaning Heated Applications

Sticky buildup on hair curlers, tongs and straighteners not only look unsightly, but can cause split ends and burns to the hair. Keep your hot tools in their best condition by cleaning off this residue. Firstly, start off by ensuring that the appliance is unplugged and completely cold before doing anything. Next, get a cloth and damp it with some water, rubbing off as much residue as you can whilst remembering to never submerge it in water. Something else to remember is not to scrub the plates too hard when removing the residue as you don't want to cause any damage to the enamel of the plates. Once the residue has been removed, leave it to dry completely before using again. Doing this will help your applicators last longer without any worry.