Wanna hear a joke? Cleaning your makeup sponges! Who has time for that, right? Thankfully, a clever Internet genius found a solution to this very tedious problem and tweeted it out for all the world to take note: sanitising your make-up sponge in the microwave for the fastest, easiest clean.
But wait! It's not quite as simple as placing your dirty sponge on the microwave tray and pressing start, as some very unhappy Twitter users discovered when they were left with melted messes instead of clean Beauty Blenders. First, you have to mix mild soap and water in a microwave-safe cup, fully submerge the sponge in the cup, and then you're good to zap it in the microwave for one minute. Once you remove the cup (let it cool for a few minutes first! Don't burn yourself, please), the soapy water will have transformed into liquid makeup residue, leaving your sponge just like new. Finally, ring out the sponge once the water isn't hot (!!), and then use your sponge again for your next makeup application.
Some of you might be saying to yourself, 'Wait a second... I think I've tried this before with a kitchen sponge,' and you would be correct! This technique is actually a classic cleaning trick for regs household sponges. But does it work the same for Beauty Blenders and make-up sponges alike? Dermatologist Joshua Zeichner, M.D., weighs in.
'Microwaving the sponge in soapy water is essentially like a supercharged version of putting it in your washing machine, which uses hot water and soap to cleanse fabrics,' Zeichner says. 'The microwave energy likely will also kill any microorganisms that may be growing on the sponge as well. The only downside I can think of is the sponge may degrade more rapidly than it would otherwise.'
I haven't tried the trick enough to know if the latter is true, but I will say that I have wastefully thrown away many a dirty sponge that I thought just weren't salvageable and totally regret doing so now. I think we can all agree that microwaves are the real MVP here.
