How many of you clean your skincare products? Are you one of those people who cleans your products after each use? Every other day? Just lets it sit there and get gunky looking? Now I know, some of you out there let them get a little gunky. 
Maybe you have not thought about cleaning them or are too busy to clean them. Whatever the reason may be, keeping your skincare products clean is important for good hygiene. Bacteria likes to lurk every where and in any possible crevice. Especially in water, where it easily gets moldy and dirty looking. So, lets take some time out of our busy schedule and clean those bad boys/girls.
What you want to do: (This is basic cleaning, everyone knows and can do.)
Product with removable lid:
Don’t you just hate it when cleanser dries at the tip and blocks the product? When it slides of the tip along with the product your about to apply on your face? Well the problem is not just in the tip, but inside the little funnel that dispenses your product. If it does not have a funnel, but has one of those push lids….all that needs to be cleaned out.
For the dispenser:
What you need to do is remove the lid or dispenser from the cleanser. Soak it in some hot water for a few minutes, take it out and pump it. Do not place it back into the cleanser during pumping. What we want to do is clean all that out with the water that has accumulated in the pump during soaking. After the pump is clean it is ready to be used again. Dry the pump, clean the area it sits on, the tip and slide it back in place.
For the push up lid:
Push the lid to the open position and run hot water through it inside and out. Make sure to get the stuff out of the rings inside the cap. Once all the gunk has been removed, dry the lid with a clean towel and place the lid back on your bottle. Make sure you clean the area around the bottle covered by the lid, before you place the lid on. (This would be the base/ the area that tends to get moldy and dark looking when wet product droops down on it.)
I recently cleaned this cleanser, there’s no gunk on it. 
Tubes with flip top lids:
In this case my Clinique cream scrub…
Obviously, we do not want to get water inside of our product, so we will have to take a little precaution. Any crusty, dry or drooping product sitting on top of the lid can be removed with some hot water. For the product under the lid take a small towel or cloth material and dampen with hot water. Now take your cloth and clean under the lid and clean the gunk around the exposed product.
Face Creams:
For face creams, it is a good idea to use the cream closes to the edge or it will start to get dry. At least that has been the case with my merlot face cream. So i end up having to clean that off. The cap rim can also get a bit black from sitting there.
Skincare products can also get dirty from just sitting on the bathroom counter. The pic of the following product has dust all over it, yet I use it daily. I guess its time I just ran it under some water. :S
Don’t forget to clean the bottom of your bottles or creams, as well. Water sometimes runs down and creates a little puddle underneath the products. So, you may find gooey mold under the bottle or just a wet spot. Keep the area your products sit on dry. Nobody wants extra bacteria lurking around. Avoid this by drying your skincare products after each use.
One of my favorite pumps is this one by Clinique. It reallys stays nice and clean. So, that’s what I did last night, clean my skincare stuff. Sometimes, the gunk happens before we know it.
