How often do you clean and sanitize your makeup bag or purse? If you’re like most of us, the answer is probably not that often – or at all. However, a lot of bacteria and germs are hiding in your purse/makeup bag, and can creep up in unexpected areas like your eyeshadows, lipsticks, makeup brushes, tweezers, chap sticks and eye liners. Assuming you keep snacks in your purse, you may even be eating some nasty germs in between meals!
Now some people might think that they’re safe in this department because their purse or makeup bag is newly purchased. But if you’re a thrifty and frugal person who likes shopping in vintage or thrift stores for cute clutches and handbags, there’s definitely going to be germs lurking inside of those handbags.
It’s comparable to using someone else’s lipstick or makeup brushes; you know they’re germy, but you use them anyway, and then catch a cold or break out in pimples because you weren’t cautious enough. Simply put, someone else’s phone, wallet, candy bar, or bottle of water was stored in that handbag before it was yours, and their germs are still lurking around in there!
Why Makeup Bags and Purses get Dirty
Think about all of the items you store in your travel makeup pouch, and where on your face they come in contact with. Your tweezers may be used to pull out a splinter, get a hang nail, or pluck a few hairs you might have missed earlier that day. Then you throw the tweezers back into your bag without question!
The tweezers are now floating around in your bag like a kid in elementary school sharing germs with the other students, and the germs could get on your eyelash curler and then into your eye! Before the madness goes any further, learn how to clean and sanitize your purses so that you can stay as tidy as possible.
How to Get the Job Done
Before you begin on the journey towards sanitizing your purses and makeup bags, make sure to only use this method for faux leather, plastic and cloth bags. That said, you will either need a large bucket, bathtub or sink so that you can submerge your bag or purse into the soapy water.
Next, you’ll need a one-fourth cup of laundry detergent and a gallon of vinegar if you’re cleaning a hand bag – a half gallon if you’re cleaning a smaller clutch or makeup pouch. Use something to stir the water and cleaning agent together like a ruler, end of a broom, or even a clothes hanger.
Turn your purse inside-out, unzip all of the zipper parts, and then submerge the bag into the bucket of soapy water. Stir it all around as your washer would for a minute or two; you’ll notice the water getting dark and dirty. When you feel like you’ve stirred enough, dump the water from your bucket, or drain it into the tub or sink.
Rinse the bag out with cool water, and then fill the bucket up so that your bag or purse is just barely covered. Pour the vinegar into the bucket and stir the purse around again for about a minute. Rinse with cool water again, and then hang them out to dry outdoors.
Not just Makeup Bags
You can also use this method for gym bags, reusable grocery bags and shoe bags. If you wash your bags in a bucket, and not in a washer, you’re saving water and also keeping all sorts of dirt out of the same washer where you clean your intimates. Staying on this thought, you don’t wash your dish towels with underwear, so why wash your purses with your dish towels?
Cleanliness is important in all aspects of life, and it’s gratifying to see the dirt come out of the purses and wash down the drain. Remember to sanitize your kitchen sink and bathtub before using them again – assuming this is how you cleansed your purses and makeup bags. By doing so, the germs and dirt won’t transfer to the dishes or onto your shower curtain or shampoo bottles.
Cleaning and Sanitizing Purses and Makeup Bags is a post from: Health Care and Beauty Blog
