BEAUTY LESSONS FROM YOUR TOOTHBRUSH

by mary schook

One of my clients today reminded me of a tool we once used here (up until a couple of years ago) called the Clarisonic. In case you don't live on planet beauty, a Clarisonic is a tool that operates similar to a sonic toothbrush. Simply put the Clarisonic is fantastic device that gently exfoliates away the dead skin and debris allowing products to penetrate better.

I thought it was important to bring up the Clarisonic today because no matter how good a tool is, investing your money in wonderful products like these could end up doing more harm than good for your skin if they're not properly taken care of.

If you read through different forums about the Clarisonic one of the biggest complaints about the device is that it has been a source of acne for many users. Why is this? The most obvious reason people get acne from the Clarisonic is from not cleaning the brush at all. Another reason is from brushing over acne containing pus. It's the perfect way to spread the bacteria that causes acne. An even less obvious reason is the spread of mold and bacteria once the brush has been 'cleaned'. Just like a toothbrush mold and bacteria can grow and build inside the brush even once you've cleaned it. Bacteria likes to grow and hide in damp areas. The sad reality is most consumers don't rotate their products (mascara, etc) often enough and using harsh chemicals like bleach and alcohol can distort the bristles basically rendering the tool useless or even damaging.

To demonstrate the impact on what bacteria can do in a brush like the Clarisonic (and thus your face) I'm going to bring up a story of a dental doctor I went to see lecture at one of the beauty shows a few years back. He did a toothbrush study to figure out how many toothbrushes one should have in their bathroom in order to prevent spreading harmful bacteria. Did you know that some harmful bacteria festering in your tooth brush can even cause a heart attack?! You can read more about this study HERE. The doctor concluded it takes three days for the bacteria in the brush to completely dry out. (I'll spare you how a toilet flushed with the seat up can project particles up to six feet in the air).

If you apply the same idea from the dental doctor and the toothbrush to the Clarisonic, one should have 4 alternate heads to rotate with on the Clarisonic. It may sound excessive, but I'm just letting you know how to optimize your benefits of the Clarisonic. It doesn't really go into that on their site. My client probably wouldn't have asked me if it does. At BBMS we replace the detachable heads often enough and by law we use Quats, bleach and a UV sterilizer.

So today you learned that the Clarisonic can be a good device if properly sanitized or just perhaps you might want to go rotate that toothbrush tonight while we're on the subject! ;)