Cleaning your Hairbrush

You use your hairbrush at least once a day, so just think of all the stuff that collects in it!  Hair, dust, grease, hair product, dirt - yuck!  So you should think about washing your hairbrush fairly regularly to ensure it's nice and clean and all this muck isn't being transferred back into your hair.  This is mine pre-cleaning - a ton of hair and dust.  Blee!!

As ever, it's quick and easy.  All you have to do is remove the excess hair from the brush.  Then fill the sink with warm water and add a little shampoo - I just used one of my free samples from a recent hotel visit.  Leave to soak for a few minutes, assuming it's a plastic brush.  If it's fabric or wood, dip it in the water to just get the bristles.  In addition, if there is a lot of gunk on the brush, use an old toothbrush to remove it - but I've not yet had to do this!

Remove from the sink, give it a little shake to remove excess water and then place on a towel to dry.  Good as new!

What to do with Samples & Hotel Beauty Products

I must confess, I am a serial collector of sample beauty products, including the gorgeous little shampoo and body lotion bottles that are provided by hotels.  If I don't use them, they come home with me.  I find they are really useful for when I go away for a short break, at someone's home or another hotel - but with the latter, I inevitably end up with more products!  So what to do with them?

A really simple and useful idea is to put them in the guest bathroom, meaning that when friends and family come to stay, they can just help themselves.  And this can be done so beautifully.  All that is needed is a lovely jar to store the items in, such as this vintage candy sweet glass jar that's available on Ebay.

Simply put your shampoos, conditioners, body lotions, shower caps and whatever else you've acquired in the jar and leave in the bathroom.  Guests will really appreciate the gesture, it will look lovely and it will stop all those little bottles from cluttering up other parts of the house!