beauty so clean?

you can get wintergreen alcohol. but i'd probably be reluctant to get that with kids around as it smells good.

I hate bleach too for that EXACT reason! Never fails I will be wearing black or a favorite pair of jeans when I have to mix up a solution of it!

Well, the problem with alcohol is the warning right on the bottle:
WARNING! HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED. CAUSES IRRITATION TO EYES AND RESPIRATORY TRACT. AFFECTS CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM. MAY BE HARMFUL IF ABSORBED THROUGH SKIN. MAY CAUSE IRRITATION TO SKIN.
____

I understand you are using very little. Still, I would not want to get that very tiny bit in a child's eye.

As to bleach and the other sanitizers who mention, yikes about getting them close to eyes. My choice is to not use bleach on any of my tools, even if I wash them well afterwards.

But vinegar has been used as an eye wash for centuries to help with pink eye and cataaracts, http://www.ehow.com/way_5640082_eyewash-treatments-cataracts.html

If a tiny bit of vinegar did get in their eyes, it would not be a worry.

The truth is vinegar is better at killing germs than the quaternary ammonium solution you mention. See the science by checking this study - http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Countertops.html

In the end, I say GOOD FOR ALL US who are worried about sanitation and doing what each of us thinks is best for our customers.

- Lilly Walters, 909-398-1228
Henna Tattoo Artist, Face and Pregnant Belly Painter, in Claremont, La Verne, Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, San Dimas and Glendora
www.funfacepainting.com

Face Painting Classes In Southern California
http://www.funfacepainting.com/facepaintingclass.html

Author of Books on Face Painting:
http://www.funfacepainting.com/book.html

hmmm that is something to ponder Lilly! but, doesn't alcohol evaporates after it dries? so as long as your brushes can dry before using them you should be ok, right?

thanks for all the input ladies! you girls rock!

I know this is probably wasting paint but every time I am done practicing painting I get a clean sponge and sponge off the top layer of my cake then let it dry..is this ok? (I mean for now while I practice on my kids and friends and build my skills) and then just sanitisze my brushes accordingly?

April . If you are doing 30 faces in a row, how can the brushes dry?

- Lilly Walters Schermerhorn
Face and Belly Painting and Henna Tattoos
www.funfacepainting.com
909-398-1228

well I would have 30 brushes of course!

oh and after my recent bout of shopping I probably do actually have about 30 brushes now! (or close to it)

hmm...

how many brushes do ya'll have?

I have about 5 brushes per each of color: white, black, yellow, red, blue, green, purple. Then about 9 flats for the split cakes, I use a separate flat for each split cake.

I am therefore VERY fast as I do not need to clean the brush to get a new color.

- Lilly Walters Schermerhorn
Face and Belly Painting and Henna Tattoos
www.funfacepainting.com
909-398-1228

Brushes are to be DRY before reuse - that is in the health regs too. You only rinse/saturate in the alcohol you don't wet the brushed with it to paint with. It is for sanitizing only.

I am not painting with it, adding it to my paint water, or even wiping my cakes with it...

Therefore... no risk is involved to my customers.

Yes, I have a lot of brushes (I started to count once but gave up...) - but alcohol, even 70% does dry rather quickly.

And I would never, and couldn't due to health regs, use a brush on anyone without cleaning and /sanitizing it first.

Keep in mind Lilly, Shannon, as well as a few others on here including myself, are from Alberta Canada and they have some of the strictest health regulations for face painting. As Shannon stated, all of the mentioned ways of sanitizing are outlined by Health Regulations for the province and all painters must follow these standards. It is doable, you just have to be diligent. Besides, if you start out doing it that way, you don't know any different.

Beauty So Clean is a Canadian company as well. I wonder if that is why they came up with it?

Lilly Walters
www.funfacepainting.com
Face Painting Classes In Southern California

Question to Canadian FacePainters:

Do you never re-load your brush if you run out of paint and need more? Do you just grab a new brush? (Or sponge for that matter).

I use a clean sponge with each face, but if I'm reloading, I'd just be getting Kid A's germs into the paint until it dried at the end of the day. Yes?

Hmmm

New brush... You get the hang of how much paint to load for what you want to do... (I have a dedicated brush washer - my mom! She sits behind me and washes the brushes as I set them down!)

And if I need more on the sponge I flip it and use a clean spot...

Oh... and it is Albertan face painters. It is a regional/provincial regulation, not a national one.

Wow, that sounds like and amazing hassel! But, if it is law, what can you do. Besides, it does sound like the cleanest, most sanitary thing to do.

I am glad I can get away with spraying a santizer after each person.

I do use a cotton swab for the lips, and that I do not put back into the paints.

I do admire you guys who go do an entirely clean brush for each person. Amazing!

- Lilly