Model Speaks Out About Dirty Makeup Brushes After Serious Eye Infection
Be honest: When was the last time you cleaned your makeup brushes? Did you realize that bacteria and other nasties can gather on dirty brushes, which could lead to infection? Yuck!
Model Anthea Page is using her social media influence to shout about the dangers of makeup-artist hygiene practices. She’s calling out professionals in the fashion and beauty industries after she got an eye infection from makeup brushes used backstage at a show.
The model, who’s been featured in Harper’s Bazaar and Cosmopolitan Bride, contracted a strain of staphylococcus aureus (a staph infection) and claims the infection led to her being forced to cancel her modeling commitments and take strong antibiotics to rid herself of the bacterial infection.
Sharing a picture of her swollen left eye, Page decided to pen an open letter on Instagram to makeup artists to throw light on the importance of regularly cleaning their brushes.
“A letter to makeup artists and those getting their makeup done,” she wrote. “I’m not going to sit here pretending I don’t like modelling or it isn’t awesome because it really is and I do almost always have fun on jobs,” she wrote. “Models have it good most of the time, especially in Australia however there are health/hygiene risks involved for models and anyone using testers or getting their makeup done people can overlook.”
“I have just been on a fashion show job for the past 4 days and unfortunately even though I had observed unhygienic practices and confronted the qualified artists (who I will not name) I still ended up taking home a nasty eye infection from fashion weekend,” she continued.
Page said she felt her safety concerns were overlooked but that it was part of her job to go along with things despite her hygiene fears.
“My message is not intended to critique the women who I trusted with my eye and skin health but to raise awareness of importance of hygiene practices amongst artists.”
“If you are getting your makeup done or using any testers, check everything has been cleaned to your standard even if someone scoffs at your concerns,” she advised.
Not surprisingly, she isn’t the only model who has contracted eye infections due to unhygienic makeup tools.
After she shared the same message to Facebook, Page says, others have got in touch to share experiences of battling the same sort of infections caused by the use of unhygienic makeup brushes.
“Got MRSA from having dirty makeup brushes being used on me. Still battling it 5 years on,” one woman wrote.
Other makeup artists also got in touch to thank the model for raising awareness about such an important issue.
“As a makeup artist I totally agree with you! Hygiene always has priority on every makeup!” one woman wrote.
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