You Could Be Washing Your Face Better With One of These Facial Brushes

Washing your face is almost as simple as breathing — or is it? Chances are, you're washing your face with the only tools nature gave you: your hands. But if you're looking to get a deeper clean in order to get rid of all of the acne-causing gunk in your pores, you're going to need a facial cleansing brush. There's quite a bit of confusion surrounding these brushes, though, so we tapped Dr. Konstantin Vasyukevich, M.D., a double board-certified facial plastic surgeon based in New York City, to get the true scoop on these trendy brushes.

The Best Facial Cleansing Brushes

• Best Overall: PMD Clean Pro
• Best Manual Cleansing Brush: Alder New York Cleansing Facial Brush
• Best Smart Cleansing Brush: FOREO LUNA 3 for Normal Skin
• Best for All Skin Types: meejee Facial Cleansing Massager
• Best for Exfoliation: Naturopathica Facial Cleansing Brush
• Best Budget: Buttah Skin by Dorion Renaud Buttah Vibe Brush
• Best for Sensitive Skin: Anisa Beauty Cleansing Brush

Are Facial Cleansing Brushes Good for Your Skin?

According to Vasyukevich, using a facial cleansing brush instead of simply relying on your hands can provide a deeper, more thorough cleanse.

“While they’re not necessary, they can be helpful, especially for individuals who wear a lot of makeup or like a deeper cleanse a few times per week,” says Vasyukevich. “On a good brush, the bristles will typically penetrate further into the surface of your skin, getting rid of dirt, debris, and oil.” He says the bristles are also more effective at exfoliating the skin, which in turn brightens the appearance of your skin and shrinks your pores over time. He also notes that clean, exfoliated skin can better absorb your face serums, oils, and creams.

Best Facial Cleansing Brush Features

When it comes to finding the right option for you, Vasyukevich recommends looking for a brush that has a range of speed settings, so that you can alter the amount of exfoliation/stimulation to best fit your skin's needs. "I'd also look for an antimicrobial brush head — preferably silicone bristles that are non-porous and capture less bacteria," he says.

Can I Use a Facial Cleansing Brush Every Day?

Facial cleansing brushes are excellent for getting a nice deep clean, so you should be more careful when using these brushes instead of your hands alone. Vasyukevich says that if used excessively and with too much force, these brushes can cause over-exfoliation, which can lead to issues like redness, irritation, and dryness.

So, what’s the magic number? “When starting off with a cleansing brush, I’d suggest using it one to two times per week at a slow speed, in order to see how the skin reacts. From there, you can increase the number of times you use it based on your skin’s reaction,” suggests Vasyukevich. If you have sensitive skin, you can still use a facial cleansing brush, but sparingly in order to prevent any accidental reactions, he adds.

How to Clean a Facial Cleansing Brush

The heads of facial cleansing brushes can also become breeding grounds for bacteria if not cleaned routinely and properly. In fact, not cleaning your facial cleansing brush properly can actually spread bacteria around the face, and have the opposite effect than the one you're looking to achieve! So, properly washing off your facial brushes with soap and water after each use is essential.

How We Tested

Look, we get it: Spending your hard-earned money on any product — especially a higher-end beauty tool — is an investment. We want to always be your go-to trusted beauty insider, so we tested several popular face cleansing brushes in order to see if they lived up to their lofty claims.

So, how did we test these brushes? We kept four key principles in mind throughout our testing experience, including:

1. How well does the brush clean our face? Throughout our testing process, we stuck to one cleanser for all of the brushes to see how they performed. (ICYW: I used the Shani Darden Cleansing Serum.)
2. Does the brush irritate our skin?
3. What are the bristles made of?
4. Is it worth its price?

After taking all of these points into consideration, these are the facial cleansing brushes that are actually worth your time and money. Believe us: Your pores will thank you for making the switch.

Learn more about how we test products, from the questions we ask our testing team, to the types of products we feel are actually worth testing, to the overall time we put into our testing process.