Washing your brushes - when do you know it's time?

I've discovered the best way to keep my toddler happy while I do my makeup in the morning is to let her play with my makeup too. I promise you that there is nothing cuter than the sight of a baby delicately dabbing at her round little cheeks with my blush brush - until you turn away for half a second and turn back to see her "dusting" the toilet with the same brush, that is.

Happily the toilet seat was down, so things weren't quite as gross as they could have been (and as we're talking about my favourite RMK blush brush, dumping it would not have been an option), but I knew it was finally time to give my beloved brush a good wash.

I don't know what it is about me, but washing my makeup brushes is always far down on my list of priorities. Of course it helps that I have a bit of a brush obsession and own way more than I will ever need. So if a favourite brush goes beyond the point of no return, I always have a backup I can use before I have to wash it.

The weird thing about this particular piece of procrastination is that washing a brush is hardly a complex or lengthy task. I hold the brush with the head pointing down under running warm water, swish the bristles around a bit to make sure it's soaked, then squeeze a dab of baby wash onto my fingertips, smoosh the brush head around in it until it's good and sudsy and then rinse under the tap until the water runs clear. Then all that's left is to gently squeeze the excess water out of the bristles, gently push them back into the correct shape and leave flat on the bathroom shelf with the head of the brush out over the edge where air can circulate until it's dry.

This all takes about two minutes per brush, so why do I let my dirty brushes pile up when I could easily wash them quickly as I go along? While I ponder that I'll go and wash the powder brush that's been begging for it for a while now and you can let me know in a comment whether you're a proactive brush cleaner, or a procrastinator like me.