Cheap Treats: Interdental Brushes (Over a dozen uses for $1)

Cheap Treats are products I love that are fewer than $10 that have a multitude of uses. 

Check out past Cheap Treats here.

Did you have braces? I didn't, so I made my own retainers out of paper clips! I wasn't the only one who did that, right? My brother had braces years ago, and one Christmas I was looking through the junk drawer, and found some Interdental Brushes that he used for cleaning his braces. I grabbed an unopened pack of them and years later they're still a staple in my bag. Check out over a dozen (ok, over 20) uses for $1 Interdental Brushes:

Brush:

• Brow groomer--just brush those brows into place
• Brow tamer--use brow gel or hairspray to keep brows in place
• Baby hair--If you have "baby hairs" around your face, these brushes do a great job in keeping them in place. And this is so much better than the usual advice of an old toothbrush. 
• Flyaways--Sometimes regular brushes can pull the hair out of the bun or pony you worked so hard to smooth. But with a smaller brush, you can focus on just the hairs you need to put back into place. Make sure to use hairspray on the brush.
• Tease--Believe it or not, the interdental brushes can be used to tease very small sections of hair. If you have very thin hair, this will work for you best, but it worked for my thick, coarse hair.
• Bangs--Great for brushing bangs into place in a pinch
• Toothbrush--I'm just saying I've only used this out of desperation, but it worked.

Eyes:

• Mini-mascara--sometimes you may love a mascara formula, but not the brush. Or maybe the brush has gotten unusable. Instead, paint a little on the tiny brush and use like regular mascara. It works.

• Lash grabber--Most mascara wands are too big for my bottom lashes, so I use the interdental brushes instead to avoid mascara all over my face. Notice how I bent the brush--another plus to get those hard-to-reach lashes, like the ones closest to my inner corners. If you have sparse or short lashes, give this a try.

• Clump remover--Try using a clean spoolie (mascara wand) or one of these brushes to remove clumps. Sometimes I'll rub a little bit of Chapstick between my fingers and then apply to the brush before using it on my lashes to remove clumps.

Craft:

• Nail art--I've used these for all sorts of nail art. If you'd like a tutorial, let me know.
• Craft projects--I've used these for painting, applying glue, among other things, and have even snipped the brushes off to make trees.
• Mini-broom--Don't cry over spilled glitter or even eye shadow, use this brush to help you sweep up small dry spills.

Clean:

• Hair brush--I use these to clean out my regular hair brushes.
• Nails--The brush is great to clean underneath long nails.
• Nozzles--Use the brushes to clean clogged nozzles, like on hairspray, or contact solution that has saltified (yes, I made up that word) by scrubbing. I've used a brush to clean out the clogged salt/pepper shakers before.
• Eye/Lip pencil sharpeners--The interdental brushes are just the right size to clean out those eye/lip sharpeners.
• Nooks, crannies, & crevices--If there's a small place that needs to be cleaned, like your computer, phone, inside of your car, purse, or around a sink, try these brushes. 

Beauty:

• Doll hair--Try an interdental brush on your child's dolls' hair--this works best on Barbie dolls and similar dolls.
• Root helper--To hide grays or roots, put product on your hair and brush it through. The brush is easy to manipulate through the hair to make sure strands are temporary covered. Check out my ways to hide grays/roots here.
• Exfoliate lips--Before you apply lipstick, make sure your lips are exfoliated and then moisturized. Use this just like you would a toothbrush on your lips (again, I can't use an old toothbrush, ew). Check out my DIY Lip Scrub if you'd like to make your own (scroll down on that post) and scrub with the brush.

What other uses do these brushes have?

Let me know in the comments.

What Cheap Treats have you been loving lately?