Well I never....

In an attempt to get all the job done, since yesterday was my makeup brush bath day, i cleaned my hair brush as well. You're actually supposed to do that if you're using a natural bristle brush since dirt, oils and dust accumulate easier on 'organic', natural material. And i wasn't prepared for what came out....

Fortunately the dirt is not entirely visible but the water turned instantly gray after dipping the shampooed bristles in it. Never thought THIS was actually possible with a hair brush. It did look a bit 'dodgy' and the bristles had a lot of what seemed to be dust on them- that was dead skin cells buidup, product buildup and tons of dust particles.
When i purchased my brush (bamboo handler & boar bristles) i thought of reading the instructions since i had no idea how to clean it. Well it's not such a big deal, i mean everyone knows how to clean a brush, i just wanted to make sure no extra care was needed.
Soooo i filled my sink with hot water (hot is better than lukewarm because it softens the dirt and dissolves it faster; it won't affect the bristles because they're incredibly hard thus difficult to penetrate) and poured a little bit of dishwashing liquid mixed with regular shampoo (from Wella- a disappointing product that ended up washing my makeup brushes). Dishwashing detergent breaks down oils and other product buildup (hairspray, hairwax, etc) better than shampoo, which is milder; i figured i still had to 'take care' of my brush so that's when the shampoo came in.
I dipped the bristles (only!) in the water, for about 3 seconds, then used a regular hair color brush to rub the brush bristles with.

Keep the brush facing downwards and scrub the hairs only with your smaller brush (plastic bristles, nothing fancy) for about 3-4 minutes, until you're sure you've dislocated the impurities. I then turned my brush upwards and scrubbed some more until the water turned to suds:

Then i dipped the bristles in clean, hot water (not hot-hot as in scalding hot, but just the same temperature water has when you're taking a hot shower), which turned a greenish gray. Yuck! And to think i was putting that stuff on my hair every day! AND i only have this brush for a week! Well i never thought this was REALLY possible.
Final steps: gently wipe the bristles with a clean, dry towel and let the brush rest facing downwards on the aforementioned towel. It's gonna get dry really quickly and be ready to use again; gravity helps in making the small water drops go down and not soak the bristles or the padding and ruin the brush.
That's a process i will be repeating every week from now on, after seeing what 'crawls' in that brush. Brrr!