Padawan Problem: I've destroyed my makeup brush!?

So here's a blogger fact of life: I don't often deep clean my brushes. I know you're supposed to, and I do lightly clean them very often, but a true, proper deep clean? I just don't have the time! Nevertheless, last week I did find myself with a little extra time, so I thought to myself: "Deep clean your brushes, Sarah! Get them sparkling clean!"

I probably wasn't as thorough with my process as I should've been, but I stood at my bathroom sink and gave them the clean they deserved, shadow brush by shadow brush, foundation brush by foundation brush.

Then I reached my Real Techniques stippling brush.

It wasn't too, too dirty -- I'd given it a spot clean a few days before and hadn't used it since -- but I figured it would be nice to get as much foundation of those bristles as I could. I did what I'm sure loads of people do: went to town with my MAC brush cleanser, got all the gunk out and then started rinsing the rest of the product under the tap.

Here's the thing, though.

Apparently the thumb and forefinger on my right hand have the combined strength of a bear, because THIS happened:

What the hell?!

One moment I'm seeing question marks about the shedding, the next moment the whole brush head is in my hand! At this point, I did what I feel any quick-thinking Padawan would do: packed up my house and moved to a cave deep in the Australian wilderness to escape the hordes of angry, outraged bloggers hell bent on making me pay for my crime.

And messaged my favourite Beauty Yoda (Danielle), questioning my place in the human race while seeking hope that all was not lost.

Sure enough, once she got over the initial shock (and I might need to use the word loosely, but I feel comfortable using it), she had a suggestion for me: if the bristles are all still attached together, super glue it back into the brush handle! I really think that it sounds like an idea worth trying out, but until I do actually get around to sourcing some -- the supermarket was out when I went yesterday -- I've pretty much just shoved everything back in.

While I won't be using it until I source some glue, at least it's all now in one piece, so I don't have to worry about losing one of the pieces (which would've inevitably happened, trust me). I may just even end up buying a new brush -- but I'm in no hurry.

Have you ever destroyed one of your makeup brushes?

Sarah xo