How to Clean Makeup Off Your Chin Rest

This post was originally published on the Plucky Violin Teacher Blog on July 6, 2015, so links and resources may not be current.  

​I don’t know about you, but I hate having a dirty chin rest.  I get makeup all over my chin rest, and it looks terrible.


I am never 100% sure how to clean my violin, so I decided to call Peter Prier Violins in Salt Lake City, to ask how we should be dealing with dirty chin rests.
Here’s what they said to do:
1.  Take a high thread-count cloth and put it in scalding water.
2.  Wring it out until it is barely damp.
3.  Then scrub your chin rest like crazy.


This might mess with the shellac a bit and turn it white.  To “reset,” use a clean rag with a bit of rubbing alcohol to polish the chin rest.  It is imperative you make sure you don’t get ANY alcohol on the varnish.
Dan at Peter Prier recommended bringing your violin in for a professional cleaning, which he quoted at $85.
He also suggested taking the chin rest off your violin while you’re cleaning it.  This way you don’t need to worry so much about harming your varnish.
But I’m lazy and cheap.  So I put a cloth between my chin rest and the rest of the violin.


I like to use these little alcohol pads, because they are the perfect size for cleaning my strings and chin rest.




Of course, it would be even better if I didn’t have to mess with the water and alcohol all the time.
Here are some ideas for keeping your chin rest squeaky clean!
Put a cloth between your skin and the chin rest.
Dan recommended microfiber cloth or a silk scarf.  Now I really want a silk scarf.  Thanks a lot, Dan.  So much for my violin supplies budget.
(I have a microfiber cloth I try to keep on there, but it always falls off and (again) I’m too lazy to put it back on.  A silk scarf would probably be even worse, but it would be pretty!)
You could also use a chin rest cover, like a StradPad.
My friend Erynn wrote a brilliant post about how to make your own StradPad, which I am hoping to try next week.  Though, to be honest, craft projects terrify me.  It’s silly, I know, but I’ve always had issues with crafts.  They stress me out.
Do you have a dirty chin rest issue?  How do you keep your chin rest clean?  Will you come make me a StradPad?  (Haha, just kidding…Sort of.)