My keyboard, perhaps like yours, gets pretty dirty. From working on it and traveling with it to eating food on its precious surface, grime collects between the keys. And yet, I don’t have a can of compressed air or a keyboard cleaning kit on hand. To remedy this situation, I spent some time looking into quick and easy keyboard cleaning hacks and found what works best for me.

After much searching, I discovered that there are two commonly recommended methods for cleaning keyboard crevices without compressed air: one is to use an old toothbrush, and the other is to use a small, soft-bristled brush, such as a makeup brush. I have both of these items handy, but I realize that a lot of people don’t have easy access to a makeup brush, so I opted for the toothbrush.

I was worried that if I wet the toothbrush a little bit, it would damage the keyboard, but after reading more, I learned that tough dirt, like crumbs and grime, can be easily removed with dry bristles. I only had to wet the brush when I got to sticky spots.

First thing to do: turn off your computer and unplug the charger. I also laid down a paper towel to catch any debris. I initially thought I could quickly run the toothbrush across the keyboard and the bristles would catch and loosen the debris, but that wasn’t the case; I had to work row by row, holding the brush at an angle so the bristles were taut and dipping the tip into the tight spaces around each key. This took longer than I expected, and each row required multiple swipes and drags of the brush to get all the crumbs out. It did work, though: crumbs started to build up in the spaces between the keys and I was able to brush them off onto the paper towel.