12 Beauty Tips from Common Household Items

If you have mayonnaise, baking soda and some lemon juice, you don’t need to hit the drug store this week. You have everything you need to condition, cleanse and lighten your hair and brush your teeth.

Here’s a list from the Real Simple website of things you have around the house and can use in your beauty routine too. It’s from their “New Uses for Old Things” beauty tips article – they actually have 49 listed but here are the 12 I thought were most useful:

• Hair Cleanser from baking soda – just adding a couple of pinches of baking soda to your shampoo once a week helps remove the product buildup of mousse or hair gel
• Dry shampoo from baby powder – if you don’t have time to wash and dry your hair, sprinkle some baby powder (and I mix in some baking soda too) on your scalp and brush through your hair
• Baking soda toothpaste – mix a little big with water to make a paste and you have some make-shift toothpaste if you run out of the real stuff
• Cooking spray to set your manicure – I’ve never heard this one but apparently a light mist sets your manicure instantly!
• Degrease your hair with Epsom salts – a tablespoon dissolved in a cup of water massaged in your hair gets rid of excess oils
• Lighten your hair with Lemon – it says to simmer two cut lemons for an hour, strain and pour in a spray bottle. Sprits on your blonde hair to make it lighter in the summer sun.
• Moisturize your cuticles with lip balm or cooking oil – massage into your cuticles to help keep them soft
• Emergency nail file from a matchbook  – if you snag your nail, use the rough striking pad for a quick fix
• Deep condition your hair with mayonnaise – use ½ a cup, massage in and leave on for 15 minutes before rinsing thoroughly
• Stop run in your stockings with clear nail polish – I have used this one so many times, I can’t count, especially when traveling on business and you can’t get to the drugstore. Also use it to stop rust on the bottom of your shaving cream can and to seal envelopes that won’t stay closed.
• Sugar polishes your lips – mix sugar with petroleum jelly and rub with a toothbrush to get rid of dry, flaking lips
• Sunscreen as shaving cream – if you have any sunscreen that has expired, don’t throw it out. You can use it for shaving!

They also offer new twists on common household items such as:

• Old contact lens cases as pill boxes
• Eyeglasses case and old film cans for manicure supplies
• Hair clips to hold your bath towel closed
• Old fabric lunch bags to hold toiletries for travel
• Reuse mint tins to hold clean tissues
• Use a hot pad to set down your curling iron in the bathroom in between curls

They profile many other common items with new uses in their book “869 New Uses for Old Things”  so check it out. Do you have any interesting uses for things to share?