Category Archives: frugal beauty

U is for Unusual Uses for Everyday Items

Posted on August 8, 2012 | Leave a comment

U can Use a lot of what U have on hand for unusual uses for your natural health and your natural beauty.  We all have toothpaste, right?  Well, it’s not just for brushing your teeth.  Toothpaste is a great way to fill in the holes in your walls or to take the sting out of insect bites.  Toothpaste also works great on drying out pimples and will remove yellow stains from your nails!

Here are 25 or more tips for unusual uses for everyday items:

  1.  Olive oil can be used to moisturize your cuticles, remove eye makeup and unstick a zipper.
  2. Cut a tennis ball in half and make earphones out of them – cutting down on noise can cut down on stress!
  3. Vinegar can make your sweaters fluffier.  Pour a few capfuls of it into the rinse cycle and your cardigans will feel soft and lush.
  4. Vinegar also adjusts the pH levels in your hair which will degrease oily hair.  Shampoo.  Rinse with a ¼ cup of vinegar, and rinse again.
  5. Baking soda has a multitude of unusual uses.  You can use it as a deodorant under your arms to absorb odor.
  6. Baking soda can be made into a paste to exfoliate your skin.  3 parts baking soda to one part water.  Gently massage with circular motion and rinse.
  7. Baking soda rubbed into a wet scalp controls dandruff.  And baking soda can ease the pain of indigestion (1/2 tsp. BS in 1 cup of water).
  8. Lemons have Lots of uses.   Use it for your natural beauty when you need to lighten up ugly age spots.  Put lemon juice directly on the spots for 15 minutes.  Rinse with water.  Repeat daily until the spots are spotless.
  9. Lemons can be made into a natural hair spray!  Cut up a lemon and boil it in two cups of water, reducing the liquid to half.  Cool and put in a spray bottle.  Lemon spray keeps your hair in place and smelling fresh.
  10. Looking to smooth out your lips and get rid of the dry, flaky skin there?  Use the sticky side of clear scotch tape.  Or apply a little piece of clear tape to your nail to test the color of nail polish and then remove it!
  11. Got marshmallows left over from a camping trip?  Use them in between your toes for a pedicure.
  12. Vaseline – perfect for waylaying color disasters on your skin when you’re dyeing your hair or polishing your nails.  Just apply around the perimeter of your nails or scalp and wipe away any drips and drabs.
  13. Yogurt is one of our “go to bests” for natural health and beauty.  (See previous post - Yogurt – On You, in You, and All Over You) Today’s tip is cooling off burns with yogurt – burn your forehead with a curling iron?  No problem!  Put some yogurt on it to speed up healing.
  14. Need a little more room in your pants after a binge?  While you’re dieting and exercising and drinking more water to lose the weight, you can expand your pants with a rubber band attached to your waist button, put through the buttonhole and secured on the other side.
  15. Spoons are very handy!  Especially if you want to curl your lashes.  Cup the spoon over your closed eye as close to the lash line as you can.  With one of the fingers on the other hand, press your lashes using the outer edge of the spoon and hold.  Voila, curly lashes!
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P is for Pedicure – Pamper your Pinkies

Posted on June 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Do It Yourself Pedicure

 

Summer’s here and the time is right for dancing in the streets (thank you Martha and the Vandellas – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdvITn5cAVc ).  But how you gonna dance in the street with those feet?

We naturally beautiful women pay so much attention to our face and our hair and our skin (at least I hope you do!), even to our hands and our fingernails.  But those feet way down there at the bottom of your body – THEY NEED CARE TOO!

You don’t have to go to a fancy salon to get an expensive pedicure -  although for a great girlfriend gathering,  book  a couple of those posh pedicure thrones and grab a bottle of champagne!

 

DIY PEDICURE — You can give yourself a pampering pedicure at home.  Just follow these simple steps for natural beauty for your feet:

1.  Fill a great big bowl with warm water and take off all of the  old polish. Tea Tree Oil  will get rid of bacteria (about a teaspoon) mixed with a capful of deep cleansing witch hazel.  Add these to a half cup of Epsom salts or Dead Sea Salts (to rejuvenate), and one drop of peppermint or three of rosemary oil (aromatherapy is great for rejuvenating your whole body). Soak your feet for five to 10 minutes.

2.  Exfoliate (see E is for Exfoliation) and get rid of that dry, dead skin (especially for those of you who live in the desert!).  Massage each foot for a minute or two with a small amount of your homemade sugar or salt scrub.  Make sure you get the whole foot, every toe right to your pinkies!  Use tiny circular strokes and get it all off, then rinse your feet with clean warm water.

3.  Next get rid of those nasty calluses by using a wet pumice stone and a little gentle soap.  With a back-and-forth motion, lightly scrape your heels, your toes and the bottoms of your feet.

4.  Trim your nails.  Then massage your feet with your favorite homemade moisturizer or some wonderful Shea butter mixed with coconut oil.

5.  Separate your toes with toe separators or roll up a paper towel and weave it through your toes and apply a clear base coat that contains some nail nourishment like Vitamin E.  Then polish your toenails with some of those wild and racy summer colors just made for sandals.  Starting right above the cuticle, brush the bristles down the center of the nail towards the tip of your toe. Then brush the  color on each side and across the edge of your nail. Once you’ve finished all of your toes, go back and do  a second coat.  Use a clear topcoat finish to  seal in the color and prevent chipping.

Wild Summer Toes

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M is for Mayonnaise – Magic for your Mane

Posted on June 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hold the Chicken!

Remember the scene in “Five Easy Pieces” where Jack Nicholson wants an omelet and toast and the waitress tells him, “No substitutions!”  And he says, “Hold the Chicken!” 

Well, I say “Hold the Chicken and pass the MAYO!”

Mayonnaise is one of those natural beauty gems that is always in your kitchen.  It’s great for a sandwich, and it’s also great for moisturizing your skin and your hair.  The egg and the oil in your mayo are two great ingredients for making homemade hair conditioner to get rid of the frizzies.  You can use your mayo on your elbows and heels to moisturize them after a walk in the hot, dusty streets.  Or you can do a daily massage of your face with a small amount of mayo (remember to always massage your face with circular, upward motions and don’t forget to rinse the mayo off!).  And now that it’s summer, keep some mayo handy to take the sting out of sunburn (but all you naturally beautiful women should know that too much sun is not a good thing – for natural health or for natural beauty!).
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Dry Hair perks up with a do-it-yourself hair conditioner made out of mayo.  So if you’re like me and you have dry, dull hair, grab that jar of mayo and slather it on!  Take a handful of mayonnaise and apply it to the hair shaft, taking care not to rub it too hard into your hair roots.  Too much mayo or too frequent conditioning will leave you with an oily, greasy head of hair.  Leave the mayo on your hair for 15 minutes.  If your hair is really, really dry and thick and frizzy, you might leave it on for a bit longer.  Put a shower cap on your head to prevent dripping.  When you’re done, rinse your hair with warm water to get all the mayo out and you will have a head of lustrous, luminous locks (oops, L was yesterday!)
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In case you don’t remember — Here’s that most famous (or infamous) scene with Jack Nicholson in  FIVE EASY PIECES (1970):

“Dupea: OK, I’ll make it as easy for you as I can. I’d like an omelet, plain, and a chicken salad sandwich on wheat toast, no mayonnaise, no butter, no lettuce. And a cup of coffee.
Waitress: A number two, chicken sal san, hold the butter, the lettuce and the mayonnaise. And a cup of coffee. Anything else?
Dupea: Yeah. Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven’t broken any rules.
Waitress (spitefully): You want me to hold the chicken, huh?”

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F is for Face Fixes From the Frig

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 2 Comments

Homemade Facials from your Frig for your Natural Beauty

Looking for a pick me up for tired and dull skin?  Look in your frig!

Looking for a remedy for acne?  Look in your frig!

Looking for a way to reduce oily skin or the appearance of wrinkles?  For natural beauty, you don’t have to look much further than the inside of your refrigerator or kitchen cabinets.

For dull and dry skin or hair, grab some of that real mayonnaise out of the frig and smush it all over your face.  Always remember when you’re applying lotions or creams or fruits and vegetables to you skin, use circular and upward motions to get a head’s up (or a face’s up) on how gravity tends to pull us down.

Need a little rejuvenator for your face after a long day or a short sleep?  This Cucumber, Yogurt and Parsley Facial from your frig will work great 1 tsp. Cucumber
1 tsp. Parsley
1 tsp. Plain Yogurt

Puree the parsley and cucumber really fine and mix in the yogurt to form a smooth cream.  Apply it to your face and leave the mask on for approximately 15-20 minutes for best results. Rinse with water. This will moisturize while it perks you up.  Only make as much as needed for each application, as it does not keep – even in the Frig!

For Acne, grab some eggs and honey and whip them all together for a face mask.

To dry up your oily skin,mix 2 TBL. of Baking Soda (see previous post D is for Double Duty Kitchen Cosmetics – Baking Soda Does It!) with enough lemon juice or tomato juice to make a thick paste and apply to the face and neck area. Massage gently and avoid the sensitive area around the eyes.

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D is for Double Duty Kitchen Cosmetics – Yogurt Face & Hair

Posted on February 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Kitchen Cosmetics for Natural Beauty

Look no further than your kitchen for plenty of natural beauty products that you can use all over your body!

YOGURT

Yogurt is one of the most versatile products to keep in your refrigerator.  You can use it on your hair for silky, dandruff free tresses.  Or you can use it on your face to moisturize and enrich your skin.

YOGURT HAIR MASK -

1/2 c plain yogurt
1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 egg
Blend all ingredients in a bowl until smooth.  Shampoo as usual and apply  mixture to hair and scalp. Leave on for 15 – 20 minutes.  You can wrap your hair in a hot towel to help it soak in and keep the drips contained. Rinse hair thoroughly with warm water, then follow with conditioner.

YOGURT FACE MASKS -   To nourish and moisturize your face, yogurt also works fabulously!

Banana and Avocado Face Mask
• 1 overripe mashed avocado
• 1 overripe mashed banana
• 4 TBL. nonfat yogurt
• 1 TBL.  olive oil

Mix all the ingredients together to form a smooth paste. Wash your face with warm water and a gentle cleanser and apply the face mask. Leave on for 20 minutes and then rinse with warm water, and pat dry. Apply your favorite homemade moisturizer.

Cucumber Parsley Face Mask
• 2 TBL. parsley
• 2 TBL. grated cucumber
• 2 TBL.  plain yogurt

Puree together the grated cucumber and the parsley..  Add yogurt to form a smooth paste. Rinse your face with a gentle cleanser and warm water and apply the face mask.  Leave on for 20 minutes and then rinse with warm water, and pat dry. Apply your favorite homemade moisturizer.

 

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