Cucumber slices on eyelids - you still see that, but what about beer / egg / mayonaise shampoos? Olive oil for the skin, vinegar douche, cornstarch baby powder?
Now that there are miles of products in stores made specifically for personal grooming, do any food items still do double duty in the kitchen and bathroom anymore?
All of the ones you mentioned are still readily used – well, maybe not the egg and mayo shampoos, but cucumbers, vinegar, cornstarch, certainly.
Then there is oatmeal as a bath additive or mild facial exfoliant. Salt and sugar in strong oil bases make excellent bath scrubs. Sugar and honey mixtures, typically with lemon juice, have been used for centuries for hair removal, and certainly still are. Cold teabags are good for puffy eyes with dark circles. A vodka rinse can act as an astrigent for oily hair and is (IIRC) good for dandruff. Plain yogurt can be used as a base for a facial mask that neutralizes oil and restores balance. And of course, there are milk baths – my manicurist created a hand soak solution that’s heated milk, walnut oil and other essential oils and herbs, and it’s wonderful. 
Plain honey makes a wonderful face mask. Also, I once dyed my hair with a mixture of beetjuice and eggwhites. I was a bit of a cosmetic mad scientist as a teen:)
That milk and walnut oil soak sounds heavenly!
Brickyard 400…rednecks…hmmm… oh, wait, that’s too evil.
Oops, I meant to put that post on the terrorist thread.
Olive oil can be a great moisturizer, only use a little bit though.
Thanks for clarifying that, Indygrrl. I though it was a reference to the gang-rape scene in “Last Exit to Brooklyn,” with a 400-man ejaculate bath.
Cucumber or lemon masks to bleach freckles, violet pastilles to sweeten the breath, olive oil for your hair (face it, that’s what your Alberto VO5 hot oil treatment is, only megabucks cheaper), flat beer as hair conditioner, and used teabag poultices to minimize zits.
There is also recent data suggesting isoflavones in soymilk can reduce hair in lab mice:
http://www.hairtell.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=000004
The Aveeno line of lotions is now including the ingredient in case the same holds true for people.
Baking soda mixed with water or a mild face cleanser (I like Cetaphil) is a nice exfoliant.
Beet juice for hair dye is a new one on me. Until I moved to the big city and had access to proper hair dye, we always used Kool Aid.
The idea of food products and “botanicals” is still solid marketing. Most products sold, though, have little if any yarrow-root extract or whatever.
In the early part of this century, there was a fad for using food names in products - beyond the mousse effect. I thought possibly it was an advertising strategy to lure women on diets.
The big thing now is the Elizabeth Arden trope - all the expensive products are from an alleged spa or eyelash curler to the stars.
My guess is, we’re heading into another “scientific” sales pitch era.
Either way, with the except of Mary Kay and products of the Cosmair corproation, it’s all made in big vats in New Jersey USA.