By “Odd beauty tips,” I didn’t mean tips on how to become an odd beauty. Although I must confess I am quite odd.
I meant tips of the sort that aren’t taught in beauty schools or written in books or magazines, things that one only discovers through her own idiosyncracy and passes along to friends by word of mouth, things that actually work.
Here’s mine: I keep my tweezers in my car. Why? I’ve discovered I need sunlight to shape my eyebrows. The teeny little hairs within the area to be cleared are somehow not visible indoors in artificial light. So I shape brows only when I’m out in my car in the sunlight… when not driving, of course.
It might work if you got sunlight in the window next to the mirror where you do your face, but my window faces north.
If your cuticles are a mess and you’ve got hangnails all over the place, get a nail brush. For some strange reason, they seem mainly intended for feet (Don’t fingernails need scrubbing too?), so look in the foot care area. Then when you’re conditioning your hair and you have some conditioner on your hands, take said brush, moisten it, and briskly scrub your cuticles and fingertips.
I have no idea why it works. Seems like it ought to do more damage (and it does sting when you’ve got a bad hangnail) but it has really improved the condition of my cuticles. Maybe it’s because it exfoliates, or the conditioner has a moisturizing effect, or the brush cleans out bacteria that are irritating the skin, or maybe it has some other mysterious effect. But do it faithfully, and your cuticles will thank you for it.
Otherwise, leave your hangnails alone. Don’t pick at them, don’t chew them, don’t clip them with nailclippers, just don’t mess with them. Anything you do will just make them heal more slowly. If they’re making you insane, massage them gently with some moisturizer until the urge to pick at them passes. Put a bandaid on if you have a really bad one, just to remove the temptation. And, of course, for the love of Og, don’t push down your cuticles unless you have just stepped out of the shower or bath.
Not sure if this qualifies as a “beauty” tip, but here goes…
Chapped lips - anything from they feel a little raw to hard & cracking - can be healed pretty much overnight by A&D Ointment. Found in the diaper rash section.
All it is is petroleum jelly with vitamins A & D in it, but it works like magic. Slather on a coat before bed (spread all the way to the lip margin & a little beyond), wake up with new lips!
If you plan on trying this exactly the way described, be careful. If you have easily clogged pores, slathering petroleum jelly outside of the lip line will give you zits along your newly softened lips.
Smear a bit of petroleum jelly on the threads of a nail polish bottle. This way, even if you get polish on the threads, you’ll be able to open the bottle.
Don’t even try to use cheap tweezers. They usually don’t meet properly. Get the good tweezers, and you’ll be able to grab that hair the FIRST time.
I heard some supermodel (I want to say Rachel Hunter?) on some beauty tips/fashion show about her best beauty secret and she mentioned putting the white paste-style toothpaste on zits.
On a whim I tried it one night and wouldn’t you know it the zit had completely disappeared by morning.
I heard some supermodel (I want to say Rachel Hunter?) on some beauty tips/fashion show about her best beauty secret and she mentioned putting the white paste-style toothpaste on zits.
On a whim I tried it one night and wouldn’t you know it the zit had completely disappeared by morning.
Conditioner works better of you squeeze/shake out as much water as possible from your hair before you apply it. Makes a big difference.
You can make a quick exfoliating facial scrub by mixing white sugar into your facial cleanser (or soap). Dime-sized dollop of cleanser + teaspoon sugar, and you’re good to go.
Hair conditioner makes great shaving cream for guys as well. I ran out of shaving cream recently so I put some hair conditioner on my face and was suprised that it was better than the real thing.
I thought I was the only person who carried tweezers in the car! (Now I’m invisioning sitting at a red light, surrounded by people with tweezers, plucking stray hairs while waiting for the green…)
About those hang nails–Keep your fingers out of your mouth. Although I have absolutely no scientific proof, I have found that the saliva tends to dry out the cuticles, which contributes to hang nails. If you’re out, and don’t have hand cream for dry cuticles, a dab of chapstick will work to soften and hydrate the cuticles.
Canker sores–A quick swish with hydrogen peroxide will abruptly halt the canker sore pain and tenderness (often bubbling away the sore), plus brighten the teeth a bit. For those extra sore canker sores, I let the perioxide “sit” in my mouth for a few minutes (be careful not to swallow it!), and rinse throughly with warm water.
Rubbing alcohol will brighten fake diamonds or other glass jewels. I have a few pairs of earrings that are “diamonds” and “rubies” and “emeralds” and rubbing alcohol cleans them very nicely and makes them sparkle. (Okay, so it relates to beauty.)
I love Chanel No. 5, but not the price, so to make it last longer (the perfume and the scent once I’m wearing it), I spitz a bit on a cotton ball, rub it over my wrists and behind my ears, then stick the cotton ball in my cleavage. Believe me, should anyone’s nose ever rest in between the girls, I want them smellin’ purdy and all fancy.
If your regular bath towels are not sopping up as much water from your hair and body after you shower, you should find some microfiber towels. I went to Walmart and found these blue towels with the strange texture and I used them after my shower to wrap my hair in and to dry off my body. They worked great. My hair was just barely damp and my skin dried off in nothing flat.
Oh, HELL yes. I got a Tweezerman… a few months later, I lost it. I couldn’t even be bothered to try using my old Revlon tweezers after that. Another Tweezerman it was. (I’ve since found the old one, so now I have two.) And they are absolutely brilliant. I used to wonder how the hell anyone could manage to tweeze their brows, but now I know the answer: GOOD tweezers. The word “tweeze” is starting to look wrong.
That works. Conversely, if you have hair that tends to get greasy quickly and don’t need a lot of conditioning, leave a lot of water in your hair. It enables you to use less conditioner, too. You can sort of adjust your conditioner this way. I’ll often use a light coat of conditioner (by leaving extra water in my hair), and then after rinsing, chuck an extra bit of conditioner into my ends - maybe the size of a chocolate chip, which I won’t rinse out.
I shave with a creamy shower gel. It is a cheap brand, called Body Essence. I can’t find anything about them online. I just rub on a pump’s worth, without lathering it too much. It works better than shave cream for me, it was only $5 for 750 ml, and it smells like vanilla and caramel. I suppose any would do!
I sometimes put a bit of pale pink shimmery eyeshadow in the divot above the center of my lip. It really highlights it. (Substitute pale pink for whatever colour flatters your skin tone, of course - I am pale, so this works for me!)
