My Beauty Supplies Alternatives Trial: Part 1

Remember that Sex In The City episode when Carrie realized that she was a “Fendi bag lady”? She told that she spent too much money on Manolos and accessories but had no savings to pay for her apartment and actually no backup plan at all. That’s how I felt the other day. It wasn’t only about shoes and clothes though but about a bunch of other things that every girl has to invest in to look more or less competitive. Particularly, I’m talking about clothes, hair care, skin care, tanning salons, nails, etc etc. At some point I realized that I spend too much money on these things, actually a lot more than I can afford. And I started wondering, like, what if I try to do some of these beauty routines myself without visiting salons or buying beauty supplies in the stores? Would the price gap be significant? Would it be justified in terms of time and efficiency? All in all, I carried out a little research, so check it out.

1. Haircare
That was probably the riskier part of the experiment. I usually pay about $50 for my haircut per month, but it’s really sophisticated and I didn’t want to try to repeat it at home. Anyways, I always wanted to cut bangs, so I decided that it probably wouldn’t be too difficult. The initial investment was $85 – I’ve bought a simple hairdresser’s kit that consists of a pair of scissors and texturing shears. http://www.amazon.com/Suvorna-Professional-Titanium-Texturizing-Scissors/dp/B001F2JWYW/ref=pd_sim_sbs_misc_2
Then, I browsed the web and found this article:
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Cut-your-Own-Bangs
There’s also a video there, so I used both written and video instructions. It looked awful when I’ve cut off the first section of hair, I was like “omigod omigod what am I doing??!”, but it turned out to be not that hard after all, especially after texturing. So, basically I spent $35 more, but these scissors will last for years and it seems to be ergonomically justified in the long run. However, I totally do not recommend anyone to do haircuts at home unless it’s something as easy as cutting bangs. My side-swept bangs looks really pretty right now, so this point of my research gets a score.
As for haircare products, I tried to make homemade shampoo. Some of you may think I’m crazy, but I have long hair and use professional shampoo that costs me $48/month. Anyways, that was for experiment’s sake. So, I used a recipe from here:
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Make-Shampoo
I used the second recipe, Fruits + egg, and you know what… the result is amazing! My hair is so shiny and strong and I’m really thinking of using it on a regular basis! Of course, it’s pretty time consuming and you won’t get that nice shampoo flavor, but washing your hair with this homemade shampoo at least once a week seems to be a great idea.
By the way, I bumped into this hair tutorial
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Do-a-Messy-Bun
It looks so bohemian with my new bangs, I really can’t stop doing it every day!
2. Skincare
Surprisingly, there are lots of articles and YouTube videos on making homemade skincare products. It makes a perfect sense to me because good cosmetics cost a fortune these days while cheaper products fail to deliver anything except empty promises in their commercials. If I need some empty promises, I would call my ex, so I didn’t want to compromise and buy cheap cosmetics in the pharmacy.
I started with this lotion recipe
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Make-Lotion
There are lots of ingredients, but most of them are easily accessible in drug stores. However, I probably put too much glycerin and my lotion was too thick, but the total effect was pretty nice. My skin was smooth and hydrated, and you can’t ask for more when use facial lotions.
Another awesome discovery was an activated charcoal + gelatin mask. Seriously, it’s awesome! It cleaned my pores better that any pricy cosmetologist ever did! Get 1 charcoal capsule, open it and add 1 tsp gelatin. Then, add 1 tbsp warm water and mix everything. It’s not supposed to be nice and smooth, so don’t worry about any clumps. Put the mixture in the microwave for 5 seconds and use a firm facial brush (I used toothbrush) to “bump” it into your skin. Make sure you only apply it on your nose and chin and maybe a little bit on your forehead. Then, apply the second layer of the mask with your fingers and let it dry for 20 minutes. Once completely dry, remove it with a sharp movement. You’ll see all the dirt from your clogged pores remains on the mask! That’s really awesome, highly recommended!
3. Teeth
Yellow teeth are a no-no and we all invest in whitening from time to time. I decided to save some money here as well.
http://www.askwiki.net/How-to-Whiten-Teeth-At-Home
The strawberry trick was surprisingly effective. It’s obviously not the same as whitening stripes or a visit to your dentist, but it’s still pretty effective. I know that some people use activated charcoal for whitening teeth, but I’m being a chicken and don’t want my teeth to get all black.
Also, I tried this whitening kit

Not the cheapest investment, but obviously cheaper than professional whitening, and the effect was good as compared to my old bleacher.
So, that’s all for today, I’m gonna keep testing beauty alternatives and share my experience with you here. If you guys have some awesome recipes, feel free to share them in comments!
Cheers!