Back to nature, back to basics.

Ten Beauty Products in Your Kitchen

by Amy on February 24, 2010

How many times have you been swayed by one luxurious-sounding ingredient in a personal care product? Perhaps pineapple enzymes, organic olive oil, sea salt… I only recently began asking myself, “why not go straight to the source?” If those ingredients are so good for my skin, why purchase something that is 99% filler and only 1% good stuff?

You may be surprised to find that your kitchen is chock full of secret beauty ingredients that are simple to use and as good as, if not better than, the store bought version!

Photo by Stock Exchange

So many homemade beauty recipes involve multiple ingredients, many of which can be hard to source. It often seems easier to buy the ready-made products off the shelf. But nothing could be simpler than grabbing one basic ingredient from your kitchen and using it in a completely new way.

Ten Beauty Products Hiding in Your Kitchen

Olive Oil: Eye Make-Up Remover

Keep a small jar in your medicine cabinet. Dab a little onto a damp cotton ball and watch your eye makeup melt right off. It also moisturizes the delicate skin around your eyes and nourishes your lashes. And it doesn’t sting.

Coconut Oil: Moisturizer and Stretch Mark Cream

I used coconut oil on my belly throughout my pregnancy and have nary a stretch mark to show for it. It’s also excellent on hands and feet, especially with cotton gloves or socks worn overnight.

Salt and Sugar: Hand and Foot Exfoliator

Salt and sugar are too strong for the delicate skin on your face, but make an excellent scrub for hardworking hands and feet. Mix a little with some olive oil or honey and keep a jar handy for a quick treatment.

Photo by Amy Thompson

Honey: Skin and Hair Conditioner

Stored in a squeeze bottle in your shower, honey makes a wonderful, moisture-rich conditioner. Its humectant properties draw moisture into your hair. And far from being a sticky mess it rinses out easily and leaves hair soft.

Eggs: Protein Hair Mask

Eggs are high in protein and make an excellent mask for damaged hair. Whip up the eggs a bit, adding a tablespoon or two of olive oil and spread onto damp hair. You may want to mix it in a blender to completely emulsify the oil. Spread it onto your hair, wrap it in a warm towel, relax for ten to twenty minutes while it works its magic, then shampoo as you normally would. A once a week treatment will help protect oft-styled hair.

Milk: Skin Softener

Cleopatra was rumored to bathe in milk for its beauty-enhancing properties. If you don’t have a whole tub full of milk to bathe in, simply patting some onto your face, letting it dry and then rinsing it off with warm water will give you noticeably softer skin.

Lemon Juice: Nail Whitener

My mom was always dipping her fingers in a little basin of lemon juice to remove the stains that would accrue from a day of cooking and cleaning.

Vinegar: Shiny Hair Rinse

1 tablespoon in a cup of water will give you a great hair rinse that removes product buildup and makes your hair shaft smother, resulting in shinier hair. You can add a few drops of your favorite essential oil for a pleasant scent.

Avocado: Nourishing Skin Mask

Face masks containing avocado line grocery store shelves. Simply mashing up an avocado and letting it sit on your face will give you all the nutrients and moisture, plus enzymes, but minus weird fillers and chemicals. Mixing it in the blender with a little water or olive oil will give you an easier-to-spread consistency.

Cornmeal: Facial Exfoliator

You can mix fine to medium ground cornmeal into a base of honey, oil, yogurt or mashed fruit for a gentle, but effective facial scrub that can be used on a daily basis.

In addition to the cost-saving benefit of using ingredients you already have in place of personal care products, there is the peace of mind that comes from knowing exactly what you’re putting on your skin. You’ll likely find that these “products” work even better than their store-bought counterparts and leave your skin and hair feeling more nourished and balanced.

Photo by Stock Exchange

What homemade beauty products have you tried and loved? Any that flopped?

(top photo source)

Written by Amy Thompson

Amy writes daily about natural family living, attachment parenting, organic gardening, and cooking on her site, Progressive Pioneer. She and her family try to live simply and be as self-sufficient as possible while living smack dab in the middle of the city.