Beauty Hacks Challenge: Only 2 Beauty Products To Replace All Others!

VIEW
SLIDESHOW

As surreal as it may sound, reading these lines might just convince you that you don’t actually need all those body lotions, fancy shampoos and conditioners after all and your insecurities with regards of using them may leave place to a shy flickering light of freedom!

They say that smart people learn from other’s experience. I didn’t. I had to go through the harsh way of experimenting on my own and finding out that less is definitely more in more ways than I could’ve imagined! This is my beauty confession story and it starts 10 years ago…

Waking up in the morning and getting my shower was immediately followed by plugging my hair straightener and iron flat my fringe. Then the tonic lotion, morning face cream, lips conditioner, foundation, illuminateur, mascara, perfume! Only then I had the right armor to face the world!

See also: Liv Tyler’s beauty secrets!

When my Husband first told me, some 8 years ago, that I could actually stop putting so much s#it on my face and feel & look better, I was shocked! Being pretty takes so much work, effort and so many lotions and serums! How could I ever…?

The day I gave away my last hair straightener (I had about 6 of them), my (lucky recipient) friend asked me in complete and utter disbelief: ‘honey?! Are you … sure?!’ . I wasn’t. But I knew my change had started out and I was only looking forward from now! So my perfumes went away (my Mother was kind enough to provide shelter for most of my castaway beauty products), my many lotions, crèmes and serums, my oh-so-expensive and rare shampoos and conditioners, my precious makeup palettes looking like jewelry boxes, even my fancy salon nail polishes collection was gone! Everything.

See also: Beauty products don’t last forever! Find out here when they become unstable and potentially dangerous to use!

For a day… ahem… an hour actually, my bathroom looked decluttered and airy and wonderful! But then the agony begun: who, what, how was I and how could I make it now I gave up my lifelong unctuous habits?
Like a recovering addict, I was religiously looking for and perfecting my knowledge about natural care products and – fastforwarding over 7 years of living with the same beauty regimen, here I am, to say that not only I survived giving away all my (costly) beauty habits, but also that I successfully replaced them with a carefree, minimalist beauty routine that is as smart as it is healthy and budget-friendly:

Baking Soda and Shea Butter (or Coconut Oil)

… that’s it!

Baking Soda and Shea Butter (or Coconut Oil), that’s really all you need! Baking Soda will replace your toothpaste&whitening stripes, your shampoo and delicate soap. Shea Butter will nourish and hydrate your skin leaving it so soft that you’ll have to rename baby soft in shea soft! Shea will replace … well.. pretty much all your precious creams and serums and hair oils & conditioners as well!
I cannot begin to describe the weight of my travel case now!
Taking it one by one, let’s see what they replace:

Baking Soda

•  toothpaste & whitening stripes I just pour a bit of baking soda over my toothbrush and go ahead, business as usual.
• shampoo for washing my medium length, frizzy hair, I use a tablespoon of baking soda dissolved in 300ml water, I wet my hair in the shower and then use the solution directly from the bottle on my scalp, give it a few rubs with your fingertips and then rinse it away.
•  soap, delicate soap, body wash use the same as for hair shampoo
•  foot & hand soak 1-2 tablespoons dissolved in the water you soak your feet or hands in
•  face scrub simply rub baking soda between your palms and then use them to rub on your face
•  insect bites instant relief rub some baking soda onto the itchy insect bites

Shea Butter

• hand cream, cuticles & nails cream, body lotion
•  day or night face cream, eye contour
•  hair serum
•  foot cream
•  after-sun soothing cream
•  skin repair cream
it’s all there, in a tiny jar of shea butter!

It’s a life-changing challenge, should you accept it, you may find yourself liberated and happier, not to mention all the wonderful ways in which you can use all those pretty pennies you saved on all your costly beauty habits!

See also: Tips & Tricks for gorgeous winter nails!

Oh, and if you think your skin won’t survive without the $$$ creams, just ask yourself how men can live without applying obscene amounts of face lotion couple of times a day, each day for years and years! Take the challenge! Even for a couple of weeks/year and still your skin & hair will thank you (don’t expect miracles over night, your body needs time to detox after all the chemicals you stubbornly applied for so many years!)