Green and Frugal Beauty Aids

A few years ago, when I was in my mid-30’s, I began to have odd symptoms of some underlying health disorder: fuzzy brain, fatigue, digestive issues, and skin rashes.  Given that I was otherwise healthy, the cause or indeed explanation of such symptoms were basically dismissed by doctors.  I found that eating a gluten free diet helped a lot, as did steering clear of harsh chemicals and scents.  Thus, began my interest in finding non-toxic forms of household items.  Last week, fabulous readers had lots of suggestions on how to use vinegar, hydrogen peroxide and baking soda in a number of creative ways, especially for cleaning.  This week, I wanted to look at natural products for personal care.  Vinegar returns again, as the acidic liquid has a number of health and beauty uses in addition to household cleaning.  Other all purpose health & beauty items include epsom salt and honey.  Here are some suggested uses for vinegar, epsom salts, and honey:

Vinegar — soothe a sunburn, soak feet to remove corns, use as a dandruff treatment by massaging into scalp, and soothe a bee sting.  A lot of people are trying the baking soda and vinegar alternative to shampoo.

Epsom salts — have a rejuvenating bath by adding 2 cups of epsom salts to the water, soak a sprain or bad bruise, use as an exfoliater to freshen skin, remove residue of hairspray from your hair by mixing epsom salts with shampoo and shampoo and rinse as usual

Honey — take a teaspoon of honey at the onset of a cough; use as an antibacterial for minor cuts, create a facial mask of honey mixed into a paste with oatmeal and apply to face for 20 minutes then rinse; use as a conditioner to split ends of hair, let soak for 5 minutes then rinse.

Please add your own green and frugal health and beauty tips!

see more hints at Works for Me Wednesday