Homemade Beauty Tips: Cheap Secrets in Your Cupboards

I was attending college in rural north Georgia when I first came to the realization that winter air, even the kind with a seemingly helpful bit of humidity, can leave your skin feeling dry and old. Being a college student, I did not have the money needed to purchase expensive Mary Kay or Clinique, but I needed an equally effective cleanser/moisturizer treatment. I needed a great homemade beauty combo.

At the time, there was no Internet; there were no quick answers for my problems, aside for strange Southern wives tales that left me scratching my head and wondering aloud what may happen to me, or if I would turn a strange, pale color, if I heeded them. So I sought the library - sought out some magazines and discovered a mixture of the same unhelpful combo of slop and herbs that really had no medical basis to meet their claims. And when this all failed, I called home and asked my own Southern mother what she did when she was without the money and access to great beauty care.

"Oatmeal," she said. "I used to use it as a moisturizer on my skin." But how would this cleanse? I reminded her that my skin tended toward a normal to dry combo, and I still needed a gentle cleanser that would not cause me to breakout or leave me with make-up remnants either. She had no answers. I went over to visit a friend and her mother later that day. We were watching a television program about the benefits of baking soda. The name now alludes me, but I left the program with this truth that baking soda is gentle and it cleans everything. From toilet bowels to dusty indoor plant leaves, baking soda can clean, deodorize, and leave the surface unscratched - or dried out, in my case. And so began my homemade, under $1.00 beauty regiment, that I have since discovered was used even by some Hollywood stars.

First, take a pea-sized amount of baking soda into your palm and make a very watery paste with gently warm water. Exfoliate the skin and remove make-up with mixture. Be extremely careful around the eyes, and rinse with warm water, patting only semi-dry with soft towel. Apply an equally watery mixture of oatmeal and warm water. Pat on face and leave on for 5 to 15 minutes - depending on moisturizing needs. Rinse with gently warm water, and apply an additional coat of your favorite moisturizer (I recommend an oatmeal-based moisturizer), as needed. Your homemade beauty regiment is complete, and you spent no more than a quick buck.