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Frugal Cosmetics: Lemons for your beauty routine

Here’s something fun and useful: check out Miss Thrifty’s Six Thrifty Uses for a Lemon. The main post has six great ideas, and readers have been adding more—including one link to an experiment that shows how to use lemons as batteries! The physicist in me fails at that stage. But since I’m a woman, my name is vanity…and lemon juice is one of my favorite frugal cosmetics. Here are a few ways to use fresh or bottled lemon juice to spruce up your daily beauty routine:

Facial toner. Don’t spend a ton of money on fancy astringents to apply after you’ve washed with expensive facial cleanser. After washing your face, squeeze a little lemon juice (or use about 1/2 to 1 tsp bottled juice) into the palm of your hand and gently rub it over your face and neck. Be careful not to get it in your eyes.

Neutralizer. If you wash your face with soap, you may find that it leaves your skin feeling dry and puckery. Most hand soaps are somewhat basic—they’re made with lye, after all. Acid neutralizes bases. Applying a small amount of lemon juice or diluted vinegar immediately after washing with soap will bring a quick stop to that parched sensation. If your complexion is naturally oily, a little lemon juice may eliminate the need to apply moisturizer after washing with soap.

Hair rinse. There’s nothing like lemon juice to get the last of the shampoo out of long hair. Pour a little lemon juice over your hair (1/8 to 1/4 cup bottled juice to about a cup of water works well) after shampooing and before conditioning. Again: take care not to get it in your eyes—it stings just like soap.

Hair brightener. Many women apply some lemon juice to their hair and let it sit, without rinsing, for an hour or two. Especially if you go out in the sunlight with lemon juice in your hair, it enhances blond highlights and subtly brightens naturally brown hair. You will need to rinse the juice out before you’re seen in public, since dried-in lemon juice will leave your hair sticky.

Sunspot fade. Used two or three times a day over a number of weeks, lemon juice will lighten age spots. To make this really work, though, you have to stay out of the sun! Apply the juice to lighten spots. After the juice dries, cover the area with a good sunblock. And if the spots are on your face, be sure to use sunblock under your make-up and wear a hat when you’re going outdoors for any length of time.

In the frugal cosmetics department, here are some related posts:

Olive Oil: The Miracle Skin Cleanser
Olive Oil: The Ultimate Hair Conditioner
Olive Oil Soothes Sore, Cracked Heels and Callused Feet
Lemon and Vinegar Highlight Your Hair

Image: Koehler’s Medicinal Plants. Public Domain. Wikipedia Commons.