The Money Mustache Community
General Discussion => Share Your Badassity => Topic started by: scottydanger on March 21, 2012, 10:36:59 PM
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I have spent an ungodly sum of money on acne treatment products over the last 10 years. My acne was never horrific, but it was a definite nuisance and caused me to constantly try out tons of expensive washes, toners, and creams. As I got older, I realized that:
a) this was wasting a ton of money
b) the ingredients were extremely sketchy (read: toxic)
I got lucky and stumbled across a great home-brew recipe that made my skin look killer and my bank account happy. Here it is:
1) Boil a cup of water, and add 3 or 4 organic green tea bags. Let steep for a while and allow the brew to cool considerably.
2) tablespoon of raw organic honey
3) 1/4 cup of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
4) 3 or 4 shakes of sea salt
There you have it. I just use this as a toner after I get out of the shower in the morning, and every now and then before going to bed. No more crazy washes or creams needed. I keep it in the refrigerator, and now I laugh when I'm cruising through the supermarket and see the dreaded hygiene isle.
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Cool, I'll have to give it go. Is on the drying side, like tea tree oil?
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As I got older, I realized that:
a) this was wasting a ton of money
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3) 1/4 cup of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar
You are so right!! I've found a lot of low cost, natural alternates to the crazy chemicals they sell in the stores. Water + white vinegar for most of my cleaning, sometimes baking soda.
Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar has SO many uses (google it, seriously it's the swiss army knife of vinegar), I use it a couple times a month 50% Braggs, 50% warm water on my hair and scalp as a cleanser. When I moved to my current location my skin changed very much, to include dry scalp. The Bragg's seems to clear it up almost entirely. (<-- thus avoiding a refill of a moderately useful but far more expensive prescription by my dermatologist.)
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No, it isn't drying at all for me. Your skin might get irritated if you go wayyy overboard on the apple cider vinegar though. The standard options like Neutrogena were always drying, so I would have to spend even more money on oil-free moisturizers (which contained even more scary chemicals). My skin feels more balanced now than it ever has.
Right on about the other uses for vinegar! I've tried it on my scalp as well with excellent results.
As a side note, my parent's neighbor gave me a compliment on my skin a week or so ago and inquired about my routine. First off, it's kind of funny being a guy and having an older woman compliment you on your skin tone of all things. Anyway, she disclosed that she spends 500 DOLLARS A MONTH on prescriptions and other facial care products. Holy shit
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Does this need to be refridgerated? The only thing I could see going bad would be the tea, however, shouldn't the ACV kill anything that attempts to grow?
I've always kept my Bragg's in the fridge, but according to their site, there is no need to.
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I'm actually not sure if it really needs to be refrigerated. The person who posted the recipe originally recommended keeping it in the fridge, so I just went with it :)
You're right, the Braggs bottle says that refrigeration is not necessary (and the honey definitely does not need any special care).
I've taken the face wash on weeklong trips, and I didn't refrigerate it - so it's probably fine.
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I use the vinegar alone (slightly diluted) as a scalp rinse, and for that little patch of flaky skin some of us get between our eyebrows, and it's great. I hear good things about those other ingredients, though, so maybe I'll give it a try!
My excellent-skin thing for this year -- which maybe not everybody is ready for -- is that I've stopped using soap and shampoo. I was leery, but it's really good.
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It may not be the cheapes, but I have found that my skin clears up well when drinking large amounts of cucumber juice. Supposedly it is good for the skin, hair, and nails. I usually mix it half and half with carrot juice. Not cheap because you have to buy a juicer and then you have to by massive amounts of carrots and cucumber. When drinking large amounts of juice i prefer organic, which adds to the price.
I've forgotten about braggs, and I will try it as a scalp treatment. Is it good for dandruff?
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Where can you purchase bragg's?
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I usually get it at Whole Foods or Mothers Market. If you planning on using a decent amount of the stuff, then it is probably most economical to order one of the large jugs online.
I fully agree about the juicing! Yes, the juicer is a somewhat pricey investment, but I get a ton of joy out of the thing everyday and feel amazing.
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Cool idea. I've been using raw honey to wash my face and my skin has been pretty happy.
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No need to purchase Braggs. Make your own apple-cider vinegar practically for free using apple cores and the inevitable passage of time. http://www.cookforgood.com/recipe/homemade-organic-apple-cider-vinegar.html
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I use the vinegar alone (slightly diluted) as a scalp rinse, and for that little patch of flaky skin some of us get between our eyebrows, and it's great. I hear good things about those other ingredients, though, so maybe I'll give it a try!
My excellent-skin thing for this year -- which maybe not everybody is ready for -- is that I've stopped using soap and shampoo. I was leery, but it's really good.
+1 on the no soap/shampoo. For the past few months all I have used is soap on my hands and conditioner on my hair. Removing from my budget Shampoo, and greatly reducing the amount of cheap bar soap I go through. The first week I looked a little shiny in the morning.. but nothing a hot shower at the gym didn't rinse away. Now my skin is soft, acne is reduced, and I'm not oily or greasy at all. I get no razor burn at all on my face, and I don't dry out either. I just use a shower scrub device (basically a sponge with a rag wrapped around it.. found in the store with the other personal hygiene scrubbers) once a week to deep clean, otherwise I scrub my skin with my hands quickly.
This may not work well if you are exposed to lots of mechanical grease or other things that 'stick' to you on a regular basis, but most folks can save time, money, and reduce waste and environmental contamination by just using water to clean!
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Awesome! I'm going to try this out when we run out of Cetaphil.
On the lady staches thread, a bunch of us have recommended going with coconut oil for moisturizer if you have dry skin. It makes some people break out though, so YMMV. However, it's been great for me, and it smells terrific.
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Great tip, thanks! I'll have to try this out sometime soon.
I'm not sure if it's already been suggested, but for a cheap moisturiser, just grab one of those massive tubs of body lotion - works just as well as the expensive stuff, though may be a bit greasy if you have acne/struggling with greasy skin.
For instance, this study found the expensive anti-wrinkle creams hardly worked much better than the cheap ones:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1207797/The-3-wrinkle-buster-How-budget-moisturiser-outperforms-pricier-rivals.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/beauty/article-1207797/The-3-wrinkle-buster-How-budget-moisturiser-outperforms-pricier-rivals.html)
Don't have any links to the research done, but if you read "Bad Science" by Dr Ben Goldacre - http://www.badscience.net/ (http://www.badscience.net/) - he explains how there's been hardly any breakthroughs in beauty products in the past few decades. Basically it started with Vaseline/petroleum jelly, which is very greasy, and the last breakthrough was in something that made the moisturiser less greasy. I seem to remember it being called "Hydrobase" or something like that - apparently you can just buy it in a tub and basically that's all you need to keep your skin as healthy as possible. Anyone know the name of that stuff?
The effective product in most of those creams are vegetable proteins - as they dry out, they contract, which makes your skin look wrinkle free and smooth, but that only lasts for a while. You could get the same effect adding some pumpkin juice to your cream - I'm not even kidding!
Have fun growing that stash! :)
Edited to say that this was my Hubby's idea - I thought I'd never put that greasy cheap stuff on my face - and now we both use it quite happily. The cheap stuff gets absorbed pretty quick if you just use a little bit. We bought one bottle last year for a few bucks and we're still using it!