Beauty Hacks

Like life hacks, except with beauty. I'm focusing here on beauty products that do certain jobs that you tend to overlook when beauty blogging- hair removal, foot care, tooth whitening etc. If you want to know about beauty hacks involving making face masks out all of the food in your fridge, then Pinterest is the place for you my friend. For this though, I'm talking things that are necessary but not necessarily fun to think about and using products to help with that. 

1) Ingrown Hairs

Yeah, I know. Glamorous. But this is actually a serious concern. Whether you're shaving or waxing your underarm or bikini line you're running the risk of getting a very nasty ingrown hair. I personally have never had one (touches ALL the wood) but I know of several people who had ingrown hairs that developed into an abscess which had to be surgically drained. One poor girl had them in both underarms at the same time. I could have cried for her because the pain was so bad. So, to prevent that horror from befalling you, you can try Waxperts Ingrown Hair pads*, an Irish run company that produce these little pots of 40 miracle pads to prevent and treat ingrown hairs. 

They contain salicylic acid to open clogged pores and neutralise bacteria, rosemary to act as an anti-inflammatory and panthenol to moisturise, reduce itching and accelerate healing. You can also use them to treat keratosis pillaris (those annoying bumps on your upper arms). After you wax/shave and have showered you just wipe the pad over the area and good news is you can use them on a daily basis. So that's one unpleasant job taken care of!

2) Scaly Feet

I know, no one likes to talk about feet so we'll keep this one brief but these Exfoliating foot masks from Penneys are the business. The first time I used them, himself couldn't stop laughing as a) I looked like a hobbit and b) I couldn't walk properly to the shower when it came time to wash them off. Good times. Anyway, the story is; you pop these little foot bags on for 60-90 minutes, they get to work doing whatever it is they do (they contain natural botanical extracts to remove calluses and chamomile extract to calm the skin), you wash them off and go about your normal life, annoyed as it appears they've done nothing. 

But then in a week to two weeks time, large pieces of dead skin (if you want to leave this blog now and never return, I completely understand. In fact, I'll go with you and we can get a strong drink together to get over the trauma of this whole topic) start to peel off, leaving you with pink, healthy looking feet. Perfect if you have to wear sandals or want to expose your feet to the world. It's also really important then to moisturise your feet as well to maintain your new good condition and you can use anything really. 

I have two moisturises here specifically designed for your feet (they're a bit thicker than a regular body moisturiser would be as the skin on your feet tends to be harder) Clarins Foot Beauty Treatment Cream and Emjoi Micro Pedi Ultra Finishing Foot Cream. Both are really good options but use whatever you have, just don't neglect them!

3) Growing your eyebrows out

Ever gone a little overboard with the old tweezers? Do your pencil-like brows make you sad? A year ago I had an operation, during which they taped my eyes closed but also placed the tape over my eyebrows. Well you can imagine what the outcome of that was but as I was so unwell afterwards it took me a couple of weeks before I could look in a mirror to realise that actually half of my brows were missing on both sides. So I got the hubster to pick me up Rapid Brow Eyebrow Enhancing Serum from Boots. 

Now, I was doubtful about whether it would work or not but amazingly I started to see some improvement within a week. Hairs started to grow back- they were a little thicker and darker than my own natural dark blonde but they were growing back and that's all that mattered! Once they were back to normal I stopped using the brow growth and now my own natural colour brows are back. I'm not saying this will work for everyone so don't rush out and spend your hard earned cash on my say-so but all I know is it worked for me so it's an option if you need it as badly as I did!

4) Teeth Whitening

It's really expensive to get this done professionally so if you know anyone going stateside any time soon, ask them to pick you up a box of Crest 3D White Whitestrips. 

As I've mentioned before, I used these whitening strips before my wedding and found them great but sadly in the two years since then I've been drinking coffee like it's about to be taken away from me forever so I really need to whiten up. Certain toothpastes are a good option too. I'm seeing a lot of reports that the Beverly Hills Formula Perfect White toothpaste is pretty decent but I haven't tried it myself.

5) Getting rid of Cuticles

Yeah, this one isn't as bad but is annoying nonetheless. I use Sally Hansens Instant Cuticle Remover as it's super fast and easy. 

You pop it along your cuticle line, leave for 15 seconds and then use your cuticle stick to push them back into place. If you do it regularly then you don't have to face the horror of going to get a manicure and having them use that little pincer to pick off your cuticle skin (which CAN hurt by the way!).

6) Bruising Easily

Yeah, I'm like a peach when it comes to bruising. My spacial awareness is way off; I am actually "that woman who walks into doors". My legs are covered in bruises from walking into the hospital beds in work so I started using Weleda Arnica Ointment on them and it really does help. 

They don't disappear immediately but they do change colour quicker and in general move along a lot faster than they would on their own. Saving that, there's Vichy Dermablend concealer to take care of any real shockers.

7) Itchy Scalp

Suffering from an itchy, sensitive scalp can be really unpleasant. A good option is an intensive treatment like Oilatum Scalp Intensive Treatment Shampoo. 

You use this as you would a shampoo but leave it on for up to five minutes to do it's thing and then wash out. Recommended use is twice a week. For in between washes you could also try Mane n' Tail Daily Control Anti-Dandruff Shampoo and Conditioner which I reviewed HERE if you want to find out more about that.

That's all I have for the moment. Can you think of any other beauty hacks- products that take care of all the unpleasant jobs for you? To the comments!

XX

*Indicates a press sample, gratefully received, all opinions my own, as always!

Edited to mention: Apparently the foot masks are no longer available from Penneys but Cat from Big Blonde Girl has found them in Dunnes. Hurrah! Nice looking feet for one and all!