Avocado Masque? Salt Scrubs? Window Cleaners?

[Pickles]

Do any of you have favorite uses for foods either as beauty products or household cleaners, etc.? I've used mayo to remove water rings on wood tables and it also makes a good hair conditioner. Lemons to exfoliate dead elbow skin and to bleach freckles. Olive oil makes an excellent moisturizer, too, as well as hair conditioner. My great granny used to use milk on her face as a masque and she was wrinkle free...and this was ages before all these (hydro-whatever) acid products were on the market. And my granny also patted egg whites under her eyes to reduce any puffs.

[KateW]

Ketchup is good for cleaning copper. Other than that, I'm too busy eating my food products to actually clean with them

[JPW]

When I was working on St. Thomas USVI, vodka was cheaper than window cleaner. So we used it in a spray bottle to clean windows.

[tryska]

i love sugar scrubs for exfoliating. plain old dixie crystals (or dominos if you're fromt he north) mixed with whatever facial cleasner you use once a week. (i use either basis or st. ives).

I've also used honey as a conditioner on my hair and beer. (bad beer mind you)

[slbunge]

Lots of salt dumped on just-spilled red wine keeps a stain from setting. It's embarassing how many times I have proven this tip useful.

After the wine dries, reach for the Carbona...but that's another thread.

[Pickles]

Lots of salt dumped on just-spilled red wine keeps a stain from setting. 

A lot of white wine dumped on red wine does the same thing. Really. Takes the stain right away. Leaves a huge puddle....but...takes the stain away.

Edited March 9, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[alithea]

sugar mixed with olive oil and ginger.

warm it in the microwave and use as a body scrub.

smells good too.

[Mistinguett]

Egg yolks make a great hair masque (leave on for 20 minutes and wash as usual), vinegar and beer are great hair rinses, seltzer is a great hair rinse after a swim.

For face and body a variety of fruits and vegetables make great masques, having exfoliating, hydrating and softening powers.

Cucumber slices for the eyes are great. My grandmother used to stick cucumber ends to her forehead as a cure for headaches (it never worked for me).

[Mabelline]

Lemon ammonia to stop the sting of insects,or poison ivy. Sulpher in a bag or sock to whack against your legs or pantlegs to keep chiggers away. Teabags for sore eyes. Teabags, vinegar, or baking soda in bathwater for sunburn. White vinegar as a toner.1/2 cup of Clorox in tub if you do get chigger-bit.

Looks like I spend my time being burnt, bit, or itchy! Oh, yeah... I do

[bloviatrix]

Vodka makes hair shiny. Eggs and mayonaise are good conditioners.

And I think it's cayenne that stops ants from invading (it could be black pepper, though)

[balmagowry]

Lots of salt dumped on just-spilled red wine keeps a stain from setting. 

A lot of white wine dumped on red wine does the same thing. Really. Takes the stain right away. Leaves a huge puddle....but...takes the stain away.

Zowie! that one I didn't know about. Salt or club soda, yes (though neither has ever worked all that well for me), but not white wine. Almost tempted to go spill some red so I can try it.

White vinegar will kill the residual smells of animal urine.

Organic apple cider vinegar is good for all sorts of things, including a bracingly astringent skin toner.

Honey and oatmeal are both excellent for the skin; honey has antiseptic properties, and oatmeal does some kind of healing magic too, I forget what exactly (think of all those sensitive-skin products from Aveeno - their whole original product line was based on colloidal oatmeal). If ground to a very fine powder and mixed with some honey and/or yogurt and/or milk it makes a great soothing masque; ground a little more coarsely and mixed the same way it makes a nice exfoliating scrub; as also does ground flax seed.

(Sometimes I wonder if all this sort of thing isn't nonsense... but the proof of the pudding is in the eating. I started experimenting with these things a few months ago, and after a few days of honey and oatmeal, damned if the strange eyebrow-eczema I'd had ever since my mother's death didn't totally clear up, vanish, poof! gone. I've just found out the hard way that it requires some maintenance: a few weeks' neglect and it's started to crop up again. But H & O & ACV will clear it right up again.)

Under-eye bags: put a slice of cucumber, *or* a slice of avocado, *or* a slice of raw potato, *or* a slice of apple (or... I bet there are a dozen other things that'd work) under each eye and leave it on for 20 minutes. Avocado is great for the skin - all those nourishing oils. Trouble is, I can't *stand* to waste even a little piece of a luscious avocado on any non-food application. But one thing I sometimes remember to do when I have an avocado: rub the inside of the avocado skin on your face. Feels a little weird, but that's where the oils are concentrated, and it's very moisturizing.

Almost any fresh ripe fruit (either by itself or mixed with - take your pick or mix & match depending on the effect you want - cream, milk, yogurt, honey, lemon juice, cider vinegar, etc...) can be made into a good masque - again, if you can stand to squash peaches or strawberries onto your face instead of eating them. I always tell myself I'm going to try it, but at the last second I just can't stand to.

The inside of a banana skin is supposed to be marvelously soothing on poison ivy and its ilk. I haven't tried this myself, but my mother used to get terrible poison ivy from her cats (her first round of chemo permanently changed her immune system in that one respect, and from then on a cat lying on her arm during the night meant an agony of itching in the morning), and she always kept a banana skin handy. Looked mighty odd hanging over the sink - or in the fridge. (Once the banana's been eaten, Chiquita Banana's law no longer applies, and in hot summer weather a really cold banana peel had certain fringe benefits....)

Can you tell I do a lot of this stuff?

There are, of course, several web sites devoted to this sort of thing, and not all of the info is total hooey. About.com has some nice kitchen-cupboard skin-care recipes, and one place where I've found a lot of useful info/ideas is the Personal Care page of www.care2.com. I think Pioneer Thinking also has some similar stuff - haven't looked there in a while.

[bloviatrix]

Organic apple cider vinegar is good for all sorts of things, including a bracingly astringent skin toner.

ACV is also good as a clarifier for hair (removes all the product build-up. This is particularly good for people with curly hair). The one problem is the smell lingers.

[gus_tatory]

i always use the 'spent' lemon shells (after i've squeezed the juice from them for something else) to clean my cutting board, knives, and counters.

i mean, i clean those things again--the lemon is like a preliminary clean.

[Curlz]

I can add two more...

My (now 98 yr old) grandmother used to keep a can of Crisco in her nightstand--to put on her feet each night! I have fond memories of that being a thrilling treat when I slept at my grandparents' house...slather it on good, throw on a pair of thick socks, and go to sleep. In the morning, your feet will be soft as a baby's bottom!

The other one comes from my mom...sour cream on a sunburn. Something in the sour cream (also in plain yogurt) soothes while also pulling the heat out of the burn. You will STINK and need to put it on (or have someone else do it for you) very carefully, and the shock of the cold on your hot skin isn't 100% pleasant, but get a thin layer on, let it dry and get all flaky, and by the next day, the heat/pain will be gone.

[hillvalley]

Frozen cucmber peel works wonders on sun burn

[Mudpuppie]

And I think it's cayenne that stops ants from invading (it could be black pepper, though)

Cinnamon.

In other news, I know of uses for both yogurt and garlic that aren't appropriate for mixed company.

[Carolyn Tillie]

And I think it's cayenne that stops ants from invading (it could be black pepper, though)

Cinnamon.

In other news, I know of uses for both yogurt and garlic that aren't appropriate for mixed company.

Tobasco.

My ex-boyfriend's father ran a holistic B&B in the mountains of Julien (before it burned to the ground last winter) - he was fanatical about NOT using any toxic chemicals but they had a huge ant problem. He used to make a mixture of tobasco and water in a spray solution to use around baseboards and window frames.

Works wonders.

[balmagowry]

My (now 98 yr old) grandmother used to keep a can of Crisco in her nightstand--to put on her feet each night! I have fond memories of that being a thrilling treat when I slept at my grandparents' house...slather it on good, throw on a pair of thick socks, and go to sleep. In the morning, your feet will be soft as a baby's bottom!

If you've been very very naughty and have failed to keep up this regimen and your feet are therefore, um, well, disastrously cracked and scaly, do the same thing but substituting Bag Balm for the Crisco. Only takes a few nights to get an amazing improvement.

[balmagowry]

My ex-boyfriend's father ran a holistic B&B in the mountains of Julien (before it burned to the ground last winter) - he was fanatical about NOT using any toxic chemicals but they had a huge ant problem. He used to make a mixture of tobasco and water in a spray solution to use around baseboards and window frames.

Works wonders.

Yes, and all those pepper-type things (cayenne, Tabasco, etc.) are good against marauding squirrels who come around digging up your daffodil bulbs. Only trouble is, it's a pain reapplying it after every rain. And somehow it always clogs the sprayer....

[Pickles]

Can you tell I do a lot of this stuff?

Woo yeah! Thanks. I am going to try some of those things most definitely. My auntie likes the apple cider and honey drink that supposedly gives one bounteous energy. She's almost 86 and can runs circles around me. My grandmother had me slapping oatmeal on my blemishes when I was a teenager. I don't think that worked too well. But when you're 12 and have pimples...you just wanna be saved...and saved overnight...so maybe I gave up? And...regarding Crisco (just responding to a few posts here...exhausted tonight... ) it's also great as an emergency cold cream to remove eye makeup. As well as being a wonderful cure for fossil-foot. My granny..bless her...used to also swing a rag soaked in vinegar around the room to remove smoke and cooking smells. All tried and true!

Edited March 10, 2004 by Pickles (log)

[balmagowry]

My auntie likes the apple cider and honey drink that supposedly gives one bounteous energy.

Yeah, I was doing that for a while. And then I kind of... forgot. Someday I will learn how to establish habits and routines - maybe someday when I grow up. And then I'll be able to tell whether some of these things are cause and effect or whether it's all just a crap-shoot.

Nah. Don't hold your breath. If I haven't stopped being erratic by now....

I do like the drink, though - liked it a LOT when I had a cold and was making it with hot water.

[redfox]

What's the formula for bounteous energy? I could use some!

[Pickles]

What's the formula for bounteous energy? I could use some!

According to Auntie Nan..and don't quote me 'cause she's in her 80's!!

(8 oz) Water - warm enough to melt your. honey, HONEY!

1 to 2 teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar (Organic is recommended)

1 to 2 teaspoons Honey (grade B if you can get it 'cause it's the best!)

Mix and chug. Adjust the amount of vinegar and honey for your taste. Live long and uhhh..prosper!!

[sparrowgrass]

I rinse my hair with a couple tablespoons of cider vinegar mixed in a quart of water--then I rinse again with plain water, to get rid of most of the vinegar smell, blovie. The vinegar cuts the soap scum from hard water, and leaves my hair very shiny and soft.

Window washing--1 gallon hot water, 2 cups vinegar, 1 cup clear ammonia, 1 T cornstarch--works great.

[evilcartman]

And I think it's cayenne that stops ants from invading (it could be black pepper, though)

Cinnamon.

In other news, I know of uses for both yogurt and garlic that aren't appropriate for mixed company.

Mint is also an ant deterrent. Small sachets of mint (you can use fesh or dried) on the pantry shelves and counter tops is what my mother always did. Downside is you have to change them often, because the scent dissipates after a few days.