If you’re in the same boat as me, which I’m guessing most of you collegiettes are, you don’t necessarily have the funds to be able to afford the expensive beauty treatments that our favorite magazines like Cosmopolitan® or People Magazine® are telling us are necessary to keep us looking young and beautiful. Cash is tight and we need to keep our responsible spending habits going. Of course, there’s always room for treating ourselves every now and again, but until that point, here are a few DIY beauty treatments that’ll work just as well as the professional ones.
Get Healthy, Silky Smooth Hair
Olive oil contains great properties for treating hair on a budget. It is a natural moisturizer and can promote healthy, shiny hair without making your beautiful locks look weighed down or greasy. It is also rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids and Vitamin E, both of which promote hair growth and prevent dandruff. Here’s a quick and easy DIY olive oil hair treatment for you to try.
1.) Warm half a cup of olive oil in the microwave. Make sure not to heat it so much as to make it hot to the touch.
2.) Massage the warm olive oil into your wet hair, starting at the scalp and finishing at the tips of your hair.
3.) Put a shower cap on before washing the treatment out.
4.) Let the treatment sit for at least 5 minutes and up to 45, depending on your hair thickness.
5.) Rinse your hair and then shampoo it as usual.
Treat Tired, Puffy Eyes
With all of the weekend parties and weekday all-nighters, our eyes could sometimes use a little help perking up. A simple treatment for this is laying wet tea bags over your eyes for several minutes. Green tea bags are recommended due to the caffeine and antioxidant content in green tea. The caffeine helps to reduce the appearance of blood vessels in your eyes and the antioxidants eliminate inflammation.
How to Battle Chapped Lips
Wintertime in Vermont means having to apply chapstick to our lips every few seconds in order to avoid painful, chapped lips. Truth be told, Vermont probably faces a shortage of EOS and Burt’s Bees every winter on account of fact us girls use about 5 things of chapstick a day (*I actually don’t know if this is true and probably isn’t, but for the article’s sake let’s just say it is, mkay my ladies?). In order to cut down on the amount of chapstick you use and buy, here’s an easy DIY treatment to get some deliciously soft lips.
1.) Mix 1 tablespoon of white sugar, 1 tablespoon of raw cacao powder, and 1 tablespoon of raw honey in a small container until the mixture is a thick paste.
2.) Apply a thin layer to your lips and let it sit for 10 minutes.
3.) After 10 minutes, wash it off your lips.
4.) Repeat the application process a few times a week or as needed.
Achieve a Glowing, Acne-Free Complexion
While in college, we tend to skip important steps that keep our skin clean and healthy, which results in a tired-looking complexion and skin prone to breakouts. The skin on our face takes a lot of beatings and it’s our job to take care of it. We all strive for healthy skin and a glowing complexion, but let’s face it, after a day of classes, followed up by a few hours of homework, and maybe a couple hours at your job or internship, you’re probably not in the mood to wash your face or put on a face mask before crawling into your loving safe haven, better known as your bed. Here’s a DIY face treatment for you to do a couple times a week and it will be sure to clear your skin and leave your face glowing.
1.) Mix 1 teaspoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl until the mixture becomes a thick paste.
2.) After washing your face, apply the mixture and leave on for 20 minutes.
3.) Wash the mixture off with warm water.
4.) Repeat twice a week.