It can be overwhelming to keep track of all the dos and don’ts when it comes to your daily products and necessities. So, here’s a reminder on everything from when your makeup expires to how often you should wash your bras.
Let’s start with makeup.
Expired makeup can cause acne, irritation, and even infection, so it’s important to know how long your beauty products really last. The answer to this question might be easier to find than you thought.
This little symbol will tell you how many months your beauty products will last. But, since all products don’t have this handy clue, here’s a chart to help you keep track of it all.
All this being said, makeup is expensive. The average woman supposedly spends about $15,000 a year on beauty products, so it’s important to get every last drop out of your priciest products. Here are some tips on how to salvage damaged makeup.
In order to fix broken or cracked eye shadow, face powders, and blush, just add a couple drops of rubbing alcohol to the product, and it should smooth out. To reattach broken lipstick, hold a lighter to the lipstick and reattach the broken piece.
Finally, in order to repair dried up mascara, add about 10 drops of saline (or contact solution) to the bottle.
Next up: laundry.
It is recommended that you wash your sheets once a week, but let’s be realistic…laundry is expensive and time-consuming, so aim for once every two weeks. Sheets should be washed in hot water. Also, make sure to throw your pillowcases in with your sheets every time — if they go unwashed for long enough, they can start to cause acne!
It’s also recommended that you wash bath towels after every three uses and wash hand towels everyday. Once again, this might be an unrealistic goal for college students, so try to stick to washing towels once every one or two weeks. You should also occasionally wash your hairbrushes, toothbrush, oscillating fans, and headphones in order to prevent heavy bacteria buildup on your daily necessities. Finally, bras should be washed after every three or four wears, and jeans after every four or five wears.
And in case you need a reminder, here’s a chart to decode those mysterious symbols on your clothes’ tags.
If you do have a laundry mishap, you can always stretch out shrunken clothes by soaking them in lukewarm water and baby shampoo.