How Handy: A Collection of Beauty and Household Tips

Here is a weird collection of beauty and household hints I’ve collected over the years. I’m a sucker for this sort of thing! Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Please take advice from a professional before using ANY of the treatments listed below. They are not foolproof and you may have an allergy. Please be careful and always do a patch test somewhere discreet before you ruin everything.

Beauty Tips

Facemask– Take three non-coated aspirin and soak them in one teaspoon of water and then mash them to a smooth paste with your finger. Add one tablespoon of honey and mix together with the spoon. Rub this very gently onto your face and leave to sit for around 10 minutes. This is very cheap and very effective for greasy skin. Your skin will be sensitive the sun for a few days afterwards so do not leave the house without sunscreen.

Spots– If you have no spot cream in the house and you have a big night out, take an eggcup of lemon juice and a cotton bud and keep dabbing this on the spot as frequently as you can. The juice can be fresh or bottled. This will tone down the redness of the spot and reduce the size.

Hair washing– Use lemon on your hair too if it gets clogged up with conditioner. It can also bring out your blonde highlights- just add few drops to your final rinse of water.

If your hair has the texture of an unravelled brillo pad, wash your hair as normal then apply an intensive conditioner (I love Boots own brand Honey and Jojoba or Aussie Three Minute conditioner) and wrap your hair still smothered in conditioner in a very hot towel. Leave this until the towel is cool and then wash the conditioner off. If my hair is extremely dry and brittle, I add clingfilm before the towel and sleep with this overnight.

Make up– If like me you always blob mascara or eyeliner over your face, dip a cotton bud in Vaseline and use this to carefully remove the little spots. Keep an old toothbrush and use this dipped in Vaseline to remove dead skin from your lips.

Removing make up– I always use olive oil to take my make up off as it is very gentle and removes all make up, even gel based eyeliners. If I have no olive oil, I use my trusty Vaseline again. Just apply a small amount to your eyes and gently remove the make up with cotton wool or a tissue.

Castor Oil– I love this stuff! I apply it with an old mascara wand to my eyebrows and eyelashes and it makes them look long and healthy.

Deodorant Marks– If you have white deodorant marks on your black top, remove them with a baby wipe. Baby wipes will also take deodorant marks off furniture.

Glasses– If like me your glasses get smeared with make up and other mess, plant your face over anything that’s steaming, like a kettle of a pan of vegetables, and then clean them.

Piercings– Use surgical spirit to keep them clean and healthy.

Tattoos– Once they start to scab over and heal, use nappy rash cream to keep them smooth and to fight off any chance of infection.

Shaving– Use a cheap conditioner when you shave your legs, it will keep the razor running smoothly and reduce the chance of you cutting yourself.

Soap– Do not wash your skin with perfumed soap- it’s not good for skin and will it feel dry. I use Dove Beauty Bar and a few days before I need it, I take it out of the packet and keep it in my underwear drawer. This makes my clothes smell nice and soap lasts longer if it’s dried out before use.

Exfoliating– An old rough towel cut into squares is brilliant to use in the bath. I use granulated sugar and baby oil before I shower to keep my skin soft. Do not use either of these on your face.

Hair dye on your skin– Before you dye your hair, rub Vaseline around your hairline to stop it staining the skin. If its gets anywhere on you, use a toner containing alcohol, or just plain alcohol if that’s all you have.

Sun Lotion– I use Factor 50 because of my very pale skin. This usually has the texture of cream cheese, so before I use it I stand it in a cup of hot water to make the lotion run freely.

Nail Polish– If your polish goes a bit too thick, add just add a few drops of nail polish remover and stand this in the fridge overnight.

Shampoo– Can be used as washing-up liquid, if you have run out.

Household Hints

Flies and Wasps– If you have a fly or a wasp in your house or are having a picnic, stand a glass away from you filled with a mixture of orange juice or jam and water. The flies and wasps will be attracted to this, will fall into the glass and drown.

Diry jobs– If you have a nasty job to do where your hands are going to get dirty and you can’t wear gloves, scrape your nails down a bar of soap before you do it and then you can clean your hands easily afterwards.

Bottle and jars– If you can’t open a lid, grip it with sandpaper. You can also use glass bottles or jars to sharpen scissors- just draw the blades back and forth across it like you are trying to cut the top off.

Smelly fridge– Put a cut lemon in there to overpower the smells.

Painting– Tie a piece of string across your paint pot to wipe away the excess paint on your brush. If you are painting high above your head, push your brush through a paper plate to stop any drips. If a room smells very strongly of paint, leave a cut onion in there overnight to absorb the smell.

Cake– Put an apple in the cake tin to keep the cake moist. I don’t know how this works but it does.

String– Put a ball of string in a jam jar, punch a hole in the lid and pull the string through this. It keeps it nice and tidy and never gets tangled.

Sticky zip or door– Rub a candle down this to loosen the metal.

Smelly carpets– If you carpet smells a bit, put baby powder on the floor and walk it in. Leave for half an hour then hoover it up. It makes everything smell nice and cleans your carpet.

Cobwebs– Put sticky tape, sticky side out, on the end of something long and use this to remove cobwebs.

Net curtains– If your nets get discoloured, fill the bath with warm water and washing tablet, and wash the net in this with the wire still in the top. I leave them to dry by hanging them up at the window with a towel underneath and the window open. Easy as pie.

Drinking glasses– If you get two stuck together, pour warm water in the top one and stand the bottom one in cold water. They will come apart easily.

Ketchup– If you can’t get ketchup to come out of a glass bottle, add a drinking straw into the bottle and then it will start to flow.

Microwave– If your microwave is dirty and smelly, microwave a bowl of fresh cut lemons and water. It will smell lovely and be easy to clean.

Salt– If you spill an egg on to the floor, cover this with salt before you clean it up. Salt is also good for soaking up wine stains on carpets if you catch it immediately.

Buttonhole– If a buttonhole starts to fray, apply clean nail polish to it.

Shoes– If your laces always slip on a pair of shoes, wet them before you tie them and they will stay in place. If you scuff a shoe and need to cover it up quickly, use a felt tip pen the same colour as your shoe.

Candles– Freeze them before you use them and they will last a lot longer.