During the summer, most of us give some extra attention to our personal care routines.  Since I don’t like to spend money unless I have to, I’m always looking for frugal beauty tips to help me look and feel better for cheap. Luckily, I have some budget-friendly methods that I turn to that keep me feeling good all summer long. Let me share with you my 4 frugal beauty tips for summer:
 1) Buy an Epilator
Ladies, let me tell you one of the best beauty items that I brought back with me from Europe: the epilator. I don’t know why these handy little devices are not more popular in the US, except maybe the razor industry works hard to prevent them from gaining any real traction in the hair removal market?
But seriously- my life was changed when I was introduced to an epilator. It takes the same amount of time as shaving, but you only have to do it once a week or so. It pulls hairs out from the root, so yes, it does hurt the first few times you use it. Like, holy crap, give me an aspirin and a shot of whiskey to numb the pain! kind of hurting. But once you get over those first 1-2 times though, it’s painless, I promise.
So, why is it so great? Â Well, once you start using an epilator, you won’t need to waste money on razors every few weeks. You also won’t have to worry about wasting water in the shower, rushing to remove stubborn stubble before you can wear a dress or pair of shorts. You save time and money. I’ve had mine for 4 years now, and it still works like a charm.
If you’re sick of shaving every other day in the summer, go get yourself an epilator right now. You can thank me after you’ve used it a few times 😉
Planning for a summer getaway? Check out these summer travel savings tips!
2) DIY Clarisonic
There’s been a lot of buzz about the Clarisonic in the last few years, but my frugality has prevents me from spending $150 on what is essentially a battery-operated scrub brush. If you’re cheap like me, you can make your own frugal Clarisonic with a simple electric toothbrush.
This is a great way to exfoliate your face. If you have combination skin as I do, you know how annoying it is to deal with shiny/dry at the same time. The brush will gently remove flaky, dead skin that builds up on the surface.
You can make a baking soda and water paste to clean out your pores using the brush. After the first use, you should notice that your skin feels softer and smoother, and your pores should start to clear up.
If you’re really cheap frugal, increase your savings by using a coupon to buy an electric toothbrush.  Toothbrushes and toothpaste are items that you should never pay full price for because there are always coupons available!
3) Homemade Body Scrubs
This is one of my favorite frugal beauty tips ever, and great to keep in mind year-round. Salt scrubs and sugar scrubs offer another simple and cheap way to exfoliate and moisturize your skin at the same time.
Homemade sugar scrubs are ridiculously easy to make and use. Why spend money on a pre-made product containing ingredients that you can’t even pronounce when you can make your own on the cheap?
All you need is a few tablespoons of white or brown sugar, sea salt, coconut oil, or olive oil to make a quick and easy scrub for the face or body. You could probably whip one of these babies up right now from your kitchen!
I like to use sugar scrubs on my legs, as well as my face. It helps to remove dead skin cells, and if you get any ingrown hairs, it will help to loosen those up before and after you epilate.
Here’s a quick and easy DIY sugar scrub recipe.
Added bonus:Â Sugar scrubs make a great frugal gift!
4) Sun Protection
Hopefully, you always wear sunscreen when you head outside. (Please say that you do!)
One thing that I find rather annoying about sunscreen is how pricey it can get. When you’re slathering it on yourself and your family members daily, you can run through bottles pretty quickly. I’m vigilant about using it once we start spending time outdoors, so we can use it up fast.
You certainly shouldn’t be skimping on the sun protection just to save a few bucks. Seek out deals on the sunscreen you like best.
My personal favorite brand is Coppertone Water Babies, SPF 50, and the Equate version from Walmart is just as good. With summer just around the corner, there are sales and coupons starting to pop up. If you find a good deal, stock up! This way, you won’t run the risk of running out and having to pay top dollar from a convenience store or sundry shop.
Don’t skip the sunscreen. But if you do, and you end up burned, get a bottle of aloe vera gel and stick it in the refrigerator. Let it get nice and cold, and then have someone slather it over the burned skin. It’s equal parts soothing and silly because the cold gel will probably make you squeal at first. I have fond memories of my family members and I doing this to one another after long days at the beach!
So there you have it, my 4 essential frugal beauty tips for the summertime. Have any tips of your own to share? Â I’d love to hear!
Hi Lauren thanks for sharing these great tips. When it comes to any other means other than shaving, I am usually not a fan as I have very low pain tolerance. But the thought of not having to shave for a while is so tempting. I will be trying this out, hope I will not need a shot of Whiskey lol.
Haha, maybe you won’t! Never know till you try…
Good to know that you only have to suck up the pain with the Epilator for a couple of times. Thanks for the tip!
And yes, wear your sunscreen! I have a small irritated dry skin spot on my left (driver’s) side of my face that has just come up in the past week and I’m wondering if it’s one of those small skin cancers.
Oh that’s scary! Hope that isn’t the case.
Hey Lauren, I don’t think I’ll need any beauty supplies and Ana is beautiful as it is, but I’ll show her the article just in case 🙂
Haha, yeah- I suppose this article is geared more towards the ladies, but men can use exfoliants too! 😀
I go for homemade body scrubs too and love them and how they work wonders. But an epilator? Hmm… I think I will take a deeper look into what it is because I find it intriguing.
You really should give it a try!
Nice tips! I purchased an Olay knockoff of the Clarisonic; I believe it was around $30, and that was probably a year and a half ago. It’s nice to feel like my face is getting cleaned properly. I will have to look into making those scrubs! I never thought about putting aloe in the fridge, but it makes sense.
The homemade scrubs are the best! It’s nice when you know exactly what you’re putting on your skin. I’m ready to ditch drugstore scrubs and washes altogether.
Hmmm never heard of an epilator before. I generally don’t shave my legs more than once a week anyway, even in the summer.
Lucky! My Italian heritage makes it so that I have to shave my legs every other day in the warm months :-/
This may be gross but…to the fellas: shave that back hair!
Haha! An epilator would work for that, too 😛
I’ve definitely thought of getting an epilator but was a bit hesitant because of the pain. But I agree, I’m so sick of shaving so I might have to try it out.
You really should give it a try! It’s only painful the first 1-2 times, then it becomes a breeze.
I agree that sunscreen is so expensive. I’ve got two fair-skinned children so we use a lot of it. I feel like I’m buying an $8 bottle once a week!
They really need to sell big refill bottles like they do with hand soap!
I’ve always wanted an epilator but the pain of exacting all those tiny hairs terrifies me. It beats having to pay for painful waxes all the time. No pain no gain though right?
You should get one! Seriously- once you do it a few times, it doesn’t hurt at all.
I made a brown sugar scrub once before. It was really easy- just brown sugar, coconut oil and olive oil. Left my skin feeling amazing. Won’t ever be buying sugar scrub again because my homemade batch worked so nicely.
It’s so easy! I’d much rather make my own for a fraction of the cost.