What to do with old cosmetics

Redlands Daily Facts Health Section
Staff Writer

Q:I try every new product that comes down the pike. I have cupboards and drawers filled with products that I don’t use but don’t want to toss. What shall I do?

Mimi: I am so thrifty that I never throw anything out. Please think creatively.

OLD SHAMPOO: Squirt a line of shampoo on the Ring around the Collar. The special detergents in shampoo are designed to cut through body oil. Shampoo can be used for washing out your lingerie. Use shampoo as bubble bath, shower wash, hand wash, or shaving lotion. Squirt it on the floor of the shower, drop your washcloth on the floor and scrub around with the cloth on your toe. You scrub the shower floor while you wash your hair. Mix with water and put it in a spray bottle on the hose to hose white flies and aphids off your plants. Pour some in the toilet before you go to bed. In the morning swish away grime. Let the kids use it outdoors for blowing bubbles.

OLD BODY WASH OR HAND WASH: Use like old shampoo above. Because it is not designed to remove oil as shampoo is, it has more uses. Wash your hand washables with it. Wash dishes. Put in the mop bucket to clean floors.

OLD CONDITIONER AND CREAM RINSE: Shave your legs with it. Mix some with warm water in a closed container. Shake well until it is all well dissolved. Use as a laundry rinse. Put just a drop on your palms. Rub them together. Rub on the split ends of dry hair. Rub all over your body as a moisturizer then let the shower spray remove the excess. Rub into your heels and elbows in the shower. When your pet gets matted fur, rub a little dot of conditioner into the dry matted fur with your fingertips. Then comb out the mat.

OLD FACIAL SCRUB: Read the ingredient label. If the scrub contains apricot pits or any kind of nutshell, it is too abrasive to your facial skin. Use it as a body scrub in the shower.

OLD BODY SCRUB: Mix some sand (yup, like from the beach) or Kosher salt with it to create a SUPER gritty scrub. Scrub your heels with it. Rinse and apply a yummy foot cream.

OLD HAIR SPRAY: Keep a can in the laundry. Spray ink stains before tossing in the washer. Permanent marker prices on items from the thrift shop will rub off with a dry rag after being sprayed with hair spray. Want a stiff hair bow? Tie the bow, spray, and hold the loops out with your fingers in the loops until the spray dries. If dried flower arrangements make you sneeze, spray the plants with hair spray. Spray a flying bug with hair spray. It makes his wings freeze so he can't fly.

OLD BAR SOAP: If it is fragrant, tuck it in your undies drawer or put in a stored suitcase to prevent mustiness. Scrape your fingernails over bar soap before starting a dirty job like gardening. It makes nail cleaning easier. "Grease" a sticky drawer or the track of a sliding door with bar soap. Cut a slit in a sponge and tuck the bar soap slivers inside for a foamy bath. Put the slivers into an old sock. Tie a knot in the sock and use it to scrub with in the shower.

OLD TOOTHPASTE: Polish your jewelry (not opals or pearls). Scrub black marks off floors. Scrub anything that needs scrubbing but Ajax type cleanser is too abrasive. In a pinch and need to fill a nail hole in the wall? Use toothpaste as spackle.

OLD DUSTING OR BATH POWDER: If you like the fragrance but don't want to use powder on your body, dust between the mattress pad and the sheet to give a faint fragrance. If you sleep in the nude, dust powder on your sheets. Put some in our shoes to absorb odors. Sprinkle under the cushions on your couch. If you gave up bath powder because you don't like it all over the bathroom floor, step inside the shower and dust away. All that flying dust will stay in the shower and not on the bathroom floor. If you need to go an extra day before shampooing, rub dusting powder into your hair. With your fingers, massage your scalp. The powder will absorb extra oil. Then brush out the powder (brush outside or in the shower to prevent a "dust storm").

OLD MOISTURIZER: Use as body lotion. Just think, all those elegant ingredients will make your arms, legs, and tush gorgeous.

OLD SUN SCREEN: If your facial sunscreen feels too heavy, use it on your legs poolside. Rub a dab between your palms and slick over your hair to protect your hair color.

OLD SHAVING CREAM: Rub all over the bathroom mirror then rub off with a dry rag. It will prevent a steamy mirror. Squirt "Just Married" on the get away car.

OLD PERFUME THAT HAS TURN "OLD:" Spray it where you don't want your cat to be.

OLD PERFUME THAT IS STILL GOOD BUT YOU ARE TIRED OF THE SCENT:

OLD AFTERSHAVE LOTION THAT IS STILL GOOD BUT YOU ARE TIRED OF THE SCENT:

Pour it into your bathtub for an elegant Cleopatra treat. Mix with warm water in a closed container until no individual droplets are discernable. Pour into the washing machine rinse to scent your laundry. Mix with warm water as a final shampooing rinse. Spray on brown paper bags and allow to dry. Use the paper to line your underwear drawer or linen closet. Mix with cornstarch to make bath powder. Mix with cornstarch to make carpet scent powder. Mix with cornstarch and sprinkle under the sheets. Mix with cornstarch and sprinkle under the sofa cushions. Pour into a spritz spray bottle and add water. Keep in the refrigerator to use as a cooling body spray in the summer. Pour into a spritz spray bottle and add water. Use as a room freshener. Pour into a spritz spray bottle, add water, and shake well. Use to dampen ironing.

OLD DEODORANT: Spray or rub inside of your shoes to prevent odor. Spray or rub on your feet to prevent odor.

OLD ANTIPERSPIRANT: Spray or rub on your feet and/or hands to prevent perspiration.

OLD LIPSTICK: Dot on your fingertips. Rub your fingertips together to soften the lipstick. Dot on your cheeks to use as a cream blush. Melt with wax when you make candles to color them. Scoop out the last of the tub with a lip brush and keep using. Scoop out the last of the tube of several tubes and put them into the wells of a bobbin box. Zap in the microwave for just a second. Check. Zap, check until the lipsticks have melted. You can carry 12 colors all at once. Use a lip brush to apply.

OLD LIP GLOSS: After a bath, rub it into your heels and put on socks then go to bed. The base for most lip glosses is petrolatum, which is Vaseline. Rub a dab between your palms to soften and liquefy. Apply to split ends.

OLD HAND LOTION THAT HAS TURNED RUNNY OR STINKY: Toss it. Life's too short to mess with yuck.

OLD MASCARA, LIP GLOSS WITH A WAND, EYE LINER WITH A WAND: Toss it if it over 6 months old. This is in the Yucky category.

OLD EYESHADOW: Purple can be used to cover yellow discoloration on skin. If you are sallow, mix a little purple with setting powder and brush over foundation. Yellow can cover a purple zit. Don't try to camouflage a pimple with white. It reflects the light and highlights the zit. Green can cover a red zit. Green can be mixed with finishing powder to tone down redness and ruddiness from rosacea, acne, or sunburn. Pink eye shadow can be used as lip gloss. Slick on a little bit of lip balm or Vaseline then dip a lip brush or your pinky finger into the shadow and blot on over the balm. Brown makes a great brow liner. Try dampening your eye shadow brush with water before swiping it across the cake of color. You will have an entirely new color to play with. Use a thin eyeliner brush wet on shadow. This gives you a new eyeliner color. Dip an eye liner brush or lipstick brush in a little cream or lip balm then stroke across pink, purple, or brown shadow. Use as lip liner.

OLD EYEBROW PENCIL: For a Goth look, use as a lip liner. See below.

OLD EYELINER PENCIL AND EYBROW PENCIL: Craft project-fold a piece of paper in half. Draw something on just one side of the fold with an eyeliner or brow pencil. Fold the paper. Iron to melt the crayon.

OLD FINISHING POWDER: If the powder has turned orange from picking up facial oil on the powder puff, add a little cornstarch to lighten the color. If the color is too light, use it for highlighting. For example if your nose is too broad, make a light line down the middle and darker lines along the sides. If your color is too dark, use for contouring. For example if you have a double chin, brush a little dark powder on the double chin to make it appear to recede. Make hollows in your cheeks with dark powder. Or lighten too dark powder with cornstarch. Wash your powder puff often to prevent contamination of your powder. Old velour powder puffs work well for applying shoe wax when you give your boots a spit shine.

OLD NAIL POLISH: Keep a bottle of the brightest color you have in the shop, the garage, and kitchen to label things. Nail polish is enamel paint. Use to cover chips and rough edges. Dot nail polish on an enameled pan chip to prevent rust. Nail polish can be thinned with alcohol. Don't thin with acetone (polish remover) it weakens the polish and it will chip easily.

OLD ACETONE-POLISH REMOVER: I never knew what my father did with old nail polish remover. But he always had a bottle in the garage to clean things with.

OLD CUTICLE REMOVER: When you dye your hair and have stains on your skin, put cuticle remover on a cotton pad and rub away the stains. Rub away nicotine stains on fingers. Rub into calluses on your heels.

OLD DENTURE CLEANING TABLETS: Do you have a vase that you can't get clean? Toss a tablet in the vase with warm water. Let it soak overnight and the stains will be removed. Toss one in the toilet before bed. In the morning the ring around the water line will be gone.

REALLY CREATIVE IDEAS: Sell your stuff on e-bay. Amazingly, people box up their old cosmetics and sell the box on e-bay. Get a tax deduction: Donate useable items to Second Life Thrift Shop on Lugonia. Most thrift shops don't want cosmetics, but Second Life takes them. Drop off at International Day Spa. Products are cleaned up and donated to shelters. New cosmetics can be donated to the Pregnancy Resource Center in San Bernardino. New hotel size cosmetics are welcomed by the Salvation Army on Alta Street and Family Services on Lawton for their shower programs.

Mimi Barre is the owner of International Day Spa, 325 Cajon St., Redlands. Send your skin care questions to her at MimiB@INTLdayspa.com. She and her estheticians are available for personal consultations, (909) 793-9080.