Pampering On Pennies

Everyone loves a little pampering now and then, but weekly trips to the spa can rack up hefty bills very quickly. Luckily, the 21st century abounds with affordable and accessible tricks and recipes that can turn any home bathroom into a Zen oasis.

Beauty Treatments

If you enjoy the gentle scent of roses with your beauty treatments, you needn’t purchase expensive, pre-bottled rose water to even your skin tone. For a less expensive, but equally fragrant, substitute, add packed rose petals to boiled water in a ratio of 1:2. Allow the mixture to steep until cool, then simply strain the petals from the water, store the liquid in a clean, airtight container, and use as needed. You’ll have fresher, younger looking skin in no time!

To exfoliate your way to brighter skin, try mixing equal parts oatmeal, brown sugar, and olive oil to make a gentle body scrub. Simply rub the mixture on your skin to remove dead cells, then rinse. You can also mix white sugar and vitamin oil into a paste and use it the same way.

A favorite trick from our grandmothers’ day: soften and lighten skin on your elbows and knees by rubbing the areas with freshly cut lemon. (This nifty trick is also seen in the ultra-famous movie 16 Candles.)

Spa Tricks

Massages and facials are the bees’ knees as far as treats for the self, but some of the best aspects of a spa treatment are the little things – warm towels, fresh scents, and other amenities are integral to the experience and easily replicated at home.

For example, to achieve the warm, viscous consistency of spa lotion, set your bottle of lotion on a heater or radiator while you’re in the shower. When you emerge you’ll have warm lotion to sate your thirsty skin – just make sure to keep an eye on plastic lotion bottles so they don’t melt!

To create the sauna atmosphere popular amongst salons the world over, run the hottest water possible through your shower for 10 minutes. Spritz a wash cloth with a relaxing chamomile or lavender scent to put over your face in the shower. Breathing in a fresh, relaxing scent will add to your sauna experience and can be an ultra-relaxing way to get ready for bed. If you’re coordinated enough you can even turn off the fluorescents and light candles instead!

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