My strange and expensive beauty experiments over the years

I’ve admittedly done some pretty fringe things to myself in the name of beauty. Some of it very cheap to where I thought: BUT WHY? … and others more recently a bit more pricey and quite ineffective.

NO SHAMPOO / WASHING WITH WATER

I did not use shampoo for a while and it worked for a few months but then the oil from my scalp built up so much that my hair turned cavewoman THICK during the summer.

I used to just wash the scalp with a bit of warm water and a cloth (that was tricky) and rinse with apple cider vinegar.

It didn’t work out as well because the first few times it looked amazing (model-like hair FTW!) but then it just went all tangled and weird.

VERDICT ON THE NO ‘POO EXPERIMENT

Would I do it again? No. I’d rather pay more for pricey shampoos that don’t ruin the environment and don’t make me have to fight and work so damn hard for clean hair.

ROSEHIP OIL AS A MOISTURIZER

This winter was particularly rough on my skin, I really think it was not just me but almost every woman I talked to said their skin was reacting terribly.

Someone told me she suspected it was that chemical they put on the streets to melt the snow. Not salt, the other additive that tastes metallic in your mouth when you accidentally breathe it in as the bus kicks up that dust as it drives by.

I suspect it is more the weather itself being the coldest it has ever been in decades and our skin not being used to it. It was truly icy last winter.

Anyway, the end result was battling eczema and very dried out skin for the entire winter — 6-ish months and it wasn’t until recently that my skin calmed down.

It didn’t help that I didn’t cotton on early enough that exfoliants might be a BAD idea on irritated, super dried out red skin, but there you go.

The only thing that saved my skin especially around the eyes was a mixture of Complex 15 moisturizer and a drop or two of rosehip oil. It was instant relief and the redness and eczema was kept at bay so long as I kept using it on my skin and avoiding exfoliants.

VERDICT ON THE ROSEHIP OIL FOR MY SKIN

I would most definitely use this oil again and in fact am on my second bottle.

Apparently Kate Middleton uses it and her skin is great? I don’t see it, but I do see that my skin has slightly less dark spots than before and my legs look nicer.

Whenever I shower, I put at least a full dropperful of oil on each limb and one for my torso and belly.

During spring now and for summer I no longer use it on my face on a daily basis but would definitely add a drop here and there when my skin feels tight.

USING NO MOISTURIZER AT ALL ON MY FACE

For the past year or two, with the exception of the above winter mentioned in conjunction with rosehip oil, I have not used moisturizer on my skin, believe it or not!

It is why I was scrambling to find something to heal my dried out red skin because I had nothing in my beauty cabinet.

To this day, I only exfoliate my skin with my beloved ORG Mineral exfoliant that rubs my dead skin off my face into little balls of grossness.

I then wash it all off with this Holy Grail fantastic skin balancing, creamy cleanser and then all I do is a few drops of my PC BHA liquid which is a light leave-in exfoliator that feels like water (avoiding my eyes and eyelids of course) and layer it with the PC AHA lotion (moisturizing lotion exfoliant) and a drop or two of whatever PC serum I feel like adding that day.

That is it for my skincare.

You can read the entire beauty DAYTIME routine in detail here.

VERDICT ON NO MORE MOISTURIZER

They say it is actually good for your skin to not use moisturizer which just tamps down the flakes of dead skin and builds up oil and dirt instead of sloughing it off to reveal new skin.

I am also militant on wearing sunscreen so that helps.

I will keep avoiding moisturizer unless required (when my skin feels tight or needs it) and so far it seems to be working out especially as of late — I have had fewer to absolutely NO pimples in the past few weeks, which is amazing. I honestly feel like the heavy, moisturizing serums and products were the real culprits, and then my hormonal acne mildly flared up from time to time.

USING OIL CLEANSERS TO CLEAN MY SKIN

I always thought oil was bad for my oily acne-prone skin but in the end it is not!

I use an oil cleanser to remove my makeup AND my mineral sunscreen if that is all I wore that day —I really love this PC cleansing oil but I’m currently experimenting with a bunch like this Palmer’s Oil Remover with a sickly rose scent and deciding on the value per $$ before I call it my Holy Grail.

I do about a tablespoon and a half of that oil, and rub it into my skin. It lifts off ALL of my makeup and mineral sunscreen in one shot, and washes away pretty cleanly, as in my skin doesn’t feel oily afterwards.

I follow up with one if not two face cleansings with my PC skin balancing, creamy cleanser to really clean my skin.

They call this the double cleanse method — to remove makeup and then to clean again with a cleanser.

VERDICT ON THE OIL CLEANSING METHOD

So far it is working well for me.

I no longer have to scrub at my skin with a makeup wipe and I feel better not having makeup pads or wipes to add to the environmental trash bin.

I love how I basically see all my makeup wash away into the sink (although my hardwearing but amazing Dermablend foundation definitely sticks / stains my white sink and I have to scrub it down weekly) and my skin does not feel dried out or oily with all of this cleaning.

(My lashes actually look like this IRL)

USING EYELASH SERUMS FOR LONGER LASHES / VERDICT

Not much to say. It is worth it. I use EyEnvy.

My lashes are long and luxurious and I don’t even need to curl them if I don’t want to, and they flip up a bit.

I feel like it has made a big difference in opening my eyes up and I feel a lot more confident … as stupid as that sounds.

IPL TREATMENT FOR WRINKLES AND ACNE

About 10 sessions cost me almost $1000. I absolutely HAD to try because I have wanted to get rid of these sunspots for years.

In the end, maybe it has helped for my wrinkles but I’m a little to young to actually have any wrinkles except a few around the eyes and my mouth from all the smiling I do.

I didn’t really see a difference in my skin and frankly I don’t think it helps. Maybe I just didn’t go to the right place but for me, no real change. I will say that my skin texture has become a touch smoother but who can say if it is due to that or my skincare routine?

VERDICT ON LASERS ON YOUR SKIN

I’d be willing to try again but when I’m older. I would also try another establishment a bit more medical / dermalogically-inclined and pay more to see if it makes a difference.

I’d also be willing to try another kind of treatment like a medical peel instead if it helps get rid of my acne scarring and a few sunspots…

WHAT BEAUTY EXPERIMENTS HAVE YOU TRIED?