Life Hack: Beauty tips!

It's coming. Summer is nearly upon us, and you know what that means, ladies! With the warm weather on it's way, many women are getting themselves ready for swimsuit season. Regardless of your moral convictions on modesty, you're gonna want to look good for summer! But there's only one problem. You don't have the time or money to get that perfect tan,

First things first. Legs. Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. In summer we want perfectly smooth, tan legs so we can be proud to wear our shorts in public, rather than see the general public run in terror after one look at dem white gams! We'll get to the tan bit in a minute, but first let's address the problem of smooth legs...and by problem I mean razor burn. In the winter, you probably don't get it as much, because you don't shave your legs more than a couple times a week. (at least I don't) But come summer, you don't want to walk around looking like the wolf man! Not cute girls. Not. Cute. But, as with most things, every good thing has its downside, and the downside to keeping your legs silky smooth is razor burn. But are you ready for the beauty tip of a lifetime? Aloe. That's right. I know y'all have a bottle of Aloe in your house. It's the clear stuff your mom always put on your sunburn when you were a kid. It stung like the dickens, and was bloody freezing, but you felt so much better after. Yeah, that Aloe. Not the Aloe Vera, which is the green stuff. Just straight up Aloe. I'm pretty sure you can get this stuff literally everywhere. Just apply the aloe to your legs right after you get out of the shower(and after you've dried yourself, of course!) and let it dry completely. It makes your skin amazingly smooth and reduces chance of razor burn.

The reason you need to apply it right out of the shower is because your pours are still open from the steamy shower, which means the product will soak in faster. You can do this with lotion too. I used to apply lotion every day after I got out of the shower, but it didn't help my razor burn at all....in fact, sometimes it just made it worse. Aloe. That's where it's at people! (sorry about the bad grammar mom! Love you ) I like to apply aloe twice a day. Morning and night. You don't have to do this, but I just find it makes for even softer skin, and my mom rubs a thick layer onto her feet, and then puts socks on and goes to bed. Her feet are then really soft the next day.

The aloe is all for nothing, however, if you don't have a close shave. I have found that the best way to do that is to use a body scrub BEFORE I shave. If that's your thing, you can find a million body scrub recipes on pinterest, and they're all good, though most of them can be rather pricey. I'm trying to keep the cost down here. I have used store-bought sugar scrubs, my favorite brand being found in Kroger of all places...but even that's $6-$8. Currently, I like the meijer brand apricot face scrub. It's the meijer version of St. Ives face scrub. It's like $2 and you get a huge bottle....plus you can also use it on your face!(but we'll get to that later)

Also replace your razor every couple of weeks. You can't get a close shave with a dull razor, and it's a lot easier to get razor burn(or worse). There's no need to spend mongo bucks on something you're going to throw away in a week. The plain old 20 pack of disposable pink razors from wal-mart will do just fine.

While we're still on the topic of legs, I have one more little tip to get softer legs. Ditch the shaving cream and use conditioner instead. It's WAY cheaper than shaving cream, and you get, like, triple the product. Nothing fancy. There's no need to dash out and by Garnier deep conditioner. Suave, or whatever the cheapest  brand your store has will do the trick. In fact I've found the cheaper conditioners work better than the expensive ones, and it makes your skin very smooth. Plus it smells nice!




So you've scrubbed, shaved, and aloed, and your legs are looking mighty fine and smooth!!! There's just one problem. You have vampire skin and jut looking at that pale whiteness brings on a migrane. You don't have time to lay out and get a tan, and a tanning booth is either too expensive or just to darn scary. Well self-tanner has come a long way in recent years. Gone are the days of strong chemical smell and orange palms. There are soooooo many good brands out there now that will give you a gradual tan, and you can buy your Jergen's, or whatever, but my personal favorite is just the Equate Healthy Glow daily moisturizer. It's really inexpensive, and it works. It's a moisturizer....that tans you! You get soft skin AND a healthy glow! Also, bonus. It has almost no smell at all, and the little aroma it does have is more lotion than tanner. I seriously love this stuff for the beginning of summer when I'm not naturally tan yet, or if I had a sun burn and now I have massive tan lines. Obviously, the best way to get a healthy glow to your skin would be to eat healthy, exercise, and soak up some of God's rays, but if you can't do that, I definitely say you stop by your local wal-mart and pick up the Equate Healthy Glow Daily Moisturizer.

Lastly, I want to talk about hair. Specifically hair masks. I don't really have any specific recommendations here. I say all hair masks are created equal....mostly because every hair type is going to require different specifications. All I can say here is do your research. Only you can know your hair, so look for products that will meet your individual needs.

And you're one step closer to being "summer ready"!