Posts Worth Reading: Frugal Beauty: How to Look Good on a Budget

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Frugal Beauty: How to Look Good on a Budget by Sierra Black on Get Rich Slowly. (BTW - if you haven't checked out Get Rich Slowly and you're at all interested in personal finance, you obviously live under a rock. Go. Now.)

To summarize: Sierra talks about how she saves money by not spending a lot on personal care products. The comments get pretty funny - the occasional dirty hippie reference, some back and forth commenting on whether or not to wear makeup, etc. The article itself is not that expansive and normally I'd just put it on my Friday roundup. However, the comments make it worth the special mention.

It also gave me an opportunity to round up some of my personal care posts. If you've been reading for a while, you probably know that I don't spend much money on personal care and I try to DIY it, but I do care about looking (and smelling) good. As long as the surface looks/smells ok, who really cares about how you got there? Whether it's expensive products or baking soda it's all smoke and mirrors...

• I clean my face with the oil cleansing method and exfoliate with sugar
• When I don't wear makeup, I clean my face with a homemade toner
• I use minimal makeup when I do wear it (I don't like looking half-dead at work, so I always try to cover up those under-eye circles)
• I dye my own hair using henna
• I often (but not always) cut my own hair, and I'll try to extend the time between cuts
• I let my hair go curly or pull it back to disguise a funny cut or white hairs
• I am a moderate no-poo-er
• I use sunscreen when I'll be outside (but not all day every day)
• I shower every other day to every two days unless I get sweaty or dirty - in the summer that can easily to up to twice a day
• I make my own deodorant
• I use natural soap "seconds" that are funny shaped but still work just fine, and are a lot cheaper
• I don't shave my legs very often, I just wear pants a lot (which also hides my ridiculously white legs that refuse to color which looks really funny when the rest of me is summertime tan)

Hubby stays pretty on the cheap too -

• He has a beard (which I adore) which cuts down on razors and shaving cream costs
• He shampoos his hair once or twice a week
• I cut his hair
• He's considering trying out one of my sugar scrubs to keep those beard follicles stimulated
• He likes particular brands of deodorant, shampoo, and soap, which is fine since we can get them at Costco for less $
• He wears spray-on sunscreen which doesn't get goopy with the beard
• He wears a long-sleeve light weight jacket all summer to keep from burning when he doesn't have sunscreen on

So, what do you do to look/feel like an acceptable member of society? I won't judge if you don't. Just, please, don't be stinky - and yes, too much perfume counts as stinky.