I was watching the Home Shopping Network while making dinner last week (yes, I am fascinated with shopping networks. Those people can sell.). They were selling a new book, The “Who Knew?” Almanac, which shares little and well-known tricks to save money. They were highlighting a few tricks from the book and one caught my eye (and ear) — Use cheap hair conditioner as shaving cream. Interesting. Mostly because I am almost out of real shaving cream and I was planning to wear capris the next morning. So, I put my free-after-coupon hair conditioner to the test.
Would it work as well as shaving cream, or regular soap for that matter?
The result? It works! The hair came off, my legs were smooth and there was no razor burn to boot. Because conditioner is so cheap and shaving cream deals are few and far between, I just may start using it for shaving after my shaving cream stock is depleated.
This led me to think, what other frugal tricks are out there? I’d love to start a series of posts that highlight household remedies, quick fixes and money-saving methods that you all have been using in your home.
Head here to share your frugal trick with the rest of the Frugal Living NW community!
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Whenever I run out of shaving cream and am too lazy to head to the store for awhile, I use conditioner to shave. But I heard (don’t remember where, sorry) that conditioner should be used sparingly for shaving cream, as it clogs the razor up.
That’s what I was wondering. I made sure to rinse the razor super well. I bet wiping it on a towel would help.
Now I realize this will sound weird, but it is something done in Southern Kitchens for years. Use bacon grease on a paper towel to clean stainless steel appliances. I just dab the paper towel in bacon grease and start rubbing my stainless steel appliances. The bacon grease cleans them well and leaves them bright and shinny and they are less likely to show fingerprints and water spots.
And I bet your kitchen smells yummy! Great tip!
WOW, I thought I was the only one that does this! I only use cheap Suave conditioners when I shave. Hair just glides right off and body smells wonderful. I stocked up on Suave conditioners when they were only 23 cents at Target with $0.75 Target coupon from earlier this year.
Homemade laundry detergent makes me break out- BAD. Anyone else have this problem?
Try a different bar soap. Ivory is very gentle to the skin as is Dove sensitive. I have used both. I have an 8 month old daughter and have never used Dreft and have never had problems with our very sensitive skin.
I’m looking for a tip on freezing rice…..I love love love the bags at Trader Joes that you pop in the micro for 3 min. Would love to make my own.
I have used Zest bar soap in my laundry soup and that makes the laundry smell better. I also hear that Irish Springs bar soap works great too!!! If this doesn’t work for you, you can do half homemade soap and half Tide (or what ever) to stretch your soap. Also if you use fabric softener it has that nice fresh smell too!!!
Distilled white vinegar! So many uses instead of using chemicals. A spray bottle filled with vinegar will handle half of the household cleaning. If the vinegar smell is yuck to you, no problem, just add a few drops of essential oils such as lavendar or peppermint. We also have super hard water & keep a jar of vinegar to soak things in, ie the shower head. Vinegartips.com is full of ideas.
I have always just used soap for shaving-but have heard of this before too.
I have been using bodywash instead of shaving cream for years. Less containers laying around and it works great!
I like to use up the conditioner that I don’t like for my hair on my legs too! If I try a new shampoo that I got a great/free deal on and don’t like on my hair it I put it in the liquid soap dispensers 🙂 “upcycling” baby!
I do this all the time! It makes my legs feel softer than traditional shaving creams. Glad you found the discovery!
You can use 2 cups of conditioner, 3 cups of vinegar and 6 cups of water boiled together to make your own homemade fabric softener too!
I use shampoo as shaving cream. It works too!
I have been using conditioner as shaving cream since high school and most of the time prefer it to actual shaving cream. I just picked up 2 huge bottles of coconut scented Suave at Rite Aid a few weeks ago for just $.50 each to use. Love it!
We have been making our own homemade laundry detergent for at least 1 year now. It is so cheap!! It also works really well!! It calls for borax, washing soda, 1 bar of grated soap, and lots of water! I used to use Tide, but then tried this. To test it out, I put my husband’s grimey pants through with the new homemade laundry detergent. It came out pretty clean. Then, I ran it through again with Tide. It didn’t come out any cleaner! So, we have been using it ever since! The initial cost was probably around $7 for everything. And, you can make 7-8 batches of it with the products left over!!
I made this last year and I got 360 loads of detergent with a start up cost of about $8, but I have enough left overs for at least three more batches of detergent.
I’ve been making my own for years using this same recipe! I love it!
I have tried to make laundry soap with the same recipe several times now. The clothes are clean but they dont smell clean. Any tips? i had been using fells naptha soap. That is what the recipe called for. What do you use? how is the smell of the clothes after washed?
What about using a few drops of essential oil to help improve the scent? Lavendar perhaps? I’ve never made this before but you all are tempting me!
I use ivory soap which I got free with coupons or dove which I also bought for pennies. I use a little “pillow talk” essential oil I already had and I am told weekly how wonderful my clothes smell. The neighbors compliment the scent when my dryer runs also. 🙂 Hope that helps.