Beauty on a budget and in light of PO

[Michelle]

So let's revive a subject near and dear to my heart.
How to look hot during and after economic collapse and such.
Include the tried and true, and recipes.

I saw some chicks at the mall selling salt in olive oil  as a exfollient for like $80.
I went home and mixed some up myself. The mixture pulls off the dead skin
(sea salt) and the olive oil deep conditions the skin.

Warning" The tub will be very slippery, you're skin will glisten.

[Max und Moritz]

Best beauty tricks involve no stuff and no cost:

- don´t eat crap
- get enough sleep
- don´t stress
- stay out of the sun
- drink lots of water
- think pleasant thoughts (ahem) - your cheeks will blush, your eyes will widen, your pupils will dilate and the whole will spell HOT.
- SMILE

[Jonathan_Byron]

Yes, lots of sleep, leafy green vegetables, and Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap.

[Chickengirl]

do you think attitudes towards beauty will change post crash?

[MEA]

Well I'm hoping that "looks like she could pull the plough if the mule died" look will comeback.

[cygnus]

I don't dye away my grey, and it's kind of salt and pepper right now.  Looks kinda cool, I think, although my mom keeps trying to get me to dye it.  I told her "hey, this isn't grey, it's NATURAL FROSTING.  People pay big bucks for this stuff!"  Honestly, I figure if some women can go around looking like they have skunks on their heads these days, the world can just learn to put up with my bit o' grey.    

I also learned to cut my own hair in 1983.  I'd be fine just letting it all grow out, but since I started getting older it gets splits and looks like crap after a while with all the thin straggly ends.  So, I like to keep it mid-length and layered now.   I've had a couple of "professional" cuts since I started this routine, and each time I had to come home and clip off scraggly bits and even some things out, so I just don't go anymore.  I'll leave it to the imagination how much money I've saved in the past 26 years by doing this.  And honestly, once you get the hang of it, it's not that tough.  I can even do three different styles and lengths now, so I can mix it up if I want to for variety. 

[nicekitty]

Well, two things spring to mind:

First - I'm sure natural beauty will make a comeback.  And maybe personality will get more weight in deciding who's attractive (you'll still be a winner, Michelle!)

Second - If there's MZB's wandering around, I'm not sure I want to look good.  In fact, I think I would do everything in my power to look not good, up to and including faking contagious diseases. 

Of course, the last time I bought makeup was...oh...five years ago?  Ten?  I know for the wedding this summer, my sister insisted on bringing her own makeup to do me up, since she was quite confident that my 'colors' were 'out of style'...how can a color possibly go out of style? 

[Chickengirl]

ROFL @ MEA  

I don't dye my hair either (and I don't intend to when I start going grey either - I've seen some pretty hot looking older women with grey hair ), and my hair cuts are basic "straight across the bottom" ones. Everytime I've gone into a hairdressers I come out with bloody layers, even when I say "I'm growing the layers OUT! I just need a small trim..."

I don't do a lot of makeup etc, only for very special events. But I think skin care is really important - your skin is your first defence against infection, so keeping it smooth and moisturised reduces cracks and scratches etc...

[justanouveaufarmer]

I came from a place where beauty means large breasts on a size 2 frame and bleached blond hair and expensive fingernails.  We spend a lot of energy and money trying to mold ourselves into Madison Avenue's concept of beauty.  Why do we do it?  Men won't love us if we don't look like Barbie dolls?  Oh yeah?

My old man and I spent the last week clearing land to make more room for crops and pasture.  We come home at night filthy, bloody, and bone tired.  Yesterday I was leaning on a fence post and turned my face up to the sun.  I know you aren't supposed to because god forbid you might get a wrinkle.  Well, screw it, it felt good.  It felt incredibly good to feel the warm sun on my face.  It felt downright liberating and I felt something snap inside of me. 

It occurred to me, I fucking don't care if I get wrinkles!!  I've earned every one of 'em!  I even warned my husband I'm seriously thinking of not coloring my hair anymore.  What a waste of time and money that's been.  He said he doesn't care.  If he'd had the strength to lift any appendage at all he'd still do me.    Even with leaves and dirt in my hair and my poor broken fingernails.

I'm done being a good consumer and wasting time trying to achieve an empty lifestyle of high maintenance perfection.  Before I die I want to learn how to be REAL.  I saw a beautiful older woman the other day with thick salt and pepper hair gathered loosely at the back of her neck.  It was like her inner beauty came through in her kind smile and contented expression.  She rode a horse like the wind. 

I think we need a new definition of beauty. 

[mtlouie]

I LOVE YOU, JUSTY!!!      

[Dasha]

Nicely put Justy. Wrinkles, grey hair - really, who cares?

Can you swing an axe? Now THAT's important.

(...having just come in from splitting firewood )

[madison]

Yes, but can you make shoes?   

My beauty routine is barely existant and will serve me well in the future, as I won't have much to adjust to.

I wish I had hair cutting scissors.  They are on my Lehman's wish list!

I can make lipbalm from beeswax and olive oil with a dab of honey. 

I am learning how to make soap.

I will keep my fingernail clippers.

Food based facial products are grand (oatmeal, avocado etc) but I'd probobly rather eat them in a low-energy future. 

I could stand to lose a few pounds, so some limitations might actually be good for my health in the short run.  My knees and back would feel better.

Hair bands to keep my ponytail out of my eyes.

Lotion.  I love lotion.  It can be made with oils, beeswax etc but oil might be hard to come by some day.  I will miss lotion. 

I just want to remain clean, keep my hair out of my eyes, and keep some lip balm and lotion nearby.  See, I'm set.  That was easy!

Really, anyone who doesn't like the way I look can kiss by butt.  I am more than the sum of my parts, lol!   

[Alecia]

My plan has always been to make myself look like a hungry, homely male for a while post crash. Excellent rape repellent and all I have to do is chop off the hair and wear some dirty baggy clothing. I'm sure the hubby will love it 

[Michelle]

I wish I had burned less in my youth. But heck, life is a learned experience.
Keeping my weight down has helped with my health as well as looks. My
kid and I share clothes and I gratefully take their hand me overs.

Which reminds me of a recent prep, I kep reminding folks to think of me
when they got ready to clean out their closets. I got 5 bags of clothes
in one week.

[Grower]

If you buy canned goods, watch for specials. When you find tomato sauce for 50¢ a can, buy two cases to get you through until the next time it's on sale. I do this all the time for stuff I buy, whether it's canned beans (I like some on hand), peanut butter, canned fruit (I hate canning pears myself), some vegetable, or whatever. Often I can find spaghetti sauce on sale for 99¢ a jar, if I watch. Kroger's had it 11 jars for $10. Hard to beat that. I still can my own tomato sauce, but this year we had the late blight and I got NO tomato sauce, so I stocked up enough to get me through to next summer. Oh, and watch for pasta sales.

Do meat the same way. Every so often, once or twice a year, chicken is on sale for 79¢ a pound. Ham might be the same, esp. if you look during holidays. Pork loins and chops will be drastically marked down a few times a year as well. You can buy in and freeze it in vacuum sealed bags or pressure can it. I do both. If you don't like to can your own meat, sometimes tuna, chicken, or ham will be specially priced, if you watch for it.

Most grocery stores have their newspaper flyers online now. I don't get the paper anymore, so I go online. If you check flyers this way, you can make a list and just go for the stuff that's on sale, avoiding impulse buys.

If you buy organic, many organic stores will let you buy in bulk by ordering from their wholesale catalogue. Or you can join a food coop and split larger orders with others. There's an Amish bulk foods store near here. They have a pound of butter for $2. A 5-pound bag of popcorn will run me about $3. Spices are ridiculously cheap. Meunster cheese is $2.15 a pound. Plus about 25 other kinds of cheese. They sell bulk flour, sugar, cereal, and baking goods. I even found some bulk generic "International Foods Coffees" for about half the cost of the ones in the cute little tins.

We also heat with wood to keep the furnace from running, though with geothermal heat our heating bills are already fairly lower, compared with a heat pump, propane, oil, or natural gas.

We drive to work together two days per week.

Toiletries are also best bought in quantities when on sale. Also, dollar stores often have good stuff for less. Suave really does do what theirs does for half the price. Check online flyers for that, too.

There are stores called Gabriel Brothers in this area of Ohio. They are a close-out type store. Often I find off season clothes really cheap. We have some nice Goodwill and Volunteers of America/Salvation Army places where you can pick up all kinds of stuff, but most people already know this. I find the best sweaters at places like that. Jeans, too. Anything you find at the end of the season is often a ton cheaper. Blankets and long underwear after Christmas. Tank tops and shorts in September. Another closeout store to look for in the midwest is Ollies. No clothes, but tons of household goods, cleaning supplies, plastic wrap/aluminum foil, bedding, tools, gardening supplies, books, and cheap-yet-nice gift items.

I watch sporting goods stores for shoes. I will often find closeouts on really nice athletic shoes, sometimes for $10 on a $60+ pair of shoes. I've got about 3 pair put back, figuring I'll use them eventually. Then the current pair gets turned into work shoes.

And all this without ever setting foot in Sprawlmart!