Sustainable Living Creative Hacks Organisation and Productivity

Alternative Uses for Cosmetic Products You are Not Going to Use

Do you have half-used perfumes, make-up, hair products and other cosmetic products that you are not going to use, for whatever reason? Maybe the product is years out of date, you don’t like the scent, or the product doesn’t work for you. You’d love to clear some space and get these half-used products out of your life, but you don’t want to waste them or you don’t know how to dispose of them safely and in a way that is best for the environment. Here are a few ideas of unusual ways you can use up those products, that you may not have thought of!

Alternative uses for cosmetic products you are not going to use

Perfumes and body sprays

If you have perfumes or body sprays that you don’t really like, use them as a bathroom spray instead. They will do the job to cover unpleasant smells. It doesn’t matter too much if you are not keen on the scent, because you don’t have to wear it all day!

Hair products

Many hair products can have alternative uses. Anything slippery, such as conditioner, can be used as shaving cream. If you use heat defence spray, you can make your own by adding a little bit of an unwanted hair product to an empty spray bottle and topping up with water. You can add a little coconut oil too.

Body lotions

Most body lotions could be repurposed as a hand cream. I hardly use body lotions, in fact, I only use them for the sake of using them up! But I do use hand cream regularly. I haven’t actually tried this, but I imagine that body lotions would do the trick for moisturising my hands!

Make-up

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have quite a bit of make-up that you’ve acquired over the years but it is now out of date. Here’s a creative idea – get arty! Use eyeshadows as watercolour paints, use lipsticks as pastels, and old make-up brushes as paintbrushes. Create some beautiful artwork out of your old make-up! If you don’t want to do this yourself, it could be a fun activity for a child.

Nail polishes

Nail polishes could also be used for artwork. It may be best to do this outside because of the fumes that many nail polishes give off. I have also heard of people using nail polish to colour code items such as keys. There is also the age-old trick of using clear nail polish to put a halt to ladders in tights!

Soaps and scrubs

Soaps, shampoo, shower gels or body scrubs could be used as cleaning products. Use them to clean the shower or bathroom, and get it smelling nice too! I’ve also heard of conditioner being used to polish shoes. You could probably use body lotions and other products for this too.

Or you can give them away

If you have unwanted products like soaps, hand sanitisers, hand cream or body lotion, and you can’t find any other use for them, you can leave them in public bathrooms, such as the bathrooms in restaurants. These often have these types of products in there anyway. If you match the style of product to the style of the bathroom, members of the public probably won’t even guess that the product was not provided by the establishment.

It may be that the cleaner will throw it away at the end of the day, but at least it has a chance to get a few more uses out of it. Maybe the cleaner or a member of the public will assume someone left it by mistake, and take it away for themselves, especially if it is a nice product!

You could, of course, give products away to a close friend or relative who doesn’t mind that they are opened and half used. You could even see if they want to swap them for some of their own unwanted products, that you may want!

I hope these tips will help you to find uses for some of those products that have been sitting around for a long time, and save them from going to waste!

Enjoyed this post? Pin it!
Alternative Uses For Cosmetic Products You Are Not Going To Use



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *