Repurposing skincare products that didn’t work for you

Hello my lovelies & welcome back! To those of you who are new here, we hope for you to stay. One of my biggest pet peeves has to be product waste, it’s ultimately a waste of money, product in general and intentionally not good for the environment, so why not reduce through reuse? Or in this case, repurpose.

There are many reasons that products may be repurposed for something else, possibly due to not liking the scent, having a bad reaction or having no reaction, perhaps you even found something better, either way, having excess undesired product should not be a downer and could actually go a long way, plus you’ll be giving extra love and attention to other body parts. Who knows, this might become a new regime.

One of my personal occurrences was a face wash that I actually really loved the texture and scent of, but it broke my skin out slightly when over used, so instead I use it to wash my Covid-19 regulated face-masks and other skincare tools, as it remains gentle enough and does not contain the same harsh ingredients as regular washing detergents. So going through the basic skincare product types, here are some other repurposing options and solutions.

Face wash: This is probably the easiest product to reuse. As mentioned it can be used to clean face masks, skincare tools and even makeup brushes, but it can also be used to remove stains from clothing, anywhere from sweat to blood to red wine. Lastly, the simplest usage would of course be as a body wash.

Toner: Depending on the toner type, it can be used for many other uses, I’ve split the two main toner types accordingly

• Hydrating toner (or essence): This can be mixed with body lotion for an extra hydration form, especially on dry areas such as knees and elbows. Some toners may also be used as a room or a pillow spray.

• Astringent toner: This could be used as a spot treatment in the chest area or for bacne. It’s also great for mosquito bites, as it reduces inflammation and swelling (especially if it contains witch hazel). Furthermore it could be used as a scalp detox, especially if you tend to suffer from dandruff, or as a deodorant type. Lastly, depending in its strength, it can be used to remove self tan products, especially on elbows or knees, to neaten up your self tan, which is much safer than actual sun damage.

Eye cream: If this product type didn’t work out too well around your eyes, due to possible sensitivity or lack of results, try using it on or around your lips. It’s great for hydration and for those fine lines around the lip area, plus it can lighten dark spots under the chin.

Face oil: This product has so many other uses over just hydrating your face, as it’s great to use on the body self for body scarring or stretch marks and a great alternative to use for when you are shaving your legs. It can also be mixed with your body lotion for extra hydration or applied as a cuticle oil. Furthermore, it can be used in and on your hair as a hydrating scalp treatment, for split ends and for flyaway hairs. Lastly, it can be a natural highlight in your makeup (depending on whether you had a bad skin reaction or not).

Retinol: One of the first areas to show ageing is your hands, so if the retinol product was too strong or too weak for the skin on your face, try using it on your hands (or even your chest). Just make sure to apply SPF in the mornings to the dedicated area.

Exfoliator: As mentioned in a previous article, exfoliants can come across as both physical and in chemical forms, so I’ll split the two types accordingly.

• Physical exfoliant: Your scrub can be used as a body scrub (which is great before and after shaving to prevent ingrown hairs) and as a foot scrub.

• Chemical exfoliant: This could be used on the body to reduce dark spots and body scars, as well as on the bottom of the feet to get rid of calluses. If you do weightlifting, this is a great option to help keep your hands soft, yet strong and prone to the iron grip. Lastly, glycolic acid exfoliants make a great deodorant.

Sunscreen: Such a necessary product for everyday use, but sometimes it can be overly greasy, have a white cast or possibly cause breakouts, so the best way to reuse would be on your body, especially your hands, which we all seem to neglect often (perhaps my next article should be on hand care?). Another option, to my new mothers out there, is to use it on your babies for those upcoming beach days.

Moisturizer: This has been a particular product type that I have found the most problems with, I personally find it very difficult to find a go to moisturizer, I’m still actually searching for the perfect one for my skins needs, so I’m fairly trained in this area. My best advice for reuse would be as a hand cream, (again with the hands, cue hand article), of course as a body lotion as well, but that seems like a waste to use such a small concentrated product type over an entire body, so rather focus on important areas such as your chest or your neck. Lastly, and funny enough, it works great as a bum cream, for you and your baby (externally only though).

Masks: There are so many different facial mask types, so I’ll just split it into a few basic types and their repurposing means:

• Clay: The initial use of clay or mud masks is to remove excess oils or impurities, so just shift this to bodily areas that have this issue type, including backne, chest acne and even ingrown hairs.

• Hydrating: Another product type to use on excessively dry areas on your skin, including elbows, knees and heels.

• Sheet: The problem with some sheet masks is that the concentrate may be too strong and cause breakouts, but an easy and helpful manner to repurpose this would be to use it on your feet, for soft and smoother feet, as well as on your neck and chest are for an extra special and targeted treatment.

• Peel-off: My biggest problem with peel off masks is that they hurt sometimes and can damage capillaries on the finer areas of my skin, so their best use would either be as primarily nose pore strip types or on your hands to rid of excess stress and oils built up through the day or week. Try not to use it on any parts of your body that has excess hair, as it cannot in fact be repurposed as a wax.

There you have it my lovelies! Hopefully this article inspires you to lessen waste in products and lighten your carbon footprint ever so slightly, be mindful and recycle your used containers, either for other purposes or at the brand the products were bought from directly or your nearest recycling deposit. Who knows, you might just inspire someone else to do the same, and in turn, small motions and movements can save our planet one step at a time.

For now, keep going, keep glowing & keep growing (trees that is, seeing as we’re saving the planet and all). You’re doing amazing!

• B x