Do It Yourself...Will Ya?

I am very fond of at-home beauty kits. They're affordable. You get all the time in the world to do it on yourself or someone else. You get to apply your own skills in the process without someone smirking their face at you. You will never feel shy about having someone do a procedure on you such as waxing because you do it on your own or with someone you trust at the comfort of your home. And you ALWAYS master the results.

Believe me, I have tried to do almost everything at home and I can say that not everything can be done efficiently. So let me give you an overview of the usual at-home beauty procedures and where and how to get the best results:



FACIAL

DIY:
Steam your face before extracting blackheads. Place a face towel soaked in warm water over the parts of your face that are not being extracted of blackheads. Clean face with facial scrub and apply face mask afterwards. Use cold water as final rinse. Tone and moisturize last.

*Product suggestions:

St. Ives Apricot Scrub
Holystic Haven's The Mud
Human Heart Nature's Tomato Toner
Holystic Haven's The Moisturizer


My Opinion:
If your face is not too problematic, then this is more likely to work on you. Better done with a skilled friend, btw. Otherwise, it would be best to seek help from experts, especially the ones licensed to treat facial problems.



WAX HAIR REMOVAL

DIY:
This is best done with cold sugar wax preparations as it saves you from potential burn and mistakes. Because sugar wax is water soluble, you can easily wash it with water just in case it's too painful for you to strip off. It can only be efficiently done on the arms, legs and facial hair except eyebrows. You would need help in the underarm and bikini areas.


*Product suggestions:

StripIt's Cold Wax Hair Removal

My Opinion:
If you can have someone help you wax those hard to reach areas, then this is no different from salon waxing at a fraction of the price. Eyebrows should never be waxed though as the risk of getting an odd shape is very high



MANICURE AND PEDICURE

DIY:
Soak your feet in a tub of warm water with epsom salts for relaxation and a tea bag for a deodorizing effect. Do your manicure while you're waiting but skip the polish for the meantime. After your hands are done, buff one foot at a time while the other is still soaked. Rinse feet thoroughly and proceed with pedicure. Apply polish on toenails before you do your fingernails. Make sure that you let each application dry before applying another coat for best results. Apply hand and foot moisturizers and massage away.

*Products suggestions:

Venus and Mars' Spa Milk Salt
Human Heart Nature's Super Fruits and Coco Flakes Body Scrub
Human Heart Nature's Hand & Foot Salve

My Opinion:
Practice makes perfect! Doing this on your own should be no different compared to if it was done at the salon. It's could even be better because you can gauge if your skin already hurts.



HAIR MASK/HOT OIL

DIY:
Apply hair mask all over hair after shampooing. You can choose to use commercially sold hair mask/hot oil solutions or virgin coconut oil or mayonnaise. Soak a bigger-than-the-average face towel in warm water, wring it and wrap it around your hair. Wrap everything with a shower cap and wait 15-30 mins before rinsing.

*Product suggestions:

Human Heart Nature's Mango Butter & Vitamin E Hair Mask
Human Heart Nature's Avocado & Gugo Bark Hair Mask

My Opinion:
DIY works just as well as if it's salon done.


HAIR COLOR

DIY:
Buy DIY kits and follow instructions.

*Product suggestions:

L'Oreal Feria
Revlon Colorsilk
L'Oreal Excellence Cremelights


My Opinion:
If you know your hair well, you should be able to pick the best hair color for it. DIY if your hair isn't problematic and if your purpose is just to change your hair color 1 to 2 times darker or lighter. If you need to cover gray hair, this is best done with any one else who could see even the back of your head. If you have scalp problems, your hair is previously chemically treated or is very dry, then professional coloring should be the best option.



HAIRCUT

DIY:
Only if you want bangs. Haha!

My Opinion:
If it's just bangs you want, I believe that you should be able to do it on your own. And even though I actually tried to layer my hair back in elementary, I don't suggest you do it too! :P

EYEBROW SHAPING

DIY:
Best done with tweezers

My Opinion:
If it's your first time, you might want to seek the services of a trained threader first just to get the perfect shape of your eyebrows. Then you can maintain the shape by tweezing scattered and misplaced hair when they grow.

*some photos were Googled

How much of these have you tried? Would love to hear your story!

your every woman,