11 Inexpensive Beauty Hacks I Learned in College and Have Been Using Ever Since

As a college student, I was blessed to have some pretty amazing roommates. We had so much fun together. We talked about boys, hobbies, school, experiences, and of course shared our helpful beauty tips with each other. Many of my roommates are gorgeous women who had learned a lot about looking their best. We gave advice to each other and had a great time sharing the following tips and tricks.

Here are some of the beauty hacks my roommates taught me or we discovered together. I still use these beauty hacks today!

1- Use coconut oil or non-fragrance lotion as make up remover.

Instead of buying expensive or fancy make up removers we’d just simply use coconut oil or non-fragranced lotion on a tissue or make-up remover pad. It works just as well (if not better) and is much easier on the pocket book.

2-To prevent ingrown hair and exfoliate the skin, use a high quality razor.

As women we have a lot of surface area (i.e. legs, arm pits, some shave their arms, etc.) to shave and as a result, go through razors quite quickly.

I looked for and used coupons on razors as they were often very high value. Yes, you heard that right. It is no lie, I used coupons in college. I’d use them for food and to buy razors and other items. I would give them to my roommates to use as well. Since I was getting through college by paying my own way, I learned quickly to use coupons to make razors more affordable.

3- Shave with baby oil or coconut oil.

In addition to using quality razors, for a nice shave, my roommate told me to use baby oil or coconut oil. First, it gives you an insanely close shave. 2nd, it prevents nicks and cuts. I’ve never had any nicks or cuts after starting to use oil to shave with. 3rd, it’s inexpensive. And 4th, it’s a natural moisturizer. No lie, I don’t even have to use lotion on my legs after the shower because the oil moisturizes them so well.

Note- The only draw back is that it can make the tub or shower floor slippery. To combat this I make sure to use a little soap on the area of the shower floor where I was shaving and wash it off before getting out. I rarely use oil now that I have kids and it causes the tub to become slippery. But before having kids, I used it every time I shaved.

4-Petroleum jelly is amazing for beauty hacks (and it’s very inexpensive too).

Petroleum jelly is great for: cracked heals (put it on and then put on cotton socks and sleep), cracked finger tips or dry hands (put on petroleum jelly and cotton gloves and sleep with them on), lip balm (just used by itself), and it can turn old lipsticks into lip gloss (by using the lipstick and coating with petroleum jelly) Also, by rubbing a thin layer of petroleum jelly to pulse points before applying fragrance it makes the fragrance last longer -thereby saving money too! Tips on more vaseline beauty hacks can be found here.

5- Do your own pedicures and manicures.

I learned how to do my own acrylic nails which saved me hundreds (if not thousands) over the course of four years during college. My great friend taught me how to do pedicures which also saved me money.

6- Use a gel coat, nail polish, and then an acrylic hard coat over finger and toenails when painting them.

I learned that applying a gel coat first, then the nail polish, then an acrylic hard finish coat over makes nail polish last much much longer and not chip!

7-Wash the conditioner out of your hair in lukewarm to cold water.

If you wash out your conditioner in hot hot water it will all wash out completely and leave your hair completely dry. If you wash it out in lukewarm or cold water, the conditioner will stay (just a little bit will) and continue to strengthen, nourish, and condition your hair even after you get out of the shower and your hair dries. I had a hard time believing this was true but after doing it and not doing it for years off and on I know that it makes a huge difference in the health and softness of my hair.

8- Multi-purpose your makeup.

I learned that buying high quality makeup (esp. foundation, mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick) really saves you in the long run. Professional makeup lasts so much longer because you don’t need to use as much as you would a less expensive brand. You typically don’t have to reapply for the day either (using a good brand—my favorite is Younique). Some of the ways that I’d multi-purpose (and still do) with my make up is:

You can dip a fine tipped brush into your mascara tube or swipe it on the mascara wand and use it for liquid eyeliner that stays put!

You can use liquid blush for lipstick or lipstick for liquid blush. Many make up items are interchangeable and can save you money.

9 makeup tips and techniques, plus my own routine can be found here.

9- We’d use lemon juice and water and spritz it on our hair roots before a day at the lake or laying out.

This helped our roots stay lighter longer and we didn’t have to get our highlights done as often. Note- use this tip sparingly it’s not healthy to do this daily to your hair as it can damage it. We only did it in the summer and infrequently at that—but it does work!

10- Use natural lighting when applying makeup.

My friends and I learned that applying makeup in dark or fluorescent lighting can be dangerous. It can really look different once you walk outside. Using natural lighting while applying makeup helps you achieve the look you want others to see outside.

11- Blow dry hair upside down.

Most of us want voluminous hair. By blowing drying your hair with your head upside down you will get way more volume than by blow drying it standing up straight.

All of these hacks are inexpensive, helpful, and I still use each one of them now (8 years after my last college days were over).