7 surprising ways to use fruit & vegetables in your beauty routine

7 surprising ways to use fruit & vegetables in your beauty routine

There’s no need to spend a fortune on beauty products. Colleen B from Expert Home Tips shows you how to get your skin glowing, hair shining and teeth gleaming with fruit and vegetables found in the kitchen instead. Enjoy these homemade natural beauty treatments – they’re inexpensive, easy-to-make, and best of all you’ll know exactly what has gone into them.

1. Get whiter teeth with strawberries There are lots of natural ways to whiten your teeth, from orange to apples. You can even use strawberries! Next time you’re enjoying a punnet, grab a few strawberries and mash them up with a fork. Once they’ve turned into a paste, rub the mixture onto your teeth. Leave it for up to 5 minutes, and after this time, rinse, then brush your teeth. Because of the high acidity in strawberries, only use this whitening method once a week.

2. Lighten dark circles with cucumber The juice found in cucumber is great for the skin. It also has a mild skin-lightening effect, so if you’re suffering from dark circles, grab that cucumber out of the fridge. Cut it into thick slices and chill in the fridge. Once the cucumber is nice and cold, place them onto your eye area for about 10 minutes. Relax! Once the time is up, wash your face with water and repeat.

3. Use egg shells in a homemade face scrub One of life’s true pleasures has to be how your skin feels after a good exfoliating. Using eggshell powder, one tablespoon of honey and an egg yolk, you can make yourself a wonderful natural facial scrub. Lady Formula have listed all the instructions on how to go about creating your scrub, so once you’ve made the mask, keep it on for 15 minutes. Be sure to take it off immediately if you feel any discomfort.

4. Treat your nails with garlic Moisture your hands, nails and cuticles with garlic! Chop it up and then using a fork, mash it up. Mix it with some extra virgin olive oil and dip your fingers into the mixture. Take care to cover all of your nails and make sure to rub it thoroughly into your cuticles. Repeat this once every two weeks and you’ll soon start to notice the health of your nails improve.

5. Reduce puffiness around the eyes with potato peel Catecholase is an enzyme found in potatoes, which acts a skin lightener and can be used to help reduce puffy eyes. After you’ve peeled your spuds for the Sunday Roast, grab two large sections of peel and place one on each eye, underside down. Leave them on your eyes for about 10 minutes (while the spuds are boiling!) and then remove.

6. Exfoliate your lips with lemon If you like to wear lipstick then you’ll know how important it is to make sure your lips are nice and smooth. Make your own exfoliator by using your favourite pancake toppings, lemon and sugar! Squeeze some lemon juice into a bowl and mix with sugar. Using your fingers, scrub your lips with the mixture. The dead skin cells will be exfoliated and the acidity of the lemon will help remove dirt and clean your lips.

7. Use avocado as a hair mask Mash up your avocado in a bowl, add half a teaspoon of coconut oil or olive oil and give it a good mix with a fork until it’s creamy. Rub the mask into your hair and put on a shower cap. Leave it on for as long as possible (overnight if possible) and take a bath if you can as the steam will help the mask penetrate the scalp. If you have oily hair, don’t add any oil to the mix.

Read more at Expert Home Tips.