For every Body Care Product you Pay for, could you do Better Improvising?

It is something we keep wondering about - so many beauty care products boast about how they use "real honey" or "orange extract" but we have real orange and honey in the kitchen, don't we? How hard could it be to turn those into something better than what you would pay an arm and a leg for?

If you could take time away from wondering at how much beauty costs - spa treatment, herbal wraps, skin care, massages, makeup and hair products - you have to marvel at the inventiveness of it all. But if you could just leave the gratuitous and expensive stuff be, caring for your body doesn't have to cost you your life savings. If you think about it, most of what they tell you about beauty, can come from nothing more than simple living and conscientious care for your health. It doesn't matter what it is that you're interested in - smooth supple skin, shiny hair, healthy feet, great nails - if you have no interest in adding yourself to the numbers of the billions women who fall over themselves to snap up every latest health care fad each year, here is your natural way to natural-born beauty.

Instead of using the latest expensive exfoliant, why not use a dry brush for this purpose every morning right before you step into the shower? You could easily dust off all your dead skin cells this way, and the massaging effect of the brush will dilate the blood vessels around your face for better circulation. And don't be surprised if you lose that puffiness that comes from eight hours of sleep, right away. The best part is, the only thing you need for it is a simple brush. And you need to buy it only once.

"Beauty sleep" makes for a great soundbite. They should come up with something like that for the water you drink too. Why would you spend money on moisturizer, when you have all the moisturizing effect you need in the water you drink? Add to it a good dose of vitamin complex, and you have everything you need to change the way your skin feels - from the inside.

What does it cost you each time you go in for a pedicure? Certainly, the art of a real nail expert is pretty difficult to replicate at home (how do they get that gorgeous French tip?). Still, it isn't an all or nothing proposal. Working to keep your nails clean and healthy at home can save you quite a few trips to the salon every year. For instance, did you know that nails need zinc in the diet to grow clear, strong and long? If you've ever noticed little floating spots in your nails, that's sure sign that you're not getting enough zinc in your diet. That's easily fixed though - whatever dairy you include in your diet, add a glass of milk to it, and you should be good with the zinc.

When you go to a salon and comment on the dryness of your nails and the skin around your feet, do they recommend that you pick up a package of their expensive cuticle oils and other assorted foot care lotions? Why bother, when you can have all the foot care products you need right in your kitchen - your extra virgin olive oil for instance? Rub in a little into your skin all over your feet, and it will be hard for you to remember why you even went to buy expensive foot care products before. Nails need a little circulation. Use a cuticle tip and dab of olive oil to rub around your nails and massage it in. Not only will your nails look for healthier and clearer for it, they'll grow faster too.

It's something one never understands - what happens to hair when it grows beyond a certain length? There are split ends, your hair becomes dry, there are flyaways and other things you don't know the words for. You could go sink half your paycheck into all kinds of doubtful products from a great salon, or you could use your imagination.

Those shampoos and hair care products are always claiming that they'll add luster to your hair. It's debatable whether they actually succeed in this; what you do know will succeed though, is apple cider vinegar. You know the pH that they keep bragging about on the shampoo bottles, don't you? Well, apple cider vinegar happens to have acidic pH that's almost the same as what you have on your hair and scalp. You can use it to clean your hair, to condition it and everything in between. You just need to dilute a part of it in four parts of water, and rinse your hair out with it after you shampoo it. It smells something pretty awful, but it should go right away once you shower. Brushing your hair and your scalp is a great way to get that healthy circulation going. Have you ever tried doing it in the shower while you were actually washing your hair though? It only takes a few seconds longer than it otherwise would; but whatever nutrients there are in the products you use on your hair, massaging helps them work themselves in. And if you want to color your hair, make sure that you deep condition before you do so.

These were some of the more exotic treatments that experts recommend. The kitchen though is a treasure trove of herbs and products that you could fashion into great beauty care. You just need to take the time.

--TINN