I agree with you on most of these, but the conditioner. I, personally, haven't had much luck with the two'n'one combos. There are many conditioners out there that are very inexpensive & work, that I don't think that this is a luxury. In fact, you can use it as a shaving cream (for you legs @ least), and it takes off mascara as well!

If you do splurge on a hand cream, make sure it has SPF in it!

I'd say go without the shampoo instead! I haven't used shampoo in years. I merely massage my hair with conditioner and then wash thorough every 3-5 days! Once your hair's moisture gets back in balance, you'll never need that drying, damaging shampoo again!

If you MUST use shampoo, avoid Sodium Laurel Sulfate. It destroys (dries) your hair!!

My mom is allergic to aloe. You have NO idea how many creams have aloe until you're avoiding it!!

The absolute BEST cream I ever got for my mom was one I got from an eBay seller. The cost? Two CENTS. The seller was offering two ounce, custom-scented samples for less than the cost of the empty jar, with any purchase of two items. I got a scrub (which I now make at home, but this was far less expensive than comparable store items), a room/linen spray (I don't usually use it, but I may have a pending surgery), and dry oil, which I haven't "gotten down" yet but which I love for a quick moisturizer for my tattoos (it leaves no shine). I loved the products I got for myself; they're as good as, if not better than, mass-produced, and the three + my mom's lotion cost less than one 1-oz lotion in a department store.

TWO cents. My mom's been using a dab here and there, as needed, for a few months. She's still got a goodly amount left. Furthermore, I helped an individual's business, and not a corporation.

If you've dipped into the dye pot like I have, trust me, you need conditioner!

Don't even get me STARTED, Kyle. I could go on and on about unrealistic beauty expectation placed upon modern women, airbrushed models in magazines with flawless skin, and the eating disorders the plague the young women of the Western world, but I'll just go with this: Does it pain you to date a woman who doesn't shave her legs? Yes? Then hush up your mouth, boy.

That was meant to be a lot less harsh-sounding than it was. No touched nerves here. I'm just familiar with the idea that guys like girls who are "natural" and "not fake", but then scoff when they meet a woman who doesn't go to all the trouble to primp and preen in the morning, you know? But my "hush up boy" was meant to be, well, it's kind of hard to say 'funny' at this point, but not serious, in any case.

You're right - we spend too much on this. I shudder to think how much money I'd have if I hadn't wasted it all on stupid beauty products that don't get used.

i have been experimenting with reducing the amount of beauty products i use, or at least not using them as much. but think of how many products we could avoid buying altogether. when I first got married I bought all the same things my mother did to do launry, det'g, clorox, cloroxII, downy, dryer sheets. I began to eliminate them one by one, and now I only buy det'g and clorox for whites, and I don't even use the clorox on every white load. Sometimes I even make my own det'g. I notices that my husband never ate the bread I prepared for dinner at night, and we only have one child left at home. So now dinner is minus the bread. If I really want some, I butter a piece of loaf bread just for me. I noticed I was always throwing out half eaten bags of chips because they got stale. I quit buying chips. There are probably coutless ways we can cut back, and our family would probably not miss it if we did.

Nice list. Aside the conditioner, as leaving out the conditioner -in my oppinion- will be a rather bad advice.
Hair as grown out in the acid (aka antibacterial) environment of the skin is made for staying in this environment. Shampoo however is always alcaline (or neutral at least), as it will let the hair spread the cuticle (the outer shell of the hair) like a fir cone, which makes it easier to clean. However spreading the cuticle means exposing the delicate "spine" of the hair the so called cortex and it is highly advisable to "close" it or you will ruin your hair in the long run (Try this: Expand a wet hair and see how vulnerable it is!). It might be no big deal with short hair as short hair won't "live" long enough to notice the damage, with long hair who last for years however you will experience the dryness, split ends, that it will break, being dull and all those other bad effects when following your advice. So hair will need something sightly acid like a conditioner to close the cuticle, or -as sommebody has said before- don't use shampoo at all and wash your hair with conditioner, which might not be as effective as shampoo but a lot more gentlier to you hair.
A very easy, natural, effective and by the way a lot more cheaper possibility than using industrial condis is rinsing your hair with a home made "sour rinse" after washing it. A "sour rinse" may consists just of 1-2 spoons of vinegar (preferable cider or balsamic vinegar) dissolved in about 1 Liter(2 pints) of water. After pouring it on your hair rinse it with cold water et voilà - natural, healthy and obviously shiny hair (as closed cuticle means plane and plane = shiny). If you are afraid of the smell of vinegar (although you won't smell it anyhow afterwards) you can also use the juice half a lemon or citric acid etc.
So no need of the chemical cocktails the industry are offering as conditioner, but if you still want it, avoid by all means any of these conditioners with silicone oil as an ingredient (something with ...conol like dimethiconol). Silicones will coat your hair and ok, it may feel softer, easier to comb and shinier on first side, but in the end you will need the more "aggressive" shampoos the same companies are offering as you'll have to get rid of the silicone with every washing or you will layer coat by coat silicone on your hair until it's heavy and greasy.
So stay away from the crap from Pantene, Herbal Essence, Fructis etc. - all notorous known for being chemical cocktails full of silicone oils and at least the first and second got some bad reputation too hereover for containing ingredients which are considered carciogenic.
(For more info about the silicone problem f.e. google pantene & silicone).

My personal 2 eurocents ;) and congrats for your none the less great site!

Jessica

I'm amazed at jessica's post. I didn't know there was so much to shampooing and conditioning. I posted the conditioner option because I see so many girls put a HUGE glob in their hands and smother it through their hair, leaving a very uneven shampoo to conditioner ratio in their showers, causing them to buy more conditioner. lol. so i guess if you learn to use it the right way you can still save.
Personally, I've just become lazy and ever since I've cut my hair short I've found conditioner wasn't needed as long as I didn't overdo the washing. but thanks for the great tips!

re: baby oil - i've heard mineral oil is bad for the skin, but i haven't had any problems as long as I've used a good facial cleanser that will wash off the residue. I've only discovered it because I haven't found an eye-makeup remover that can adequately take off my waterproof mascara. But it never hurts to experiment with alternatives if this one seems icky, so bottoms shelves of the drugstore is a great tip.

If you color your hair at home (I know hairdresser hate this), it is a lot cheaper in the long run if you buy the dye & developer plus a reusuable plastic bottle, and a bag of plastic gloves at your local beauty supply shop. I only recommend this to people who have dyed their hair often and are comfortable with the process. Definitely speak with someone at the store to ensure you buy the right volume of developer. The box of dye will tell you what ratio of dye to developer you will need. The bottle of developer will last you though several dye jobs. When I was using a semi-permanent color a tube of dye and a tube of clear gloss lasted me two dye jobs. You can also go to the manufactures websites to find the ratio & devolping time if you're unsure. Not only is it cheaper, but you'll have a lot more color options.

PS. You MUST use conditioner after dying your hair!

Beauty supply stores generally have great prices on other beauty products. Go off the beaten path from Sally's and I promise you that not only will you find good prices, but you'll find some cool stuff.

I made the switch from Estee Lauder to Revlon a couple of years ago. I buy foundation, eyeliner, mascara, blush - that is it. While lipsticks and eyeshadows come in so many beautiful shades, I have never been able to apply them right so I just go without. I would go without foundation except I have very dry patchy skin that is very uneven in tone. Going from Estee to Revlon was a big step for me due to my dry skin. I tried several drug store foundations before finding that Revlon Color Stay provides the same coverage as Estee at less than half the cost. The same with hair dye. I used to pay $60+ to have my hair colored professionally. Now, I buy the color and have my mom or sister apply it. Nothing removes makeup like good old fashioned cold cream. I skip Ponds and buy Walgreens - I get twice the amount for half the price. The same with Dove soap. My grandmother has used it almost her entire life, and her skin is amazing. I use Walgreens version of Dove and it is wonderful.

If you're in a pinch, conditioner also doubles well as shaving cream. I always take about four times as long to finish a bottle of conditioner (probably well over a year), so I sometimes use it this way.

Also, I wanted to mention that instead of buying fancy masks or facial cleansers, there are many natural ones that can easily be made from the pantry. Like with oatmeal, honey, egg white or yolk, etc. I love doing this and there's no scary ingredient list to read.

I use shampoo not only to wash my hair but as a body wash and to shave my legs. I could never do without conditioner; for long hair it is a must. Just don't buy shampoo with sodium lauryl sulfate. It is too drying and will strip the color out of dyed hair.

I love jojoba oil to remove the last reminents of eye makeup that soap and water don't remove. Jojoba oil isn't cheap, but it is a good product and extremely versatile.

Sorry I forgot to make a note in my last post but its important to not use milky tea bags. So just to clear up any confusion, when making up batches of tea do not include milk just tea and water and when reusing tea bags try and remove them from your tea before you add milk.

Even though using milk on eye irritations has commonly been used as a home remedy for decades its actually not good for the this delicate area due to its lactic acid content.