Makeup

"Orange Is the New Black": The Weirdest Place You'll Find Rad DIY Beauty Tips

You won't believe these MacGyver-meets-Maybelline beauty tricks from behind bars

by Erica Smith | 2 COMMENTS

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The first thing I learned while watching the Netflix series "Orange is the New Black": Be thankful for bathroom stalls with doors. The dramedy, about a waspy New Yorker who gets busted for being a drug mule and ends up behind bars, is packed with teachable moments and covers the gamut of jailhouse clichés (Lesbians! Contraband! Shifty guards!), but what really stuck out was the inmates' undeniable ingenuity -- these women are the reigning queens of DIY. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade ... and when prison gives you maxi pads, make flip-flops (or upgrade to duct tape if you're fashion forward). Stole a screwdriver? Fashion a makeshift dildo!

These impressive MacGyver-like skills also play a big roll in the inmates' beauty routines behind bars. Who needs a Chubby Stick when you have Kool-Aid and Vaseline? But how much of this magical DIY-ing actually happens in real prisons? (And can I really use these prison beauty tricks the next time I'm broke and/or stranded?). I talked to the show's head makeup artist, Michal Bigger, and Angelina DeAngelis, head hairstylist, to find out.

Along with the challenge of making lead actress Taylor Schilling look sallow, ("I mess that poor girl up -- she's totally unrecognizable. She deserves an Emmy for that alone," Bigger laments), Bigger and DeAngelis work with the show's writers to make sure the inmates' beauty regimen stays true to real life. This can mean anything from adding frizz to an extra's keratin-straightened hair, or boning up on the knock-off beauty products inmates whip up behind bars. So along with the critical life lessons one learns from the show (note to self: don't insult prison cook first day in prison), a beauty junkie can also pick up some impressive DIY tricks from these women.

Ready to channel your inner beauty MacGyver? Click ahead to learn 8 bare bones beauty hacks from behind bars.

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