Expert: Ren�e Rouleau, celebrity esthetician and skin care expert
Facials are important for maintaining healthy skin as they can "stimulate cell renewal, remove dry skin, break down stubborn discoloration (brown spots), and fade post-breakout red/brown marks," says Rouleau. Unfortunately at $65 to $600 a pop, they don't come cheap. Rouleau recommends getting one every four to six weeks, but with her tips, you can cut back to four times a year, once a season.
Tip 1: Avoid harsh cleansers. "What you wash with is the most important part of your skin care routine. Why? If you wash with a foaming cleanser or soap that is too drying, it pulls all the water out of the skin and creates dead, dry skin cell buildup," says Rouleau. When it comes to choosing a face wash, "always remember, more lather, more drying. Less lather, less drying," she says. She also advises to avoid any cleansers formulated with an ingredient called Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Ammonium Laureth Sulfate, which will cut the natural oil from your skin. Tip 2: Use a toner and make sure it�s alcohol-free. Toners give your skin a drink of moisture and remove drying chlorines and minerals found in tap water. They also balance the PH levels in your skin, enhancing the results of your skin care program, says Rouleau. "Supplying the skin with essential hydration and nutrients will repair the skin�s protective barrier making it less sensitive and resistant to environmental damage," she says, therefore you'll be able to see your facialist a little less often.
Next: At-home facial tips
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Do your own at-home facial
Do mini facials in-between professional visits to make the effects last longer. Here is what Rouleau recommends:
Step 1: Cleanse skin with a mild cleanser.
Step 2: Use a mild facial scrub or at-home peel to remove dry skin cells. Rinse well.
Step 3: Immediately apply a few drops of a skin serum like
Renee Rouleau Skin Correcting Serum, $38.50. (Serums have a small molecular structure and should always be used under a moisturizer or mask.)
Step 4: Apply a thin coat of a mask to your entire face and neck (optional). The mask will help the serum penetrate deeper into the skin. Try Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Mask, $34.99.
Step 5: Leave on 15 minutes, rinse well and apply your favorite moisturizer.
Nothing makes you feel more put-together than a polished manicure, but spending $12-$30 (not including tax or tip) on manicured nails weekly can quickly become an expensive addiction. Follow Schaeffer's tips to make your manicure last up to a month.
Tip 1: Keep your nails short as longer nails will always chip faster or break easier and nothing says "I need a manicure" like a broken nail. Tip 2: Moisturized hands always look more manicured, so apply a moisturizing product to your cuticles daily. "Cuticle oil goes a long way and not only keeps cuticles healthy, it also reduces dry, flaky skin around your nail beds and can reduce hangnails," says Schaeffer. He suggests using OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil, $7.50, "It is perfect for your pocket or purse and soothes with Vitamin E and avocado, sunflower, sesame and kukui nut oils," he adds. Tip 3: Apply a top coat after three days if polish is still in good shape to keep your manicure looking cleaner and chip-free longer. Try Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat, $5.25. Tip 4: If possible, avoid overuse of hands. Your manicured nails aren't tools so don't try to use them to open soda cans, peel off stickers from produce, etc. Tip 5: Hot water will lift polish off your nail bed so keep showers short, stay out of the tub, and use protective gloves when washing dishes or cleaning.
Next: See Schaeffer's tips for maintaining your salon pedicure
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How to make your pedicure last
A professional pedicure is, for most women, a necessity during summer months. These tips from Schaeffer will make your $15 to $50 service more than worth it.
Tip 1: The same tips for extending the life of a manicure (see previous slide) apply to pedicures as well; its all about keeping your cuticles hydrated every day. Use a foot mask to really hydrate dry feet and cuticles. Try CND Creative Nail Design Raw Earth Foot Mask, $6.95 which will work to smooth cracked feet and soften calluses. Tip 2: Throw on socks when you are lounging around the house and avoid walking barefoot on sand or any similar rough surfaces. This will keep the protective layer of nail polish on your toes. Tip 3: Avoid wearing pointy-toed shoes or any tight-fitting heels, they will rub off your polish slowly, but surely.
Women who get their eyebrows professionally done usually get them shaped once every two to three weeks. Streicher (who charges her big-wig clients up to $200 a session) says you can extend the life of a shaping session by two weeks by following these tips:
Tip 1: Instead of getting your brows waxed, get them tweezed. It lasts longer. Tip 2: Between pro tweezing sessions, only pluck the darkest hairs that lie farthest away from your professionally sculpted brow shape (above the bridge of the nose, and stragglers under the brow bone). Always pull hairs out at the root, one at a time, and in the direction of hair growth. Pulling too many hairs will negate your salon tweezing and make you have to go more often in order to fix your mistakes. Over tweezing is a fast way and expensive ticket to what Streicher calls "Brow Rehab." Tip 3: When pulling necessary stragglers, use professional-grade tweezers. The one-time investment will save you money in the long run as they don't need to be sharpened. Streicher swears by Rubis Tweezers, $29.95 Tip 4: When your brows start to grow out, and lose a bit of their shape after your professional tweezing, use an eyebrow pencil to redefine them. Find a highly-rated eyebrow pencil or gel here. Filling them in and recreating the shape will take attention away from any random hairs outside of your sculpted shape, says Streicher.
Let's kick off this budget beauty bonanza by admitting the obvious, shall we? Going to the salon for a haircut, color, blow out, manicure, pedicure, eyebrow shaping, waxing, etc. is expensive. Now let's crunch some beauty numbers. To find out just how much money you can save from prolonging the results of your many manicures and hours spent in the hairdresser's chair, we did some math -- albeit basic -- it's not our favorite subject. We added up the cost one reader spends on various treatments she gets in the Detroit, MI area (standard ones that are offered all over the country) over the course of one year, then we subtracted treatments she wouldn't need, if she knew how to make them last longer. Here are the facts about how much she could be saving on average. These numbers don't include tax or tip, but they'll give you a basic understanding of her savings if she knew these tricks:
Manicure ($12): About once every two weeks for a year = $288
With the following expert tips she could get one less manicure a month saving her $144 a year.
Haircut ($35): About once every three months for a year = $140
With the following expert tips she could get two less haircuts a year saving her $70
Coloring ($50): About 5 times a year = $250
With the following expert tips she could have one less coloring session a year saving her $50
Grand total of savings for just some of the treatments she gets in a year = $264
