Trailside Homestead

Is money the true key to beauty?

As the cost of living seems to continue to be on the rise many things I used to buy without a second thought are now things I have to decide just how important what I’m buying really is. One of the many items I have started to cut back on is how much I spend on beauty products. While I have never had the kind of money to blow on full body massages or fancy hair cuts one thing that I have always been inclined to buy is beauty products. It is easy to rationalize a small reward like a tube of mascara or new nail polish especially after a long stressful week but as things began to get more expensive I found myself skipping even things I once considered just basic necessities. Things like lotion, pimple patches, and random face serums were all things I would splurge on on a regular basis as I convinced myself I needed them in order to stay attractive. But did I really need to spend all that money on random products all willy nilly? Well the short answer is no but it wasn’t until recently I realized why.

Does Money Equal Perfection?

Thanks to platforms such as Tik Tok, Insta, and even Twitter for the longest time I believed you had to spend money in order to be truly beautiful. Many of the women on the platforms I followed had spent hundreds on makeup, serums, and fancy facials as well as thousands on plastic surgery. While I have never had a problem with people spending money on the way the looked it had convinced me that I would only ever be able to get so pretty unless I actually started dishing out cold hard cash. Plus I was a teen in the era of makeup gurus so I was constantly fed products I should buy. Just like any other teen girl I was plagued with insecurities and if I am being completely honest I didn’t start glowing up really until after I turned 18. I had acne, frizzy/heavily damaged hair, and wasn’t exactly a skinny legend by any means. Watching all these people show off their glow up journey’s had inspired me to start one of my own except I really didn’t know what I was doing. While I did watch a lot of reviews on products and bought a wide range of products it all really wasn’t helping me glow up at all. I had become caught up in the consumer aspect of everything, I wanted to try something because it was trendy or because an influencer swore by it not because I did any real research if the product would even meld well with my skin/hair type. As I got older and began having more bills and responsibilities I had decided that first of all I was going to have a glow up no matter what and the second was I wanted to become more conscious of how I spent my money. The question was how though? As I got older I still was coming to the conclusion that money equaled beauty after all many influencers to me at least hadn’t really started to glow up until they became popular and had money to spend on all sorts of treatments but as a young adult I just didn’t have the kind of money to justify buying everything they used, especially nowadays when everything is double or even triple the price it had once been. So just how did I glow up?

The Glow Up Starts Now!

As money became tighter I had decided to start taking a look at what I really was spending my hard earned money on. All of the sudden I realized just how wasteful I was truly being. I had all these face washes, serums, and makeup that I had either barely used or were just flat out not working but I had kept using them anyways. The other event that happened and forgive me for how cringey this makes me sound but the looks maxxing movement genuinely helped me progress in my glow up journey. While I think there are a lot of goofy aspects to looks maxxing it surprisingly had a lot of good information on glowing up naturally and cheaply. Through getting lost in the sauce of glow up Tik Tok I was able to discover it is actually possible to make immense progress without dishing out so much money. Focusing on core pillars like drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, exercising, and having a healthy diet all were key to truly glowing up. Now I am not dumb, everyone knows if you take care of yourself of course you will look more attractive but I had always just kinda looked over those pillars. I would read advice such as drink 8 cups of water a day and think pfft duh but than proceed to drink maybe 2 and wonder why I wasn’t seeing any real change. Besides the basic pillars I also discovered the skill of being patient. See I am definitely not a patient person, just like everyone else I wanna see the result of what I am doing sooner than later or else I feel like it’s not working. While I did try my best to ride out products part of the problem was I never stuck with a routine. Somedays I would just soak my face in products or other days I would just raw dog it. My poor skin never had a clue what was going on.

Sticking with a routine helped me to save both space and money on products I wasn’t really using and changing my overall lifestyle habits also proved to be quiet helpful (Who would have guessed eating healthier instead of only living off cheetos and fast food would make me glow up lol :} ). Besides that I also started doing research on what I was buying as well as what I actually needed to use to solve my problems and when I did finally make my purchase I tried to opt for cheaper alternatives or only spend the extra money on a product that I knew would be worth every penny. No need to spend money on this little thing here and that little thing there, instead I would spend my money wisely. I found that not only did I not need all the products I had accumulated but I actually had a lot of useful ingredients in my own kitchen. Icing my face with an ice cube helped me reduce redness and pores. Ingredients such as turmeric, coffee grounds, honey, sugar, and many more can be used to make at home scrubs, face masks, and hair masks. All these doors began to open up and I had realized I had the answer in front of me all this time.

But Wouldn’t Money Help?

For many being beautiful is core to who they are and how they survive. As much as we like to tell ourselves that its more about what you look like on the inside rather than the outside the fact is we also are just more prone to preferring the more attractive option in life. If you have ever been the ugly friend or were once ugly but had a glow up you know first hand how cruel the world can be to those it deems as undesirable. It can make dating, getting jobs, making friends all the more difficult despite what people tell you. Knowing this many people feel pressured to solve their insecurities by any means necessary even if puts their bank account in the red. I have always encouraged those around me to strive to be better both physically and mentally because we should all be striving to become our best selves. That being said it sure feels hard to do so when you don’t even have the means to. As someone who understands that life is full of curve balls and unknowns it is important reduce the amount of stress in your life as much as possible. While sure there are more important things to life then the way you look that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to treat yourself. Keeping a good appearance helps boost your mood and for some even their opportunities in life but money shouldn’t be the thing keeping you from your goals. I had used the excuse of having no money instead of finding a way around it. As much as we think we have everything down sometimes you are just your own worst enemy. Talking down to yourself, being lazy, and coming up with a million reasons why you can’t do something. While not having money certainly makes things hard it’s not impossible in fact it may even teach you ways you can save money in other aspects of your life. I will be coming out with more details on my exact routines, products, and recommendations so be sure to subscribe for more and if you enjoyed it perhaps comment with any of your budget tips and tricks to stay cute!

With love, Veronica Fox