cheap beauty tips

When you're in a jam and desperate for hair or nail help, the perfect fix can come from some highly unexpected places. Whether you tore a nail and can't get to the salon, need a manicure to dry fast, or forgot your curling iron before a big event, there's slightly bizarre but excellent assistance for you when you keep reading.

Alcohol. Sulfates. Silicones. Is it time for your hair to go into chemical rehab? Each of these common ingredients has a purpose, but they can also be overused, causing the hair to act out. Get educated on what's in your hair products and figure out a few simple solutions for better strands when you continue reading.

There's a lot of quirky beauty advice out there, but it can be hard to tell which tips are smart and which ones are just kinda weird. The following five tips may seem a little beyond the norm, but they actually do work, and they're either free or very, very cheap to boot.

1. Spray starch for hair styling. As in the stuff you use to keep shirt collars nice and stiff. Ever wondered how stylists kept those flippy '50s ponytails so perfect? It was a light spritzing of laundry starch on ends before curling. It still works wonders if you need something more powerful than hairspray.
2. Tea bags to repair damaged nails. If you break a nail while you're out and need some manicure triage, just cut out a bit of the filter from a tea bag and use any adhesive you have to glue it under your nail.
3. Almonds as eyeliner. If you've always loved the idea of wearing natural makeup, this is a fun one to try. Light an almond on fire, let it burn, and then gather the soot to use as powder eyeliner. The almond oil makes the ashes "sticky" so it stays on your lash line and the colour you'll get is a really pretty, intense black.
4. Baking soda to fix fake tan streaks. If your fake tan came out uneven, don't panic. Instead, grab that box of baking soda from your fridge and give yourself a good exfoliation. You'll be surprised by how much more gentle and effective it is than using a scrub.
5. Freeze (or burn) your eyeliner. Got eyeliner that always crumbles or falls off the pencil when you apply it? Just pop it in your freezer for half an hour to harden it up for better application. If, on the other hand, your eyeliner formula is too hard, just hold it over a lighter for a second. It'll soften it up so that you can apply it more easily, and, when it cools down, it'll stay just as well.

Image credit: Flicker user Eduardo Mueses