6 Great Uses for Berries (Other Than Eating Them) That Saves You Money
We’ve all heard about the many benefits that berries can offer when we incorporate them in our diets, and with summer coming, surely we’re looking for ways to use more and more berries in our cooking and baking.
Did you know, however, that you can also use berries in a variety of ways in your beauty routine and in everyday clean living? Here is a look at six great uses for berries that don’t involve eating them.
Lip stain
Still looking for that holy grail lip stain to add to your makeup stash? Go ahead and try making one yourself at home using a custom combination of berries for that perfect color. A simple DIY berry lip stain usually contains just two key ingredients: olive oil and some berries for color.
Homelife – Plant Guide: Summer Berries
The process is simple, as well. First mash about ten berries (such as blackberries or raspberries) well with a fork, and then add in about a teaspoon of olive oil. Then let the mixture drain into another container, using a fork to keep the seeds and chunks behind.
Store it in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge for up to a week!
Face mask
Many berries are highly beneficial when they are used as an ingredient in a homemade face mask. Strawberries, for example, contain alpha-hydroxy acid, which helps eliminate dead skin cells while cleansing the skin.
They also contain salicylic acid, which is known to prevent acne breakouts and which might even help tighten your pores. Blueberries, meanwhile, contain more antioxidants than any other food, plus a wide range of vitamins—all of which together can help prevent fine lines and wrinkles, increase elasticity, eliminate scars, and fight blemishes.
And raspberries contain a unique combination of vitamins that can improve skin elasticity and brightness. In short, berries are a great focal ingredient to consider for your face masks. Try making a simple mask at home using a ratio of 1 tablespoon of honey to 2 to 10 mashed berries, depending on the size of the berries you are using (strawberries would be 2 to 3 berries while blueberries would be 9 to 10 berries).
Mix until it becomes a smooth paste, smooth it onto the skin for about 2 minutes, and then let it rest on the skin for about 15 minutes before rinsing. You can also experiment with you mask making using ingredients like yogurt, green tea, and oats. Read more about using berries in your face masks here.
Face scrub
Alternatively, you can use a similar formulation to make a DIY face scrub for exfoliating once or twice per week. Add superfine (castor) sugar to a simple berry-and-honey face mask, for example, and massage the mixture into the skin for about a minute before rinsing.
Hair dye
If you have light blonde hair, then lucky you—you can use blueberries to give your hair a purple tint. (This can work on darker hair for giving your hair a colorful dimension, but keep in mind that your hair won’t look purple overall.)
You can make your own hair dye at home using about 1 1/2 cups of blueberries (mashed and strained), 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, and about 3/4 cup of a white hair mask. Combine the ingredients well and apply thoroughly with a paintbrush, taking extra care to cover your shoulders and work surface with large towels to collect any mess.
Leave on for an hour or two, rinse, and say hello to purple tinted hair!
Fabric dye
You can also use berries to make natural dye for fabric. The best materials to dye using these natural dyes are cotton, muslin, silk, wool, and linen. For pink, you can use strawberries and cherries.
For a reddish-purple, you’ll want to use red sumac berries or huckleberries. Blueberries, meanwhile, will give you a blue-purple color and blackberries a richer purple color. To make fabric dye with berries, you’ll want to boil your berries with twice as much water, let simmer for about one hour, and then strain what’s left to get the dye.
Before dyeing your fabric, be sure to simmer it in a salt fixative for about an hour first.
Edible paint
Want to try a fun, crafty, and safe activity at home with the kids? You can try “berry painting.” Cherries, black elderberries, and raspberries work especially well for this because they are so deeply pigmented.
To make your berry “paint,” simply mash the berries and strain them, leaving the pigmented juice behind. Add a bit of flour to each small bowl of pigmented juice to create watercolor like paints that you and your kids can use paintbrushes with. Tip: this is an activity where you’ll want to have lots of paper towels covering your work area!
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Category: Saving Money
