Have you ever cleaned out your refrigerator and found tucked way back in the corner, a few beers you forgot you had put in there months ago? If they’ve been hiding back there for a while, they are probably a little older than you prefer and have lost their freshness. Some peoples’ first instinct would be to pour the beer out, but until you read the rest of this post, don’t dump them just yet.
You’ve most likely heard that beer is great for cooking, but in this case the beer you found is probably a little too old to cook with.
Is there anything else you can use beer for? Absolutely!
Beer is full of great proteins, vitamins, and sugars, so it’s bound to work for you somewhere in your home. Here are a few great uses for beer that has either gone flat, or lost its initial freshness.
Beer in beauty –
I’m the kind of girl that loves all things beauty. I love makeup, skin care, and haircare. I also love beer. When I saw these two ideas, I went home and tried them out that day.
I have extremely thin hair that never seems to cooperate with me. I’ve read that beer has a lot of proteins and b vitamins, which are great ways to add lots of shine and body to hair. It’s extremely simple too. All you have to do is bring a beer or two into the shower (two if you plan on having a shower beer). After you shampoo your hair, massage the beer into your hair. I apply it directly at the root and let it work itself down to the ends. I like to massage it into my hair for a few minutes and then rinse the beer out. Afterwards, I follow up with a little more shampoo and conditioner to get the smell of beer out of my hair.
The results?
Like I said, I have extremely thin hair, which means if I want any type of volume or body, I need to use A LOT of product. I didn’t have to use any type of product until I washed my hair again after I tried a beer rinse. My hair had so much body, and it was so incredibly shiny. The first time I did this, I had quite a few people ask what I used to style my hair. Can you imagine the look on their faces when I said beer?
If you struggle with thin hair that does not want to do anything but lay flat on your head, I without question recommend this technique. It adds maybe five minutes to your shower but the results are worth it!
The second beauty trick I tried as soon as I read about it was a beer pedicure. The winter season is the time of dry skin, and my biggest pet peeve is when my feet and hands are dry. So what can you do? Mix half of a bottle to a full bottle of beer into a tub of water and soak your hands or feet for about 10-20 minutes. The yeast in the beer softens your skin and the alcohol acts as a natural disinfectant.
I love this trick so much that I try to do it about once a week. I’ll fill my pedicure bucket up with warm to hot water, pour some beer in, and soak my hands or feet. While doing this, I either get some work done, or do what I do best… watch makeup videos on YouTube. After about 20 minutes (Sometimes I stay longer because I don’t feel like getting up quite yet), I grab a towel and dry my feet or hands and follow up with some lotion. You would be amazed at how soft they get!
I recommend that everyone tries this out, especially with flip flop season quickly approaching. Beer makes such an incredible difference in my beauty routine. I’m constantly on the hunt for more tricks like these.
Beer at home –
Do you have that one wooden table that seems almost lifeless? The “new furniture shine” is gone, leaving a dull, boring object in the room. I recommend you try some beer!
Pour beer onto a soft cloth and in circular motions, buff it into the table. Honestly, I have no idea what magical ingredient is in beer that is able to polish furniture, but after I tried it once on my table, I have told everyone. I recommend finding a spot on your wooden furniture that is not visible and testing this trick first. Different finishes can react differently. Once I saw the results the first time, I was instantly hooked. I’ve used beer on the wood on just about every piece of furniture in my house and it all looks brand new again. I even have my fiancés mom using this method, and she loves it.
I will say with this process, you can smell the beer for a short time after cleaning. I usually take a warm damp rag after letting it settle for a few minutes and wipe the excess beer off. Does it help with the smell? I’m not 100% sure, but it does help to stop my dog from licking beer off the furniture afterwards.
This final trick is amazing! My family has done it ever since I was little, whenever we have an outdoor party.
An hour or so before your guests are going to arrive, fill a few bowls or cups with beer and place them around the perimeter of your yard. The sugar in the beer attracts bugs like nobody’s business, leaving everyone free of those annoying little gnats and flies while they’re eating or trying to enjoy each other’s company.
In my opinion, this works better than the tiki torches that most people use as a bug repellent and it’s definitely better than having to spray everyone with bug spray before they go outside.
I hope you find some great use out of these tips and tricks with your mysterious back corner beer. If you have any odd uses for beer, let me know on The Duck-Rabbit Twitter or Facebook pages.
Cheers,
Becky