Personal Finance Resources: Financial Education & Literacy

7 Self-Care Products That Feel Expensive but Aren't

Written by PSECU | Feb 6, 2023 1:00:00 PM

Let's bust the myth that self-care has to be expensive to be effective or luxurious. There are plenty of affordable options to make yourself look and feel your best. Below, you’ll find seven ideas for self-care products that provide maximum luxury at minimum cost.

1. Face & Eye Masks
Self-care staples, face and eye masks, are readily available at just about every big box store, grocery store, or drugstore. Loaded with serums, vitamins, and moisturizers, they do everything from deep clean your skin to help fight wrinkles. Eye masks are great for targeting puffy undereyes and dark circles, giving your face a nice pick-me-up.

These items are accessibly priced, some starting as low as $2 each. Grab a bunch of different types the next time you’re at the store and find your favorites! Using a face mask is an easy way to give your skin a boost.

2. Jade Roller
Jade rollers are said to encourage lymphatic drainage and improve the skin’s natural detoxifying process. You can use a jade roller to instantly de-puff, wake up undereyes, and stimulate blood flow to the rest of your face. Commonly kept in the freezer to enhance the anti-inflammatory effects, the roller, when used regularly, will leave your skin glowing and can help other products absorb into the skin more effectively.

Jade rollers aren’t expensive, coming in at around $20 each, which is a small price to pay for being able to give yourself a spa treatment anytime you want!

3. Beautiful & Comfy Blankets
In the dead of winter, bump up the cozy factor with a soft, comfy blanket. Make sure you choose one in a material and style that puts a smile on your face. Whether for your bedroom or to curl up in while reading your favorite book, a blanket not only adds to the décor of a space but can be the perfect thing to wrap yourself in after a long day.

Designer names and fancy materials can make throws expensive, but there are so many affordable options that you don’t need to break the bank to find the perfect one.

4. Yoga & Meditation Cushion
Mindfulness practices like meditation and yoga are very popular. According to a study done by the CDC, about 28% of the population practiced yoga or meditation in the last year. Both yoga and meditation can have a significant impact on your overall wellness. Designed to promote maximum comfort and better posture while sitting, yoga and meditation cushions are a simple way to attain deeper relaxation during your practice.

Coming in a veritable rainbow of colors and materials, these cushions can be found for as little as $20. If you’re already an avid practitioner or are just dipping your toes into the mindfulness pond, this is an affordable way to enrich your experience.

5. Essential Oils & Portable/Mini Diffusers
Diffusing essential oils into the air can help boost your mood, reduce stress, promote calm and relaxation, and improve focus. Full-sized diffusers can run you over a hundred dollars. However, shopping for a portable or mini diffuser is a way to save a ton of cash but reap all the benefits diffusers offer. Mini diffusers are the perfect size for one room (hello home office!) and can be moved around easily or even brought along when traveling.

Read the instructions for your diffuser carefully to ensure you’re purchasing the correct kind of oils. Pay attention to things like purity of the oils and how they’re sourced. The good news is that as they’ve grown in popularity, essential oils are also now readily available at many different retailers and come in a variety of price ranges, making them very accessible.

6. Shower Tablets
Make your shower a luxurious experience by adding a shower tablet to your routine. Packed full of essential oils and offering aromatherapy benefits, shower tablets sit on the floor of your shower and slowly dissolve as the water hits them. Small, portable, and available in a variety of scents, these little tablets pack a big punch and make your morning routine feel just a bit more special.
Because the ingredients needed to make shower tablets are simple, these are generally not expensive items to purchase. With the rise in local purveyors of skin care and aromatherapy products, you’ll likely even be able to find a small business to purchase them from at an affordable price.

7. Scalp Massager
Let's face it - everyone's favorite part of getting their hair done is shampooing. The salon cleansing process offers a deep clean and a relaxing massage that’s hard to recreate. Enter: the scalp massager. Used when shampooing, scalp massagers have small, soft, silicone “fingers” that stimulate the scalp to help exfoliate dead skin, improve blood flow and circulation to the scalp, and relieve tension.

Coming in around $10, a scalp massager is a very affordable way to give yourself a salon experience at home between appointments and improve your overall hair and scalp health.

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