Bizarre beauty secrets: Is there ANYTHING we women won't do in the pursuit of good looks?

Haemorrhoid cream for eye bags, hairspray to fix our make up and whitening toothpaste smeared on our bodies to remove fake tan... These are just a handful of the wacky tips women confess to using in the pursuit of beauty. 

Other tricks of the trade that emerged in a study of 2,000 women's top beauty habits included placing cold teaspoons on puffy eyes to soothe swelling and sleeping on the back to prevent wrinkles forming. 

Researchers who carried out the detailed study into women's rituals found four out of ten women utilise goods found in kitchen cupboards to look good. 

Homegrown beauty: Women will go to extreme lengths to improve their looks, a study revealed today

Topping the list came cooling cucumber, said to be effective at calming the complexion, and lemon for whitening nails and lightening hair. Strawberries are also said to brighten teeth, while cooled tea bags placed on the skin can have a soothing effect.

The research, carried out by Modern Milk, revealed that despite the glut of expensive beauty treatments on offer at salons, the majority of women stick to tried and tested beauty rituals passed down through the family or gleaned from female friends and colleagues.

Yesterday a spokeswoman said: 'Some of the beauty treatments in this list are more extreme than others and it's clear the lengths some women will go to to look beautiful.

Unusual: Women experimenting with haemorroid cream under the eyes and found it helped to reduce dark circles, the study revealed

'Having some little hints and tricks up your sleeve is one thing, but trying to constantly sleep on your back to avoid wrinkles or spraying your face with hairspray are quite severe.

'We wanted to poll women to find out what alternative beauty treatments they use and whether people make use of ingredients from kitchen cupboards.

'The age old trick of putting cold teabags or cucumber on the eyes to reduce puffiness is clearly still used today.'

BIZARRE BEAUTY SECRETS

• Haemorrhoid cream on under-eye bags
• Apply whisked eggs to hair to make it shiny
• Whitening toothpaste to get rid of fake tan on palms
• Hairspray sprayed into face to fix make-up
• Toothpaste on spots to reduce redness
• Sleep on back to avoid wrinkles
• Lemon juice to whiten tips of nails
• Cucumber on eyes to reduce puffiness
• Legs shaved with hair conditioner to soften hairs
• Bed socks filled with moisturiser for soft feet
• Talcum powder brushed through hair to remove oil
• Pinching cheeks to give a natural blush
• Nail polish in fridge to keep fresh
• Lipstick on cheeks when you run out of blusher
• Toothpaste on insect bites
• Lemon juice to lighten hair
• Spray hairbrush with perfume
• Heat up eye lash curlers before using them
• Cold teaspoons applied to eyes to make puffiness go down
• Mix a drop of serum with foundation to make skin look glowing
• Drink milk every day
• Drink two litres of bottled water everyday

Many of the tips have been handed down through generations.

Brushing hair with talcum powder to freshen up greasy roots and using lipstick on the cheeks when blusher runs out were common tricks used by our grandmothers. 

But alongside these traditional tips came a plethora of more modern unconventional habits undertaken by women in the privacy of their bathroom.

The study found many shave their legs with hair conditioner to soften the stubble.

Others admitted to splashing lemon juice on their hair in the hope it will develop a lighter tint when exposed to the sunlight.

Smearing toothpaste on spots and blemishes and sleeping in socks full of moisturiser are also common.

Vaseline is regularly used to smooth out frizzy hair and many women also use toothpaste to soothe insect bites.

Using tea tree oil on ingrowing hairs and steaming the face in herb water also made the list.

But most strange of all has to be the use of haemorrhoid cream to decrease under-eye bags. 

Women who have experimented with the theory say the cream shrinks enlarged capillaries on the face, thus reducing the appearance of dark circles. 

We'll have to take their word on that one.

source: Dailymail