Alternative Uses for Baby Powder

17 Awesome Frugal Ways To Use Baby Powder For Random Household Jobs

Baby powder is a common household item that can be found in almost ANY mother’s home. Recently, studies have been advising you NOT to use it on your baby like my mother did with me (but, that is a personal preference) SO I decided to find new ways to use baby powder. You can find baby powder for such a decent price, so why not use it to replace products that otherwise cost so much!

1.  Sprinkle some baby powder over sand-covered kids (and adults) to soak up excess moisture and make the sand incredibly easy to brush off. You will be AMAZED at how easy the sand comes off. I hate finding sand all over my car and house after a trip to the beach and baby powder has become such a lifesaver.

 2.  Cool things down by sprinkling a bit of baby powder between your favorite sheets on warm summer nights. I was super hesitant about this one but honestly, it works! Your sheets feel extra refreshing when you get in on late summer nights!

3.  Vigorously rub a handful or two of baby powder into your pet’s fur. Let it settle in for a couple of minutes, and follow up with a thorough brushing. Your dog will both look and smell great! My pets are constantly running around and into mischief and this helped us so much! Your dog will think you are just giving her a good pet down and will not even think twice about it! This is way easier than trying to bathe them!

4.  Use it as dry shampoo for your hair. Just sprinkle some powder on your palms or fingers and rub it into your scalp to absorb the oil. I love this! Dry shampoo can be so expensive but this is the perfect way to keep your hair looking fresh, without having to wash it daily! Once you rub it in, there is no trace of powder! It is like magic.

5.  Dust a small amount of powder onto your eyelashes before applying mascara to make them look fuller. It is best when used with a q-tip or an unused mascara brush, rather than your fingers. What I do is just apply one coat of mascara, apply powder (try to get most of it at the ends of your lashes), and then apply another coat of mascara to cover up the white. You’ll be amazed at how your lashes look.

6.  If you get a grease splatter on your clothing, try dabbing the stain with some baby powder on a powder puff. Make sure you rub it in well, and then brush off any excess powder. Repeat until the mark is gone.

7.  Loosely place playing cards in a plastic bag along with a bit of baby powder. Seal the bag and give it a few good shakes. When you remove your cards, they should feel fresh and smooth to the touch. This is a huge lifesaver when we get new playing cards and are about to have family game night. There is no time for them sticking together!

8.  For moldy or mildewed books, try this: First, let them thoroughly air-dry. Then, sprinkle some baby powder between the pages and stand the books upright for several hours. Afterward, gently brush out the remaining powder from each book. This will leave them smelling super fresh!

9.  Place 5-6 flower bulbs and about 3 tablespoons baby powder in a sealed plastic bag and give it a few gentle shakes. The medicated-powder coating helps both reduce the chance of rot and keep away moles, voles, grubs, and other bulb-munching pests. This will help keep your flower bulbs alive and fresh for even longer!

10.  Sprinkle a little powder along an ant trail or around your picnic blanket to get rid of ants. We all know how ants love to be uninvited guests to our summer picnics, but with this simple trick, you can shew all of these ants out of your way.

11.  Going for a summer run? Sprinkle powder wherever you may chafe before heading out. The powder will help reduce friction when running to keep your skin protected and smooth. I have done this many times and it works wonders. Your skin can get so irritated in the summer heat and this will help a ton!

12.  To ease waxing pain, dust the area with baby powder before applying the wax. The powder will absorb moisture and body oils so the wax can properly adhere to each hair, plus it will create a barrier to protect your skin.

13.  To fight shoe odor, lightly dust the inside of your shoes with powder and let them sit overnight. I love to do this to my kid’s shoes after sports practice. These are my daughter’s track shoes and about once a week I like to sprinkle some powder in them to keep them fresh!

14.  For squeaky floorboards, sprinkle some baby powder between the boards and sweep into the cracks. No need to have that creaky noise bother you all day long and wake your kids up at night. Just sprinkle, sweep, and you are all set.

15.  Dust a tangled necklace chain with baby powder to make it easier to untangle. I have no idea how my jewlery constantly gets so tangled. This is a picture of 3 of my necklaces just after a vacation. I had nicely put them in a bag and them came out of my suitcase looking like this! I love this simple trick because it saves me SO much time when I am untangling my jewelry messes!

16.  Coat your hands with baby powder, or dust the inside of your gloves, to make it easier to put on rubber gloves. This is awesome for when you are cleaning! It will make taking off those germ-infested gloves much easier. Plus, it will make your gloves smell so clean and fresh!

17.  Apply it to the insides of your heels! By doing so, you will be able to keep the swelling down in your feet and prevent them from swelling as the day goes on. Not only that, your feet will smell great!

These are just 17 of the awesome ways that you can use baby powder to make your life a little easier. They are all easy to do and will take just a minute. The thing that sells me is that we could go out and buy a dry shampoo, something to make our shoes smell good, a product to kill ants, or a product to protect our skin before waxing…but why not just buy one product that can do it all?

Comment below and let me know if you have any other ways you love to use baby powder? I love hearing from you and knowing how you use everyday household products!

Find a deal on Baby Powder!

 (Thanks to Reader’s Digest & Gomestic for the ideas.)

 

Types: Cleaning, Remedies, Adult, Baby, Family, Kids, Teen
Categories: Beauty, Frugal, Inside The House, Natural, Outside The House, Summer

Comments

  • I am going to try giving my puppies a baby powder bath tomorrow. That is a great idea and one that i said “duh” wheni read it!

  • Another use for baby powder (or cornstarch): If you want to make a sticker “pop” off a card or scrapbook page, put a small piece of foam tape on the back of the sticker, then use a paintbrush to apply powder to the exposed areas of the sticker (the protective covering should still be on the foam tape) and the “stickiness” will disappear. Before removing the protective covering make sure your hands and the “destination” are powder free, then remove covering, apply “popped” sticker! Hope that makes sense!

  • I have also heard that baby powder will help kill fleas on dogs by sprinkling it on them and letting it settle. It smothers the fleas, you can also sprinkle it on their pet beds.

  • It also works like a dry shampoo for those days that your bangs or roots are lookin’ a little greasy but not worth washing, drying, and styling for. I apply it straight to my roots and brush or comb through and tada! grease is all dried up!

  • I know this is a little gross, but I heard once that if you drop something in the toilet you can dump a bunch of baby powder in the water and then reach in the toilet really fast and grab whatever you dropped. The baby powder is supposed to keep your hand dry and clean.

  • I have used Baby Powder to stop a door from rubbing on the wood when you open it…it always made loud noise, a little powder and now it doesn’t…you have to repeat every few months, but beats that sound every time you open the door.

  • Pour a small amount in your swim cap, rub the cap back and forth to distribute, and it helps avoid tearing your hair when you put it on! For all those swimmers out there!

  • My favorite use is with pumpkin carving! If you are putting a pattern on the pumpkin and punching all your tracing holes they are so much easier to see if you rub a touch of powder over the pumpkin. It makes them stand out so its easier to see and you can check out your design before you cut.

  • Old surfers trick: fill a tube sock half full of baby powder. Tie it off and drop it in a ziploc bag before you go to the beach. Leave it in the car. When you return, all sandy, rub the dry sand on your legs and feet with the baby powder sock and the sand will fall right off!

  • Rick Dale, of the discovery Channels Show: “American Restoration” uses baby powder or talcum powder after he waxes his painted finishes, like on his cars and ( no pun intended) powder coated finishes. IT will TAKE/ buff out those annoying swirl marks off the car without harming the finish!!!! WOW!!!!

  • After a haircut, sprinkle baby powder on a towel and dust off the neck. It will get rid of all of the hairs.

  • Be careful with using baby powder for chafing, it’s been linked to ovarian cancer in women.

  • With all of the reliable and factual information out there confirming the cancer risks of using baby powder, I cannot even imagine your focus on other ways to use talc powder. Ovarian and lung cancer are the high risks. Your pet is at risk for lung cancer if you try the pet use of talc powder. Using it anywhere (lashes) on your face?! Please: Wake up. Facts are facts. Because you have a platform, you are responsible for educating and informing a segment of our world. Be kind. Warn people. Instead of marketing a personal perception of good talc use, check the facts and inform people of the high risks, please.

    • I agree. I only use baby powder with corn starch. Smells just the same only healthy. Talc is made from sand. And don’t let your dogs breath in the cornstarch only baby powder. I’m 72 and must use it in feminine places to stay dry. Under the bust too. But only cornstarch baby powder.

    • I couldn’t agree more, I can’t believe this post even exists, and it should be deleted! The only place for baby powder with talc is the trash, period. Inhaling it can cause mesothelioma, and use in genital area increases the risk of ovarian cancer by 30 percent! I can’t even imagine what it would do to your eyes over time if “dusted onto your eyelashes” every day. Please delete so people will not participate in this dangerous behavior.

      http://www.center4research.org/talcum-powder-ovarian-cancer/

  • With all due respect if one reads the actual research papers, not someone else’s interpretations, you’ll find that azbestos was to blame for the cancer link as talcum wasn’t as pure as it is today. You can find talc in a myriad of products, many are makeup products such as eye shadows and blushes and there is no increase in eye cancer etc.

  • thank you for sharing useful post

  • I sprinkle the powder on my area rugs and after a few minutes just vacuum for a refresh. I also do this on my mattresses once a month.
    I have also sprinkled in shoes or rubbed on feet when I knew I was going to be outside in the heat all day. It works any great almost anywhere one would perspire.

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