DIY or DIBuy? At-Home Skincare Hacks That Are a Great Idea (& Those That Aren't)

People love the idea of making their own skincare at home — just take a look at any number of Pinterest boards, Instagram posts, and YouTube channels. But are they all a good idea? Here, we take a look at some great at-home skincare hacks — and some that are better left to the pros.

Whenever I go on Pinterest to search for recipes, I inevitably end up browsing the at-home skincare hacks. I mean, most of them are pretty terrible and involve baking soda, lemons, or some sort of essential oil shenanigans, BUT I gotta admit, some of the things I’ve seen have definitely made me go hmmmmmm … I could maaaaybe try that.

There’s something pretty freaking charming about making your own beauty products. I always have this long lost dream of me living in a huge, modern house with a bathroom the size of my current living room and I have an entire wall of cute little decanted skincare that I’ve somehow made myself. I mean, the THOUGHT of it is nice, but I am definitely not about that DIY everything life.

For starters, most of the DIY people on Pinterest and beyond are all about not using “chemicals” and they’re all about natural skincare. I am a believer that “chemicals” are not bad (P.S., everything is a chemical). So this whole only-using-natural-products-like-lemon-and-baking-soda doesn’t really appeal to me. Give me all the chemicals, especially AHAs, BHAs, and everything in between.

However, I can admit that I am a bit thrifty, and the cost of some skincare products are absurd, especially when you really can make them yourself for a fraction of the cost. On the other hand, there are some at-home skincare hacks you should definitely not attempt to DIY. Let’s talk about them, shall we?

DIY: Sugar scrub

I’ve never understood paying massive amounts of money for scrubs — lip, body, or face. One of my favorite scrubs on the planet is the LUSH lip scrub in the Mint Julips flavor. It’s literally made with sugar, jojoba oil, vanilla extract, and peppermint oil. You can very, very easily buy these ingredients (you might already have them at home!) and make like 20 pots of this scrub for the same price as one. I mean, swap out the extract and essential oils and you can make your own body and face scrub using the same ingredients. Save those coins for serums and sheet masks, OK!

DIBuy: Vitamin C serum

One of the more intriguing DIYs I’ve seen are vitamin C serum. It seems simple enough: Buy some vitamin C powder, distilled water, and vegetable glycerin, put it in a dark container, and BOOM — vitamin C serum. For me, there are too many variables at play. You need to make sure all of your ingredients are legit and weighed and measured. You gotta make sure that your DIY station is completely sterilized, as well as all of your tools and containers. And how do you know how shelf-stable it is? I mean, I get crazy if I spot any bit of inconsistencies with sh—t that I’ve bought! I’m gonna just buy some vitamin C serum from Tia’m and call it a day.

DIBuy: Sunscreen

One of the most alarming trends I’ve seen on Pinterest is a “DIY sunscreen” made with a dizzying assortment of oils like coconut, jojoba, vitamin E, carrot seed oil, and some other nonsense. I just … please don’t. I cannot stress enough how making your own sunscreen is probably one of the worst ideas ever. Sure, in theory it sounds like all of these oils with their minimal SPFs would come together to protect you from the sun … but no. Buy your sunscreen. Your skin is not worth the nonsense. Thanks!

DIY and DIBuy: Sheet masks

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You can 10,000% make your own sheet masks. Back when I lived in Korea, I used to buy basic, plain cotton masks from Daiso (oh, how I miss Daiso), and I’d put them in a clear container that snapped. And then I would dump an entire bottle of the original Missha FTE in the container. I’d let the masks soak, and then one by one, I’d pull them out. So yeah, instead of paying a premium price for the Missha FTE sheet masks, I just made my own.

Do you have an essence that you LOVE? Well, you can do the same thing! But if you’re not down, you can always be like me and hoard the 238,209,472 purchased masks anyway.

Do make any of your own skincare? Have you ever tried any of these at-home skincare hacks? Did it work? Let me know in the comments!