When you're feeling drab, no need to head to the department store and max out those credit cards. You may already have all the beauty products you need. Just open the medicine cabinet or fridge!

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Diane Irons is the author of many low-cost beauty books, including Bargain Beauty Secrets and Age-Defying Beauty Secrets: Look and Feel Younger Every Day. She tells WebMD that common household products, found in almost every medicine cabinet, can be used to for purposes other than those listed on the label:

• Hemorrhoid cream. The cream version, not the greasy one, can be used for undereye puffiness. Let it soak in and apply makeup. "It's also good to de-puff the jawline."

• White toothpaste. Regular toothpaste, not the gel kind, can be dabbed on pimples to dry them overnight.

• Eye drops. If you don't have time to treat a pimple overnight, anti-reddening eyedrops can also be applied to pimples with a swab, left for 10 to 15 seconds, then makeup applied. The drops take the red right out, making the blemish coverable.

• Vitamin K salve, available over the counter, helps prevent stretchmarks.

• Pepto-Bismol makes a great face-tightening mask. Let it dry, then remove with warm water. It also helps seal the fate of cold sores, Irons says.

• Milk of magnesia. If your skin is oily, apply milk of magnesia and let it dry, then rinse before making up.

• Baby wipes. Forget the expensive face cleansing pads or cloths. These work fine to remove grime and makeup.

• Aspirin can be used to treat dandruff. In her book, The Model's Way to Beauty, Slenderness and Glowing Health, former Wilhelmina model Oleda Baker recommends mixing an inch of warm water in a coffee cup, dissolving 30 aspirin tablets and 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda, and applying the foaming concoction to your hair after shampooing. Leave it on for 15 minutes and then comb to work out flakes. Doing this every day for a week can eliminate dandruff.

• Vaseline. Even though many of the high-end beauty gurus sniff at "mineral oil" for your face, Alexa B. Kimball, MD, MPH, assistant professor of dermatology at the Stanford University Medical Center, tells WebMD that no one is allergic to petroleum jelly and it makes an excellent moisturizer, especially around the eyes. The layer holds in moisture. "It never irritates from perfumes," she says.

Beauty Tips for Hair From the Kitchen

After cruising the aisles of the drugstore, don't forget the kitchen. It is a beauty counter unto itself.

For more beautiful hair:

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