Spraying hairspray at the face to avoid smudging and sleeping on their back to prevent wrinkles are among weird and wonderful beauty secrets employed by women, it emerged yesterday.
Other tricks of the trade include placing cold teaspoons on puffy eyes to sooth swelling and spraying perfume on a hairbrush to give the hair an alluring scent.
Researchers who carried out a detailed study into beauty regimes, habits and rituals found four out of ten women utilise goods found in kitchen cupboards to look good.
Smearing toothpaste on spots and blemishes and sleeping in bed in socks full of moisturiser are also common.
The extreme lengths to which women go to were revealed following a comprehensive study involving 2,000 women by sophisticated dairy drink Modern Milk.
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.
''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 hair spray 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.''
The research revealed the majority of women stick to tried and tested beauty rituals passed down through the family or gleaned from female friends and colleagues.
They include drinking two litres of bottled water every day and drinking a glass of milk or two when possible to give the body a calcium boost.
And the age old tradition of placing cucumber slices on eyes to freshen them up is still a favourite.
But a plethora of more modern unconventional habits undertaken by women in the privacy of their bathroom were also uncovered.
It 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.
Brushing hair with talcum powder to freshen up greasy roots and using lipstick on the cheeks when blusher runs out are also common tricks, it emerged.
Vaseline is regularly used to smooth out frizzy hair and many women also use toothpaste to soothe insect bites.
Among the other weird and wonderful techniques was pinching cheeks before entering nightclubs, bars or restaurants to give them a radiant red glow.
Using tea tree oil on ingrowing hairs and steaming the face in herb water also made the list of 25 most common tricks.
The survey also revealed tomatoes (74 per cent) salmon (59 per cent), olive oil (56 per cent), oats (54 per cent) and avocado (40 per cent) were foods that women consider an important part of diet in terms of beauty.
Top of their list was milk, which 77 per cent of women in the UK believe is the most important beauty food, especially when it comes to their skin, hair and nails.
This was pleasing news to TV Doctor Dr Hilary Jones, a big fan of milk, who believes women shouldn't be wasting money on cosmetics but spending it on foods that are rich in calcium and essential nutrients.
BIZARRE BEAUTY SECRETS
- Drink two litres of bottled water everyday
- Toothpaste on spots
- Cucumber on eyes to freshen them up
- Shave legs with hair conditioner
- Sleep in socks filled with moisturizer for soft feet
- Cucumber slices on eyes to reduce puffiness
- Drink milk every day
- Brush talcum powder through hair to freshen it up
- Pinching cheeks to give a natural blush
- Hairspray on face to fix make-up
- Nail polish in fridge
- Lipstick on cheeks when you have ran out of blusher
- Toothpaste on insect bites
- Lemon juice to lighten hair
- Spray hairbrush with perfume
- Lemon juice on highlighted hair
- Heat up eye lash curlers before using them
- Cold teaspoons applied to eyes to make puffiness go down
- Sleep on back to avoid wrinkles
- Keep nail varnish in fridge to make it last longer
- Mix a drop of serum with foundation to make skin look glowing
- Lemon juice to whiten tips of nails
- Hemorrhoid cream on under-eye bags
- Apply whisked eggs to hair to make it shiny
- Whitening toothpaste to get rid of fake tan on palms
