Women Are Saving Thousands of Dollars With DIY Beauty Procedures. It’s Not Always Pretty.

Attempting at-home skin and hair treatments that involve harsh chemicals can easily backfire.

To conserve cash on her beauty regime, Brooke Burnside dermaplanes her face and tints her own brows with henna at home. “Doing these services myself has saved me thousands,” said Burnside, 32, the owner of a fitness studio in Bridgehampton, N.Y. Sue Phillips, 65, recently started mixing her own body cream. “I have become a lot more conscious of how much I’m spending,” said Phillips, who works in the fragrance industry in New York.

With rising prices, recession fears and tariffs top of mind, women like Phillips and Burnside are skipping the beauty parlor, and taking treatments into their own hands.

While you can, with a bit of know-how, perform some salon services safely and successfully in your own bathroom, doctors caution that others come with risks that outweigh the potential savings.

Dr. Jennifer Levine, a facial plastic surgeon, says she recently saw a patient who had attempted microneedling at home, scarring her forehead. Following unvetted online tutorials, said Levine, “can be a real recipe for disaster.”

Here, a primer on the beauty procedures that are fine to take on yourself (and what to know before you begin), and the ones still best left to the professionals.

Skincare

NO WAY

Chemical peels, which are formulated with various kinds of exfoliating acids, vary widely in potency. Applying your own can be like playing Russian roulette with your skin. Dr. Kiran Mian, a dermatologist in New York City, warns that DIY peels can do real damage. “I have seen burn marks on a patient’s cheeks and permanent texture changes on a patient’s face,” said Mian.

Next, injectables. Now that anyone can purchase neurotoxins and hyaluronic acid (aka off-label Botox dupes) on websites like Alibaba, people are foolishly trying to inject their own, according to doctors.

Potent peels can permanently change skin texture.

Dr. Theda Kontis, a facial plastic surgeon in Baltimore, says she recently helped treat a patient who had purchased filler online and self-injected it, embolizing an artery in her face in the process. (Luckily, Kontis was able to restore blood flow.) Other risks include stroke and blindness, making this a hard pass.

OK

Dermaplaning, which involves using a small, single-blade razor to shave off dead skin cells and peach fuzz for a brighter complexion, gets a thumbs-up from Dr. Julie Russak, a dermatologist in Manhattan. It may, however, take you a while to get the hang of it. The first time Krystn Walmsley, 36, a content creator in Mobile, Ala., tried dermaplaning at home, she broke out in little bumps and nicked herself several times. Russak offers the following tips: Cleanse the skin well, hold skin taut and use short, light strokes. “No pressure needed.” The key to Walmsley’s eventual success? “A quality razor and a face oil to provide glide,” she said, citing two recommendations from online videos created by dermatologists.

Invest in a quality dermaplaning razor to help prevent irritation. Dermaflash Luxe+ Sonic Dermaplaning + Peach Fuzz Removal Set, $199

Dyeing

NO WAY

Don’t risk performing at-home chemical treatments on your eyelashes, says Dr. Ashley Brissette, a New York City ophthalmologist. Among the ill-effects she’s seen: inflammation of the eye and eyelid, and chemical burns, all consequences of poor application or reactions to the dyes and solutions used to tint and perm lashes. Other risks: Lash loss, eye infections and chronic dry eye. “People think it looks easy and straightforward, but it’s really hard looking in the mirror and doing these things [safely],” said Brissette.

Lash loss and eye infections are just two of the risks of attempting at-home eyelash treatments.

OK

Eyebrows present fewer risks. If you want to lighten or darken yours at home, make sure not to pile on too much product as it can drip into the eyes, says Brissette. And buy the correct dye—the chemicals in hair or beard dye can be too harsh. Walmsley initially tried Just for Men beard dye and posted about it on Instagram, prompting the brand to tell her to stop (she now uses a dye specifically for eyebrows).

Michele Holmes, a brow artist based in Marin County, Calif., suggested trying a patch test behind the ear to rule out allergic reactions to the dye. Before you begin, apply petroleum jelly around brows to protect skin from irritation and wayward dye, and use a spoolie to distribute the formula evenly, she adds. Another key rule? “Start with two to five minutes and check progress [frequently].”

Haircare

NO WAY

Hair straightening or smoothing treatments, which use chemicals and heat to change your hair’s shape and texture, are best left to the pros. If you miscalculate treatment time, temperature or the amount of product, you can damage your hair. Don’t attempt this, “as simple as your technician may make it seem,” said Rita Gili, the co-owner of New York salon Maison Seventy Seven. She recently saw a client who’d tried to apply keratin at home, using a flatiron at the wrong temperature setting. “Now she is not only tackling frizz, she is managing and enduring broken hair,” said Gili.

OK

Hair glosses—meant to restore shine, remove brassiness or enhance tone—are perhaps the most amateur-friendly hair treatment. Simply saturate wet hair with gloss, rinse and shampoo as usual. Tylor Johnson, a hair colorist in San Francisco who created Nous Haircare, a line of at-home glosses, suggests looking for formulas made with hydrating ingredients such as jojoba oil. Novices can start with semi-permanent dyes which wash out over time, or clear glosses that only add shine, not tint.

Playing the Long Game

At-home treatments aren’t the only way to beat tariff threats. Smart shoppers are stocking up now on long-lasting beauty products. Here, what to buy—and avoid.

Stockpiling products that expire before you can use them will drain your budget instead of saving you money. Some categories where you can double buy? Eye shadows, powder blushes and lipsticks, which usually don’t expire for up to three years when unopened. “Makeup ingredients are not as interactive as skin care actives, so there isn’t as much of a concern [from a stability standpoint],” said Anay Kacharia, a cosmetic chemist in Mahwah, N.J.

But don’t try to beat the tariffs by stocking up on serums or creams with retinol or ascorbic acid, otherwise known as vitamin C, says Kacharia. The formulas usually have a short lifespan. Instead, go for powder formulas, like Exponent Beauty’s Brightening Boost Vitamin C, one of our favorites for a dose of skin-plumping hydration. Said Dr. Julie Russak, a dermatologist in Manhattan, of vitamin C: “In its powdered state, as long as it’s kept dry, cool and away from light and air, its degradation rate is extremely slow.”