It is a common experience for almost anyone: we buy skincare products that look appealing either for their packaging, price, or reviews and then discover it’s just not good for us. It might be a fragrance we don’t like – or the fact that they have a fragrance at all – the harshness on our skin, or that we’ve opened the product and left it there on the shelf long enough for it to be considered part of the furniture. Or maybe we simply didn’t get the right product for our skin type; dermatologists say that gender-marketed products can be a bit misleading. For example, typically, cisgender men’s skin would be oilier but, obviously, that does not apply to all cisgender men; women-targeted skincare often smells like a bouquet of flowers, but that can irritate the most sensitive skin types, and so on.

So, if you want to ditch the binary and shop for your skin type rather than your assigned-at-birth gender, you should check out these queer skincare brands.

But what can we do with those products we’ve mentioned, the ones we’ve bought and tried and discovered are simply not for us? A few ideas can help avoid wasting them while still getting some of the benefits.

Use Face Creams on Your Body

Moisturizing your body with face cream is an effective way to ensure that the product won’t sit on the shelf for too long. The quantity in the small package will be gone in maximum two days! Moreover, the skin on our body is tougher than the one on our face, so if your most sensitive parts didn’t like the product, it’s unlikely your legs will suffer from it.

Use Exfoliating Scrubs in the Shower

As it goes for face creams, sometimes face scrubs can be too harsh and overall, not good. They work perfectly as body exfoliators, especially for the chest area, which is a very sensitive skin part of the body, and they’ll leave no irritation, as they are initially created with the face in mind. They can be used on knees, elbows, butt, feet, and sometimes do a more effective job than scrubs particularly designed for the body, as those can be quite tough as well.

Use Harsh Face Cleansers as Body Wash

If your facial acne is suffering from the harshness of the cleansing products you use, then it’s time to move their place into the shower. You can use them as body wash, or simply target your acne body spots, like maybe your back or butt.

Add Unused Serum or Toner to Your Body Moisturizer

Add a few drops of unused face serum or toner to your body moisturizer for extra hydration. This helps you get rid of the product fast, and enjoy the last benefits from the serum or toner, as they tend to lose their fragrance and effectiveness with time. And even though sometimes it’s better to have no fragrance at all, if the scent has faded it does not mean it’s good for you now.

Use Leftover SPF During Your All Year-Round Routine

The shelf life of SPF is normally twelve months, and since it’s important to use it daily, the best way to avoid waste is to wear a layer of that summer leftover sunscreen on your face before heading out the house, even in winter.

It's important to remember that we should switch up our skincare products regularly, as our skin can become tolerant to products over time and we need a different level of moisture depending on the season. Generally, we would need to increase our moisturizer usage during winter, and switch to a lighter consistency during summer.

If you have struggled with finding a skincare routine that works for you, visiting a specialist would probably be a good investment; that way you can verify what type of skin you have and research the best products and treatments for you. It should be noted that wrinkles and sun damage will probably not go away with cosmetics; if you are looking for a specific treatment, you should use medical-grade products prescribed by a specialist.