Cuca de lllum/flickr
When I was little, the only color nail polish that a “nice” girl wore was clear. And we knew how to use that clear goo in many ways. Here are my top 10 favorite uses for clear nail polish:
- Stop nylons from running. Remember we wore hose ALL the time. Even in the snowy winters of New England during the mini-skirt fashion craze. You just COULDN’T bear to have a run in your stocking. A little dab of clear polish would stop the run. Of course, it would also stick to your leg, so you have to kind of pull the nylon away from your skin until it dried.
- Polish the inside of the yarn you have wrapped around your “steady boyfriend’s” class ring.The fuzzier the yarn the better. But if you put a coat of clear nail polish on the inside, it kept the yarn from unraveling. This entire procedure – wrapping yarn around your boyfriend’s ring– was repeated every night while you talked to your girlfriends on the phone.
- Coat the end of a piece of thread so that it will go through the eye of a needle easier. We sewed a lot more than people sew today. I sewed on my girl scout patches, my cheerleader letter on my sweater, and the hems on my skirts every time the fashionable length changed.
- Keep the ends of shoe laces from unraveling if that little plastic thing came off. Plain white tennis shoes with white laces. That was what we wore for gym class and they HAD to be clean. Washing the shoes in the washing machine not only ruined many washers but also caused the lace ends to disappear into the great washing machine void (along with one sock that always gets lost.)
- Keep the metal shaving cream cans from rusting. The bottoms of the cans rust when left in the shower. Coating the bottom edge with clear polish keeps the rust from forming.
- Use instead of glue on paper. A dab on the edge of a note keeps the paper sealed but can easily be torn away.
- Coating a picture to give it a glossy look. This works well on color pictures from magazines, but not with pictures from ink jet printers.
- Use to coat pictures inside bottle cap art.
- Coat the inside of a cheap ring or earrings to keep the metal from reacting badly or irritating your skin.
- Put an additional coat of clear polish on your new manicure and/or pedicure when you get home from the nail salon. This will add another layer of protection and keep the polish from chipping. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time for this to dry before you go to bed or you will end up with lines in your lovely polish.
Are there uses that I am forgetting?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
Did not know that about coating the bottom of a shaving cream can…simply wonderful news.
Totally useless info – all old news. Nothing new…We don’t even wear pantyhose or wear class rings anymore….
I didn’t know that about the shaving cream can either – but will go home tonight and do just that !! Any suggestions on how to get that rust stain off my bath tile?
@Lisa – Try a combination of baking soda paste followed by a spritzing of vinegar. Let it sit and then scrub it off. I just took a bunch of rust off my metal shower caddy using this method. Worth a try.
I was proud when I used a bottle of black nail polish to touch up some scratches on the panel with the knobs and clock on our stove.
The landlord had asked my husband to replace the entire panel, but we got away with spending just $0.99 to make it look like new.
This would probably also work well on other painted appliances.
Putting a little car wax on metal surfaces will also keep them from rusting.
lisa, have u tried using comet? i use it on everything and it helps a lot!
pour clear nail polish on your wind shield crack.will stop it from cracking any more.
@Brooke – Wow! Now that is a tip. I wonder if it lasts a long time or if it breaks down in the continual hot and cold that a windshield has to withstand?