On a beauty budget the two things I hate paying for are cleansers and toners. I find some of them so expensive for what they are, but especially toners. Do you make your own, like cucumber water or rose water or do you skip the step? You shouldn't, or do you buy a cheap one for the sake of it?
I haven't bothered with toner for a long time now. I just use a Clean n' Clear foaming rinse-off gel from the discount store. I don't have sensitive skin so can get away with just using a bog-standard cleanser.
I honestly haven't used toner for a couple years now. I don't miss it... I think a toner is nice, but not super essential. What is really essential is cleaning your face and putting back some moisture afterwards. I like the toner to finish up the cleaning process, but my face doesn't look or feel any different now that I don't use it anymore. So I don't spend my money on it.
I don't always use toner, but I always use a good cleanser. I understand what you are saying they are very expensive. I think a lot of the generic brands in the drug stores are very similar, so I would recommend going online and getting a coupon. I think over time using a toner will make a difference, but I don't think it is necessary to use everyday. One thing you can use for a toner (every once in a while) is lemon. Wiping a lemon on your face helps even out skin tone. Just make sure you don't get it in your eyes!
When I was a beauty consultant, this was the step most people skimped on, but is in fact the cause of dehydration; when the skin feels tight. After cleansing the skin is stripped of water and oils, so the toner adds the water back and the moisturizer the oils. So basically if your skin feels tight and you don't use toner, that's why. I think doing it at night at least will help, because the skin throughout the day will sweat and you can drink water, but a skin that is thirsty will end up wrinkled.
I just found a great recipe online to make your own toner. It's 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/3 cup witch hazel, 2 Tbsp rubbing alcohol, and 1/2 cup water. It seemed to get good reviews and seems to help with making your skin look brighter. It's definitely a cheaper alternative to buying brand name toner. You can get witch hazel at the dollar store.
You can also make a toner out of apple cider vinegar. I like your recipe too. I wonder if lime juice would work? I know I have the other ingredients handy. Lemons and lemon juice are cheap this time of year anyway. I will have to try this. I think most people moisturize but not too many use toner.
I've heard that toners are actually sometimes not good for your skin. Some people also say they are unnecessary. However, I used a toner for a while that I was making at home and I liked it. It's good for your skin, but it smells bad. The main ingredient is raw organic apple cider vinegar. This stuff is said to be great for all kinds of health ailments, and makes skin look very good. But like I said, it smells bad because it's vinegar! No matter how sensitive your skin is, you probably want to dilute it with water, but you can play around with the mixture. I think I was doing like 2/3 water and 1/3 ACV. It worked really well but I couldn't stand the smell anymore.
Even if on a very tight budget there really is no reason why you would need to skip using toner - especially when there a literally hundreds of natural inexpensive alternatives - that are just as effective - if not better than many expensive brands and generally kinder to your skin too. That said - you really can't go too far wrong with witch hazel - as not only is witch hazel a natural astringent - but its simple and inexpensive to make - as just mixing equal parts of distilled water and witch hazel will instantly provide you with an excellent all round toner. Its extremely versatile too - as you can easily customize it to your own requirements - by adding 8 -10 drops of either orange, lemon or tea tree oils - to the distilled water and witch hazel mix or if you have fresh mint available - you can make a very refreshing toner - just by making a mint tea with a cup full of mint leaves - leave it to steep a couple of hours - strain and then add to the witch hazel mixture - shake well and voila - yet another inexpensive but very effective skin toner.
