If we're lucky, there will be beer there

My husband shared an article with me on alternate uses for beer.  I know he was trying to help me with blog content but I’m still surprised.  As far as he’s concerned any use for beer, other than drinking it, is considered alcohol abuse.  


A lot of the alternative uses call for left over flat beer.  Left over beer??  I’m not sure I know what that is or how it’s even possible.

Some of the uses I was familiar with . . . and others were unexpected.  I use beer for cooking . . . chili, bread, soup, etc.  But I wasn't aware that beer works as a meat tenderize (let it marinate for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge) . . . I going to have to try that one. 

I’ve heard of it being used as pest control.  After all . . . who can resist beer?  Make a beer trap for bees by putting beer in an old jar and punch holes in the lid . . . the bees will be able to get in the jar but not out.  To distract and terminate garden pests like sligs and earwigs . . . bury a can just up to its lip in the garden and fill the can with beer; they’ll fall in and get caught. Just make sure you check the trap daily, emptying it and refilling it with new beer.  


To trap fruit flies . . . I hate those little buggers!  Put some beer in a cup; cut the corner off of a sandwich bag and place the cut corner in the cup; folding the rest around the cup and securing with a rubber band.

To enrich soil and help grass to grow?  One of the uses was to add  few tablespoons of flat beer to the soil. Plants absorb nutrients, sugar and energy from the beer and help them grow.  Interesting.

As hair therapy?  This one I’ve heard of but never tried . . . until now.  Beer is credited with adding bounce, shine and vitality to hair.  The sugars in beer are supposed to add shine and the proteins from the malt and hops found in beer coat, rebuild and repair damaged hair. 

Choose a beer that does not have a strong odor. Shampoo and rinse hair as usual . . . then pour the flat, warm beer on your hair and work it through. Rinse with lukewarm, not hot, water.






The beer rinse was something easy enough to try.  I left a beer out overnight to de-fizz it . . . shhhh, don't tell my husband.  I used a baking soda wash with apple cider vinegar rinse.  Then a second rinse with the beer.  My analysis, my hair doesn't seem to have more body or bounce but it is clearly shiny as hell and looks pretty darn healthy.   It doesn't smell like beer . . . which I'm not so sure wouldn't be a bad thing . .. rowr! My hair was manageable and blow dried smooth and soft with absolutely no additional products used.