Keep Sand From Sticking To You With One Household Staple

The best way to enjoy your summer is to head to the beach with your friends or family and spend the full day enjoying the fresh air and warm sunshine. However, when it's time to head home, the main problem with a beach day is all the sand. It sticks to your feet, shoes, legs, and towels and can end up all over your car and inside your home if you aren't careful. Luckily, there is a simple way to get off all that sand without the need to rub it into your skin with a coarse towel and all you need is one ingredient — baby powder.

In fact, baby powder is great for removing sand from skin and hair, and it works so well because it absorbs all the extra moisture that caused the sand to stick to you in the first place. Once that moisture is gone, you can easily brush the sand and the baby powder off together with no hassle and no painful towel. The biggest trick for this method to work is that you need to let yourself mostly dry off before trying it. So, make sure you pour baby powder on your sandy legs and feet at the end of the day as you leave the beach or right before you get in the car.

If you don't feel like bringing a whole bottle of baby powder with you to the beach or don't want to start dumping baby powder everywhere in the parking lot, there's a simple sock trick you can use for cleaning baby powder with less mess. As shown by mom hacks YouTuber, Lauren Clutter, all you need to do is simply fill an old sock with baby powder and then use that sock to start wiping off the sand. This trick works especially well for kids who have sensitive skin.

It's also the perfect option for hiking or camping on the beach — because nothing is less fun than having sand inside your sleeping bag. Luckily, wiping yourself down with baby powder before entering your tent is a great way to keep the sand out. Also, using the baby powder sock method is the best way to make sure you don't get a bunch of baby powder in your tent instead of sand. 

As there has been some research suggesting that talcum powder is not completely safe, some concerned consumers are trying to avoid using talcum baby powder whenever possible. Luckily, many brands have now changed their baby powder formula to contain cornstarch instead of talc. Cornstarch-based baby powders work just as well as talcum-based baby powders at removing sand and soaking up moisture. In fact, according to a Redditor on the Life Hacks forum of the website, the cornstarch-based stuff works even better than talcum powder.

Cornstarch is also made from larger particles than talcum powder making it likely safer to breathe. However, as Time notes, although cornstarch powder is better than talcum on your skin, it's best to avoid breathing in any kind of baby powder whenever possible. (This is where the sock method can help!)

As far as the environment is concerned, cornstarch baby powder is also the better choice because cornstarch production has low net carbon emissions while talcum mining is actively bad for the environment. In fact, Illegal talcum mining has negatively impacted wildlife in many protected areas like the Jamwa Ramgarh Wildlife Sanctuary in India.