The $7 Tool a Dermatologist Uses To Avoid Wasting a Single Drop of Her Pricey Products

You’re near the end of your favorite face cream and you’re pumped to open the new jar that’s waiting for you. But, there’s still a smidgen of product hanging out inside of the jar that your fingers can’t reach. When this happens to Lindsey Zubritsky, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Pittsburgh, she reaches for a trusty tiny tool: skin-care spoons.

“Skin-care spoons are a great way to save money because the spoons help you to get every last drop from your product, by spooning it up,” says Dr. Zubritsky. “You can get several more uses out of a jar of skin-care product by using a skin-care spoon, which adds up over time.”

You can also use these spoons to keep your fingers out of the mix when your jar is full. “It’s much more sanitary to use compared to using your fingers to remove a product,” she says. “The skin-care spoon helps to eliminate bacteria, dirt, and debris from our hands transferring into our skincare products.” Just make sure you’re cleaning the spoon with gentle soap and water every day after your routine to keep it clean.

Use skin-care spoons with anything that comes in a jar—from a moisturizing cream to a cleansing balm to a face mask. Dr. Zubritsky recommends the Tekson Metal Skin-Care Spoons ($7). This set of six comes with two silver spoons, two gold, and two rose gold. This way, you have ones to use with different products and have a few extras if you know you won’t clean your spoon daily. Plus, these spoons have a small hole at the end of the handle so you can hang them for drying and-or storage if you’d like.

Though a skin-care spoon may feel like a “nice to have” rather than a must have, considering that saving product will ultimately mean saving money, this $7 investment will reap major dividends over time.

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