15 Awful Beauty Tips The Internet Has Fed Us
You don't have to be a beauty expert to start your own video blog. All you need is a webcam, an internet connection and social media. So what if the advice we are being fed is potentially hazardous?
We are suckers for believing most of what we read on the net. Often when two or more sources update with a brand new beauty craze then the whole world begins to join in. Shockingly enough some of these sites can actually be quite reputable sources. It's often not until a few months down the line that others begin to debunk their bizarre beauty theories. Then we all end up feeling silly for falling for it in the first place.
So what can we believe? With hundreds of thousands of beauty bloggers out there it's really hard to work out what's right and what's wrong. But what we have put together is a collection of the most outrageous tips and beauty tricks that the internet have fed us. We can not urge you enough not to try these at home - despite what " beauty miracles" you have heard these can deliver.
15 Exfoliate Your Skin With Sandpaper
Last year many blog posts online starting reporting that using sandpaper worked as a great exfoliation for skin. They suggested it would do wonders to those hard areas around the skin on elbows and knees. Whoa, wait a minute - using actual sandpaper on your skin is never cool.
There is even a risk of permanent scarring if sandpaper is used regularly on the skin. Basically anything you can find in a tool kit from the garage maybe should be avoided as a regular part of your beauty regime.
14 Switch Your Shaving Gel For Peanut Butter
Life hacks online make day-to-day activities easier for everyone, as hundreds of wise-minded users upload great ideas which will help you save time and money. However, it might have gone a step too far when they suggested using peanut butter instead of shaving gel.
Annabel Cole, a writer for the Daily Mail newspaper gave this beauty trick a go and she was not impressed with the results. She said of her experience, "Shaving was a nightmare. The blades became clogged with the thick peanut butter after one sweep of the razor. Washing them clean took several minutes and covered the bath with yellow clumps of peanut butter". This really isn't one for us then.
13 Use Coffee And Black Tea For An All Over Tan
Oh Pinterest, how we love you. This website is a haven for beauty tips and fashion advice but anyone can create and pin posts so these are not always accurate. Although this doesn't stop users updating with plenty of home remedies for an all-natural tanning formula.
Some suggest fresh ground coffee and others black tea. They even go as far as announcing that these products can also cure cellulite overnight - really? Unfortunately ladies, these products do not work as a tanning formula or we would all be rushing to the grocery store for a large pot of fresh coffee.
12 Remove Unwanted Hair With Melted Brown Sugar
Pinterest strikes once again. There are many natural formulas online for hair removal at home and melting down brown sugar is one of the more popular ones. This is a very dangerous method and New York beauty salon owner Hibba Kapil told Allure magazine: "If the gel gets too hot, it can give you third-degree burns".
Many women have been using this method to remove facial hair. The use of melted sugar on theses sensitive areas of skin can often strip away layers of the skin leaving potentially permanent damage. In short, this should not be practiced at home.
11 Use Glow Sticks To Make Your Own UV Make Up
There was a big DIY make-up craze earlier this year where bloggers would snap open glow sticks, then use the liquid inside glow sticks to create UV nail polish, eye shadow and lipstick.
Glow sticks contain a colour dye, diphenyl oxalate and hydrogen peroxide. Skin contact with these chemicals can cause some unwanted effects such as irritation and dermatitis. It is always best to avoid transforming glowing chemicals into make-up products - just a thought.
10 Take Ibuprofen Before You Get A Wax
This is a beauty myth which has been around for years so it's no surprise that it eventually made it's way onto the internet. There are many who believe that if you take ibuprofen a few hours before you have an appointment for a wax then it can make the whole experience less painful.
Unfortunately, this does not work and also painkillers are known to thin the blood so you could actually end up with bruises and red patches on your skin. Dr. Phil Young, a plastic surgeon from Washington suggests an alternative. He recommends, "Make sure your hair is trimmed and about 1/4 inch in length to ensure no excessive "pulling" is needed.".
9 Use A Safety Pin To Pop A Pimple
When you visit a dermatologist they will remove unwanted pimples and whiteheads with a sterilized needle. This often opens people up to the idea that using a safety pin will do the same trick at home - big mistake.
It's not the news we want to hear but pimples just have to be left alone. Picking at blemishes can cause scarring, infection and irritation. Although there are thousands of articles online about how to remove them safely you are better making an appointment with a professional.
8 Clean Your Pores With Gelatin
It is not uncommon for beauty blogs to hand out instructions of how to make your own pore strips using gelatine. Gelatine is a food product made from animal tissue which is used as a preservative. Many of these blogs suggest that it can unblock pores.
What this actually does is deeply hydrate the skin leaving you feeling fresher than before. However, the texture of gelatine will not remove any dirt or blockages from the pores. So feel free to go wild with this stuff but don't fool yourself into thinking it will work.
7 Use Cat Litter As A Face Mask
No we aren't joking - this has actually been suggested online by several beauty websites. A face mask can be created by using unscented cat litter which is mixed with a little water. There were claims that this not only clears the skin but also moisturizes.
Cosmopolitan magazine did their own research into this bizarre issues and they asked Rebecca O'Sullivan, an aesthetician based in Chicago. She firmly reported, "I would not put kitty litter on my face. Some brands of kitty litter contain aluminium silicate, the same ingredient used in glass-making as well as housing insulation. Plus, it's a known neurotoxin for humans". Not that we were going to anyway.
6 Use A Household Cleaner To Get Rid Of Tanning Lines
Everyone knows how much of a nightmare tanning lines can be and it does feel as if we have scaled the earth for a remedy. Many sources online claim that Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works just as good and we are not even kidding.
The foam like sponge is made from a porous melamine material which is strong enough to remove grout off tiles and dark stains from shoes. Just as they describe this material is abrasive and can seriously harm the skin or even cause burns. Which trust us will look a lot worse than unwanted tanning lines.
5 Buying Products That Fix Split Ends
Split ends are something we always have to deal with. Just one look online and there are hundreds of products vowing to remove or mend split ends. However, there is no cure or quick-fix for split ends other than just getting your hair cut.
If you want to try and avoid getting too many split ends then it is always best to avoid over-heating with straighteners, over-washing, combing aggressively or placing your hair in a ponytail or bun too often.
4 Using Hair Spray To Secure Make Up
A familiar and fashionable beauty tip is to use hair spray to "set" the make-up on your face. Gone are the days where you spend most of the night in the ladies bathroom re-applying your whole look as now you can just spray it in place. It's no surprise at all though that is not recommended for your skin at all.
Hair spray contains alcohol which will instantly dry out your skin and cause you to look older than your year. This can also lead to skin irritation and leave your complexion appearing blotchy.
3 Use Mayonnaise As A Body Moisturiser
Next time you are making a delicious pasta dish use the rest of the jar to make a natural moisturiser - that is if you want to believe the internet. There are tons of instructions online for these body creams but they are actually better left in the saucepan.
The eggs and oils in mayonnaise have been proved to help healthier hair but for the skin this is very bad for you. The product is too acidic and too thick which will allow your block your pores so skin can't breathe. There are plenty of instructions to make DIY face masks online but mayonnaise is one to certainly avoid.
2 Apply Rogaine To Grow Back Your Eyebrows
The problem with eyebrows is when they are over-plucked it is really hard to get a natural shape back. Now online there are many sources recommending that you use Rogaine to help them grow back successfully. Rogaine is an FDA-approved hair re-growth treatment.
In theory this will work but the danger is that Rogaine has never been approved to be used directly on the face. There are hazards such as inflammation of the face or a burning sensation close to the eyes from the strong solution.
1 Remove Spots Using Listerine
Listerine and toothpaste are the most popular products suggested online for getting rid of pimples. The idea behind it is that this dries out the blemish and can get rid of it altogether. It's not often that people use this trick once they graduate high school but the internet is still keeping this beauty myth alive.
True as that is the problem with this is that the skin around the pimple can also be affected as well. Dr. Leslie Baumann told FutureDerm.com that this is "a consistent irritator for the skin with an impaired barrier. It strips the natural lipids from the skin, disrupting the barrier and rendering it more susceptible to external irritants". In non medical terms that basically means don't rub toothpaste into your skin.
