Before the internet and beauty influencers, homemade hacks or those whispered in your ears by your mother’s friends who thought you had too much acne for a 12-year-old was the equivalent #selfcaresunday. There are a lot of bizarre, frankly unbelievable things I’ve done to my skin be it from popping a cyst to using a walnut scrub on my big pores.
I know this is not a journey I made alone, so here’s a fun list of the worst things people have put on their faces.
This Is Why You Must Do Your Research
“I used apple cider vinegar directly on my skin as a toner for a few weeks because I read somewhere that it’s supposed to be good. Worst mistake ever, took months for my skin barrier to recover. Turns out you’re supposed to dilute it before applying it to your skin!“ – Sneha, Junior Editor, POPxo
A Smurf In The Making
“I’m not sure if this counts, but I did gymnastics growing up, and one “hack” was to soften callouses on your hands by sleeping with your hands inside socks with some lotion. Well, I decided to use a whole bottle of blue, shimmery lotion (half in each sock) thinking my hands would get incredibly soft and went to sleep. When I woke up, my hands had absorbed so much lotion they were blue and pruney and I could barely move my fingers they were so stiff and lotiony. I cried so hard and was convinced I’d have very uncomfortable smurf hands forever. By the end of the day, my hands were back to normal though and I never did this again.” – NimetonTytto, Reddit User
Mani Gone Wrong
“I used whiteout to try to give myself a French manicure.” – sunfrancisco1, Reddit User
Too Much Of Anything Is Never A Good Idea
“I tried the oil cleansing method with olive oil. I guess I used way too much and when I was rinsing the water was just sitting on top of a layer of oil. It was awful. I ended up having to use dish soap to get it off!” – LadyCatFeline, Reddit User
Her Poor Pores!
“I used to put castor oil on my entire face” – Preeti, Social Media Executive, POPxo
Repeat After Me: It’s Not A Multifunctional Product
“Not a “hack”, but when I was younger and experimenting with makeup, I couldn’t remove it and my dad was calling me down for dinner. So I used nail polish remover pads…ouch!” – drivenlizard, Reddit
A Skincare Crime Has Been Comitted
“I used to wash my face with dish soap, not frequently tho and didn‘t give a second thought about whether it was ok or not for my face. A soap is a soap.” – Anonymous
Lessons For The Family
“Not me but my dad once made himself a DIY face mask using mustard and it gave him like second-degree burns on his face. I feel like the whole family learned from that, though.” – Big_Honeydew_3656, Reddit
Been There, Done That
“I once tried a sharpie instead of eyeliner back in highschool because I was going through my “goth” phase and thought it would let me get a thicker line.” – RobinAllDay, Reddit User
Taking Baking To The Next Level
“One of the worst being that I would use the Ordinary AHA/BHA peeling mask in the summer and then bake in the sun – not a drop of sunscreen in sight. My unformed frontal lobe told me the “this product increases skin’s sensitivity to the sun” warning on the label meant that I would get tanner faster ” – hillary_____k, Reddit
… Ouch?
“I was (and still am, on occasion, let’s not talk about it) a pimple popper… I used to poke a hole in my pimples with a safety pin and then pinch the skin between my knuckles to make sure I was really gripping deep haha…” – masochiste, Reddit
We Can Get Behind This
“Toothpaste on pimples. I still stand by it.” – Eden, Senior Writer, POPxo
There you have it – a riotous roundup of skincare misadventures that’ll make you laugh, cringe, and maybe nod in remembrance. While it’s always fun to experiment, sometimes it’s best to leave the weird stuff to the pros at 5-Minute Crafts. Stay glowing, but maybe stick to the tried-and-tested by professionals!
Featured Images: Unsplash
