Share your most frustrating beauty myths.

Mar 28, 2014

Diana T.

Hey beauties - so a lot of times I'm on this app and I see people posting advice that is actually a common misconception or "beauty myth" - for example many people believe that the temperature of water on your face will either "open" or "close" your pores - but this is simply not true - your pores are the porous holes of your skin - in other words your pores are ALWAYS open no matter what you do, they will always be open - hot water does not open pores and cold water does not close them - they are always open 24/7 they will never close - with that said there are ways to minimize the appearance of pores with silicon fillers or deep cleansing/exfoliation - anyways I wanted to hear about other common misconceptions or "beauty myths" that you all know about and can share with the rest of us - thanks beauties!

Mar 28, 2014

Phylicia V.

The inversion method to make your hair grow longer. OMG. sooooo not true and very dangerous.

Mar 28, 2014

Raylene I.

Using baking soda to whiten teeth! NEVER use baking soda unless you want to ruin your teeth! Same goes for peroxide!

Mar 28, 2014

Alyx T.

It's not really a myth, but I really really hate when people come up to me, Ask me how I got my hair so pastel, I explain that I bleached it and whatever, and they go "oh I'm not going to bleach my hair, I don't want to damage it" and then proceed to ask me how to do it without bleaching. And it's always girls with either dyed or natural black hair. And I just kinda stand there like you can't get pastel without having a base, of white hair. And sometimes bleaching isn't that damaging if you do it right. and I get told I'm wrong all the time by people who don't know what they're talking about. And they walk up to ME. Haha. Sorry for the rant, it happened 4 times when I went to the mall yesterday -.-

Mar 28, 2014

Sabrina K.

Raylene omg I know, every time I see people on here giving the advice to use baking soda on teeth to whiten I cringe!! And when ever I tell them to please never ever ever use baking soda on their teeth people tell me I don't know what I'm talking about and that it is completely safe... omg!!

Mar 28, 2014

Kitty K.

#1 Shaving will make my hair grow back thicker
Your hair grows in follicles beneath the skin, and nothing you do to your leg hair on top of the skin can change its diameter or the number of follicles. Hair that hasn't been cut is wide at the base and is thinner toward the tip. Shaving cuts the hair off at the base where it is widest. When the hair starts to grow back, it seems coarser since that softer, thinner end has been removed.

#2 XYZ product help make pores smaller
Pore size is genetic; therefore your pores do not actually shrink. You can fill in your pores with certain foundation primers and use other products that help give off the allusion of shrunken pores. But, just like foundation is the illusion of perfect skin, so are pore shrinking products.

#3 Tooth paste can help zap zits.
While toothpaste can help dry out zits, the benefits are short-lived. Your skin will become more irritated, and in the end can cause it to appear worse. Stick to a regular treatment.

#4 Cutting your hair will make it grow faster
Although cutting your hair is good to make it appear healthy and to avoid split ends, in reality it will stay the same length if you continue to constantly get It cut. Keep it to a minimum and when you need to.

#5 Eyeliner makes your eyes appear smaller.
Properly applied eye liner will make your eyes appear larger. Eye liner applied on the upper lash line can instantly wake up your whole face. Liner on the lower lash line or water line (inner eye) can do the opposite, depending on the size of your eyes. A little trick to open up anyone’s eyes is to line that lower inner eye with a white or flesh-colored pencil. Your eyes will be bright and wide open.

#6 Drinking water keeps your skin from drying out
What keeps skin moist is oil, not water. Granted, drinking water does have it’s health benefits and is needed. But, your skin can still look dry even if you drink 8 glasses a day.

#7 Vaseline can make your lashes grow
Vaseline can only simply, condition your lashes. Vaseline does not promote hair growth. What makes people ignorantly believe their lashes are longer is through the fact that the application of Vaseline on the lashes makes it appear thicker and moisturized. Kind of like how mascara makes your lashes appear like they’ve grown longer yet they haven’t is the same way as Vaseline. It’s more a mere illusion of longer lashes that causes many to believe that they are growing. In fact, the viscous jelly could actually plug glands on the inner rims of your eyelids that produce tears, flush out debris and fend off infections.

#8 Shampooing fades hair color
False, at least 80% of hair color fading is caused by water, alone.

#9 Make up causes acne
There is no research indicating that makeup or skin-care products cause acne, and there is no consensus on which ingredients are problematic. Still, women do experience breakouts after using some skin-care products. Such breakouts can be the result of an irritant or an inflammatory response, a random skin reaction, or a result of problematic ingredients unique to a person's skin type. That means you have to experiment to see what might be causing your breakouts. There is no information from medical research or the cosmetic industry to help or point you in the right direction. And it is critical to know that terms such as "noncomedogenic" and "non-acnegenic" are meaningless. The cosmetics industry uses these terms to indicate that a product is less likely to cause breakouts, but there is no standard or regulation set to categorize this labeling. Any product can make this claim, even pure wax or vegetable shortening.

#10 It's good when your products cool or tingle skin
That’s your skin actually telling you that its irritated.

#11 Your skin will eventually adapt to beauty products and they won't work anymore
Skin doesn't adapt to skin-care products any more than your body adapts to a healthy diet

Mar 28, 2014

Raylene I.

Sabrina I know what you mean. I've gotten into arguments on here about it and in the end I'm like fine hope you have a great relationship with your dentist cuz you'll be seeing a lot of them. I've read the text books for dental assisting! And I've actually seen someone dip their tooth brush in a jug of bleach and then brush their teeth!

Mar 28, 2014

Raylene I.

And way to go kitty k. Love all the information you've packed in!

Mar 28, 2014

Sabrina K.

Omg bleach!! I can't believe people would do that!
I studied dental assisting for a short 6 month period so yeah when people say I don't know what I'm talking about and that they know it's safe it's hard to talk reason with them...

Mar 28, 2014

Shumi C.

The oldie but goldie, toothpaste on a spot/pimple!! I know a lot of people suggest it, but it really is the worst thing and makes me cringe when someone suggest it! 🙈

Mar 28, 2014

Abby L.

OMG kitty I TOTALLY agree on all of those!! You got it all right

Mar 28, 2014

Diana T.

Thank you all so much for your input I personally love to learn more about the proper way to apply beauty products, etc.so this post is definitely helping me to dispel the numerous beauty myths I have heard - so thank you all so much! Esp you kitty! Such a great list of things that are great to clear up!

Mar 28, 2014

Bree B.

Ha ha I totally do the toothpaste on a pimple one, BUT in my defense, I get like one pimple a year. (and before you throw things at me, I've got rosacea to contend with so don't worry I have my skin issues)

All the putting castor oil etc.on hair/eyelashes/whathaveyou to make it grow faster drives me crazy. I mean, go right ahead, but it does not make hair grow faster.

Mar 29, 2014

Caitlin M.

EVERYTHING Kitty mentioned. The big one I see a lot that has me super frustrated at the moment though has to do with Vaseline/petroleum jelly. It does NOTHING for your skin, eyelashes or lips. It seals moisture in (while clogging pores and not allowing toxins out as well) but doesn't actually put any moisture or nourishment into the skin. It's moisturizing benefits are an illusion. I get so exhausted trying to tell people that it doesn't do anything. They wonder why their lip balm doesn't work well and dries their lips out and it's because it's mainly petroleum! I also just recently discovered that Lucas' Paw Paw ointment has a ton of petroleum in it and so does another product I've heard people call their holy grail product, Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream. I was so disappointed and bummed out because I wanted to try both and here I find they're both glorified Vaseline. The type in the ointment is supposedly pharmaceutical grade but to me petroleum jelly is petroleum jelly. There isn't a way around that to me. They also don't list it on some of their packaging because in Australia they are only required to list the active ingredients and that isn't one of them. So disappointing. I also get so peeved when people refuse to understand that it doesn't help eyelash growth and can actually cause an eye infection. Hair growth is determined by genetics and really there isn't too much you can do to change that except take care of your hair so you don't have to cut so much damage off and so it doesn't break off. Drives me nuts when people try to argue with biology lol.

Mar 29, 2014

Elizabeth F.

I really, really hate it when cosmetic products say that they are "hypoallergenic" or "clinically proven/tested."

Hypoallergenic is a non-regulated phrase that, essentially, means little to nothing. There are plenty of "hypoallergenic" products that still contain fragrances and dyes--common culprits in the world of skin sensitivity and allergic reactions. In the US, there are no recognized standards that products must meet in order to be labeled as "hypoallergenic."

And all that's required for a product to be advertised as "clinically proven/tested" in the US is that some kind of "study" had to be done. These are very rarely done by independent skincare researchers who are no employed by the company who made the product in the first place. In fact, most often, all the company that makes the product has to do is stage a "trial" or "test" of the product on its own with little to no oversight from any government of scientific agencies. It is often perfectly legal for cosmetics companies to do their "clinical studies" without the kind of scientific controls and double-blind testing that is absolutely essential in any other medical, pharmaceutical, or other scientific field. So, this is yet another label that really means nothing. How ridiculous!

Mar 29, 2014

Caitlin M.

Oh another one. "Natural" makeup. There will ALWAYS be something added to makeup that isn't "natural" like preservatives and other things that help the makeup to last or apply smoothly. If it was 100% natural it would literally just be dirt or clay from the earth. Which it isn't lol. This also circles back around to the whole "chemicals are bad/natural is good." thing. Sure natural stuff is great but people can have reactions to natural things just as much as a chemical. And chemicals are not all toxic and harmful by default just because they are a chemical. I get really tired of that assumption and the false information people spread around. "Oh don't use that cream it has chemicals in it." Almost everything does because chemicals are naturally occurring things too. Cinnamon is natural but it's still capable of burning the crap out of your skin.

Mar 30, 2014

Anupa M.

I have soooo many but my #1 most frustrating thing is when people mix up natural/holistic treatments with DIY treatments -_-" DIY treatments may or may not work and can be unsafe. Holistic treatments are for those who are tired of pumping chemicals into or onto their body