The Viral Beauty Hacks You Should Probably Swerve

Every self-confessed beauty addict loves an easy, DIY hack. Finding amazing skin-saving ingredients in your fridge is almost as satisfying as seeing your hair the day after a coconut oil mask – but is there a fine line between beauty hack, and damaging DIY?

Here at Cel, we wanted to give you our verdict about which hacks to avoid – you can thank us later!

1. Setting Your Makeup With Hairspray

Urban Decay didn’t release their All Night Setting Spray just for fun, it really is super important to use a properly nourishing product when it comes to setting your make-up. The old favorite – using hairspray – just doesn’t cut it anymore. It may hold your up-do in place, but the chemicals in hairspray are way too harsh for your skin, drying it out, irritating it, and causing flakiness and redness.

2. Treating Spots With Toothpaste

How many of us are guilty of applying some minty toothpaste to a large, painful pimple with the hope it will be gone by morning? Guilty? Us too! But although it does help try pimples out, toothpaste can in fact leave the area irritated and redder than it began. The menthol is too strong, and can cause tiny bumps and rashes on the skin.

3. Exfoliating With Sugar, Salt or Coffee Grounds

Fine for your body, not for your face! Making DIY exfoliator scrubs is perfectly fine to get rid of excess oils and dead skin cells on your body, and adding some essential oils can even make them beneficial and moisturizing, but salts, sugars and other rough materials are just too harsh for the delicate skin on your face. If you want to avoid red raw cheeks, opt for a gentler product instead.

4. Coconut Oil As A Face Moisturizer

Another ‘good for your body, not for your face’ ingredient (and in this case, even ‘good for your hair’!) but coconut oil can actually lead to facial breakouts, clogged pores and a build-up of excess oil if used on the face. Stick to using lighter products on your face, and keep the coconuts for the neck-down.

5. Using Vaseline (Petroleum Jelly) To Grow Your Eyelashes

Long lashes are always sought after, and it became a viral trick to smother your lashes in petroleum jelly before bed to help them grow. Please. Stop. This! Not only is it super un-eco-friendly, but it can also cause tiny cysts under the eyes called Milia. 

6. Baking Soda As A Remedy For Dark Circles

Another interesting internet hack is to mix baking soda and water into a paste, and using it to remove dark circles from under your eyes. Although nothing too sinister, baking soda can irritate the skin, and there is no real proof that it can amend discoloration! The alkaline state of baking soda is too extreme for the sensitive skin around our eyes, and can disrupt the pH balance.

Our Verdict  

Although there are a lot of skin-saving (and money-saving) tips and tricks to be found online it’s worth doing your research about which ones actually work, and which will leave you wishing you’d never tried them! Remember that the skin on your face is extremely delicate and sensitive, so approach hacks with caution!