Staff Picks: The worst skincare advice we've ever received
What do you do when you want to learn about something? You might answer that you would ask a trusted friend, or maybe go online and read through the search results. It's actually pretty easy to find out about anything and everything but we sometimes get REALLY bad advice that can actually worsen our situation.
The PV community has been a great source of reliable beauty tips and know-how, but once upon a time, we girls didn't have access to good information and didn't know any better! Here are some of the worst skincare advice that we've gotten from well-intentioned but misguided friends, as well as sketchy websites that we should have known better than to trust!
Tellie: The worst skincare advice I ever received is to never put anything on my face no matter what for fear of death, retribution, and engorged pores. I don't have perfect skin and I do need help to keep it nice and healthy. I still bristle when I get chided for breakouts, whether valid or not. In retrospect, the better advice would be to study skincare ingredients very carefully, to understand my skin, and take only calculated risks.
On the flipside, I was also told to soak my menarched (first period) panties and to use that to wash them on my face. Eek!
Gett: When I was in college, I read that I could use toothpaste to dry out pimples. Not only did it not do it for me, I hated the feeling of minty-pastiness that toothpaste left on my face. I wish pimple patches already existed then!
Marielle: Like Gett, I also heard about the toothpaste myth, and I even went as far as to try it before graduating to salicylic acid spot treatments and drying lotions.
Back in high school, a friend raved about this peeling gel called JJJ Papaya Whitening Peeling Cream that she got 3 for P100 from 168 Shopping Center. Mind you, this was well before we had Cure Gel and Kbeauty peeling gels, so I was so amazed at the pilling effect when she brought some for me to try. We were even laughing about how the product claims to "dispel horniness" but used the stuff anyway. In retrospect, this could've turned out horribly, because I later found out that the product lacks FDA approval.
Image via ebay.co.uk
Charlie: During the onslaught of breakouts in middle school, I became desperate enough to try rubbing calamansi on my face because I had so many scars, and the Internet recommended it as an effective DIY treatment. Thankfully, I immediately learned my lesson because it stung so badly and my open pimples became even more inflamed. It was a tough wake up call and I immediately stopped application and never tried it again.
Den: When I first started reading about beauty online, I would collect DIY treatments and even print them out for reference. I didn't know about being discerning about where to get reliable beauty tips then, so I actually followed some sketchy advice to use baking soda on my face as an exfoliant. I first tried it on my hands and found that it really did make my skin feel softer and smoother, so I rubbed it all over my face as well. I very rarely get pimples but I woke up with a nasty breakout the next day! Now I know that the baking soda wrecked the pH balance of my skin, and I've since made sure to always pass on this warning whenever I see a baking soda recommendation online. There is no "hiyangan" for this no matter how much people insist - baking soda will always be bad for your skin!
Have you ever received bad skincare advice? What happened when you tried it out? Share them with us and help us bust more beauty myths!