beauty

"The old toothpaste on a pimple": 24 women on the worst skincare advice they've ever received.

If there's one thing we're all good at, it's soaking up unsolicited beauty tips. We're great at it. Love trying out a good tip (or ten). Cause if you're anything like us, you're no stranger to taking on some pretty drastic measures to 'fix' your skin. 

Burn your acid mantle off for a smoother complexion? Sure thing. Give yourself a blistering red welt trying to get rid of a pimple? Say no more. 

Watch: Speaking of tips... Here's seven ways to improve your skin while sleeping. Post continues below.


Video via Mamamia.

There's tonnes of questionable skincare advice out there. It's endless. And more often than not, the only way to know it doesn't work is to try it for yourself, right?

So, we asked 24 women to share with us the one piece of skincare advice they received that ended up doing way more harm than good. 

From putting toothpaste on your pimples to using St Ives Apricot Scrub, here's what they said!

Laurie.

"Putting lemon on your face and sitting in the sun to bleach your freckles! I’m pretty sure that was from Dolly Magazine back in the 90s!"

Hannah.

"I would apply neat tea tree oil on my pimples to disinfect them. My poor skin."

Mikayla.

"That time in 2016 where everyone was using Nivea Men's Aftershave Balm as primer??? I literally remember using it when I did my makeup for formal and I'm just baffled why it happened. Never again."

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Jessica.

"Using masking tape as makeshift pore strips - I think that one was courtesy of Dolly Magazine, too!"

Emma.

"Applying lavender oil on my cystic facial acne. The smell was so overpowering and made me feel ill. I get one whiff of lavender now and I want to vomit."

Katie.

"Spraying your face with hairspray to 'set' your makeup."

Charmaine.

"My dad told us to put methylated spirits on pimples. Actually, dad used metho for everything. Oh, and using Windex for pimples like they did on My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

Barbe.

"The old toothpaste on a pimple. I blistered my skin doing this, and it ended up leaving a deep scar."

Listen to this episode of You Beauty, where the team discuss whether using a raw potato on your skin is ever a good idea. Post continues after podcast.

Emmeline.

"It's not necessarily bad advice, but the one thing I ignored is not squeezing pimples. They are super painful unless you squeeze them! And look worse IMO."

Sienna

"A 13-year-old me naively decided that facial steaming (from a beauty book) and severe exfoliation with a nylon facial brush was a great idea! It left me with broken capillaries which needed three sessions of laser to tone down. I now know my skin is super sensitive and steaming is not ideal for me."

Lisa.

"I was once advised (by a professional) to use household bleach to scrub my tan off."

Sally.

"I once made a mask out of apple cider vinegar and green clay and literally gave myself an at-home acid peel! It wasn’t funny at the time - my face was beetroot red for days."

Heidi.

"Using really hot water to wash your face to open pores. I now have damaged my skin on my cheeks and have broken capillaries because of this."

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Stacie.

"I used to use apple cider vinegar as a TONER."

Zainab.

"Cutting an orange in half and rubbing it on your face! It's supposedly the BEST vitamin C serum you can ever have..."

Jessica.

"Using hairspray to set your makeup - remember the days before setting spray existed?!"

Erin.

"When I was a teen, I'd exfoliate my sensitive skin with an ACTUAL EXFOLIATING MITT. I want to cry thinking about it. I always wondered why my skin was so irritated, and it was basically because I was scrubbing a whole layer of it off three times a week. For shame."

Samantha

"I would use Vaseline to brush brows up and hold them in place. Thank god for the invention of brow lamination!"

Chloe.

"I would wash my face with St Ives Apricot Scrub every night. Thankfully, my skin has recovered since my early teens."

Nikki.

"Using the Silkymit to exfoliate.... turns out you shouldn’t use sandpaper on your face."

Karyn.

"Applying mineral turpentine on my pimples... ahh the 80s!"

Rosie.

"Not using sunscreen to avoid congestion and acne."

Katie.

"It’s not really advice, but once me and my friend slathered toothpaste over our entire face like a mask, and our eyeballs felt like they were on fire."

Moo.

"Using coconut oil to moisturise - it burnt patches off my face! I do still use it in my hair though."

Jessie.

"I had someone tell me that if I was allergic to Benzac, I should use Proactiv... for sensitive skin!"

What's the worst skincare advice you've ever received? Share with us in the comment section below.

Feature image: Getty

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