Viral Beauty Trends That Should Scare You
Scroll through Tik Tok and Instagram and you will see influencers shelling out skincare tips and tricks like candies. Not every hack, trick, or DIY the internet throws at you is good. Viral beauty trends as lucrative as they may look in the oh-so-wonderful reel can have the complete opposite effect on you.
Some of the latest buzzy trends going viral are unregulated, unsafe, and led by those without proper training or expertise. Here are a few beauty trends that you should be wary of:
Drop the dropper!
When using any skincare product with a dropper, do not touch it directly to your skin! Ever. It looks cool to see your oil, serum, or at-home peel drip down your face as you press the dropper, however, it’s not good for either your skin or your skincare product. When the dropper comes into contact directly with the surface of your skin, it can pick up bacteria. And that bacteria is then transferred into your beautiful and probably expensive bottle. This could spoil the product and reduce its shelf life. It can also reduce the efficacy of your serum or oil. Either keep the dropper a few inches away from your face or just drip the product in your hands and then apply it. Just don’t touch it directly to your skin.
Cleaning face with coconut oil
Coconut oil is great for the hair, but not so much for your face. As a rule, double-cleansing is good especially if you wear makeup throughout the day. However, you need to choose the right oil to do so. And coconut oil isn’t ‘the one’. Coconut oil is thick and way waxier than other plant-based oils. It is super comedogenic for your skin and can penetrate into your pores and clog them. This leads to breakouts. Even if you’re cleansing your skin with a face wash after, coconut oil can leave a film-like layer on top of your skin, clogging your pores once again.
Trying out every DIY
It’s always good to go down the natural, clean route when it comes to skincare. However, a lot of kitchen ingredients that are ‘supposed’ to be good for the skin can be too potent for it.
Replacing your vitamin C serum with lemon juice is one such DIY ingredient that isn’t recommended. Known as an age-old remedy to lighten dark spots and brighten the skin, raw lemon juice is really acidic and can result in inflammation and irritation and even damage your skin’s barrier.
Also stay away from raw apple cider vinegar. Using it as a cleanser or a toner is a big no-no since it causes skin irritation and will burn the skin.
Baking soda is another popular DIY ingredient that is used in beauty hacks. Using it as a cleanser can strip your skin of its natural oil barrier, mess around with its pH levels, and cause breakouts. Enough reason to not follow this skincare trend?
Dermaroller at home
Microneedling or using a dermaroller at home is not only dangerous but is also super unhygienic. The process involves a tool consisting of tiny needles that poke your skin to stimulate collagen production. When done by a professional, it helps slow down aging and heals acne. When done by inexperienced experiment-prone people, it can cause microtears and result in hyperpigmentation and scarring. Plus, if you don’t sanitize it well, you risk putting bacteria into those tiny open wounds caused by the needles.
Skin suckers & pokers
Beauty trends to use a pore vacuum to remove the gunk on your skin, blackheads, and whiteheads included, is not recommended by professionals. It may look satisfying, but, if you use it on a high suction setting you could cause micro-tears in the skin. Using a device like this can cause irritation and can aggravate acne and rosacea. It can also result in broken capillaries or bruising.
And as for blackhead removal tools, just leave it to the professionals to do it. Everything that touches and penetrates your skin needs to be properly sanitized before use. Using dirty tools that poke and probe your face isn’t a good idea and can lead to serious infections, so just don’t.
