What’s the worst beauty tip you’ve ever received?

[Paniconthedancefloor]

Inspired by the “what is the best beauty tip you’ve received” thread, I wonder about the opposite….

What is the most useless, unhelpful beauty tip you have ever received?

I’m torn between being advised to sit in the sun with tomato ketchup in my hair years ago to bring out the highlights (it didn’t and was v sticky), and the first time I fake tanned but didn’t know to wear mitts when applying and ended up with conker coloured palms for 2 weeks.

Putting cream for piles on your eye bags gets rid of them
It doesn't
It stinks like hell as well

Toothpaste on spots.

Bleaching hair at home is a great idea in the nineties. Hair went orange in vertical stripes and didn't take on others. Looked ridiculous.

It does work! I’m finally too old for spots. I have never suffered much with them, but when the odd one popped up. Toothpaste at night had it nearly gone by morning.

Straightening hair using a clothes iron.This was before flat irons were available.

I fell asleep on the beach once, wearing a bikini, whilst covered in coconut oil. Travelled home from Cornwall the following day with huge blisters in my cleavage.

Tea tree oil works really well for me on spots. It acts an astringent and dries them out.

Yes, that was me too..

See also, Baby Lotion, again 1960s/70s.

We tried using tea bags to tan our legs as kids in the 80s.

'Grow your fringe out, fringes are out of fashion' my hairdresser said (this was a while ago). So I did. Not long afterwards I saw my holiday photos and I looked years older, and a whole lot plainer. So my long sideswept fringe is back.

Use it sparingly and it works a treat on baby fly away hairs, wayward eyebrows, and dry elbows/knees where ever it maybe, even on your hairline when dying your hair at home to stop the transfer of dye onto skin.

Though on lips I find it blah and prefer to use Bepanthen (non antiseptic) and use bepanthen on all the other areas you may want to use vaseline on too

I use cider vinegar once a month, it helps with dandruff and leaves my hair shiny

'Shave your eyebrows'. For some reason this was a teenage trend in the 70s. Eyebrows were getting thinner and thinner, like a gangster's moll, which I liked, but eyebrowless.....what a disaster!

Elizabeth Arden originally formulated her 8 hour cream to treat her horses' hoofs. She noticed how her grooms' hands were benefiting from the cream - and had an idea ...

Maybe that's where I went wrong, think I used Sarson's malt lol

I did neither of these but watched both being done.
When I was a child my aunt used to travel from her cold climate to our warm one, cover herself in olive oil and topless sunbathe in our garden! She was a very dark mahogany colour.

As a teen I used to visit a house where they were 'unconventional' .
I watched the wife rub a pissy baby nappy on her face because it was 'good for skin'...... personally I think her brain was addled with the drugs.

I have never followed anyone else's beauty tips, always banged my own drum.
I don't wear makeup anymore, hot flushes that start on the scalp and run down the face don't allow it.

Yes, if I used soap on my skin it would be a superdry disaster, with or without moisturiser. I don't even use wash off cleansers.

That explains a lot....

Disgusting 🤮

Good for you. It doesn't work for me and many others. I think also that the level of greasiness probably changes with age.

Yes haha, I did this, leaning over ironing board with a towel-so dangerous and because you couldn’t get to the roots had a massive line! My 15 year old couldn’t believe i did that when I told her…I did respond saying GHDs were not around! Thankfully straighteners became common once I got to 17/18 and started going out

There was a tip in the Trinny and Susannah Body Bible book to alternately splash your face with hot then very cold water !!! To apparently open and close pores 🙄 broken capillaries anyone ? 🤪

I am 60 and have lots of almost shoulder length fine wavy hair .
My very young hairdresser told me
Day 1 wash and spend time styling it .
Day 2 it will still look nice if I tie it up loosely before bed on day 1
Day 3 dry shampoo
Day 4 wash and style again

I loved linco beer shampoo , it was so thick even when the tube felt empty you could add a bit of water and get two more washes out of it.
The sachets were impossible to tear open tho.

yes I liked that too but like you said the sachets were impossible to open. I remember taking them swimming then trying to rip them open in the shower after my swim and getting a mouth full of shampoo!

To cut / trim my eyelashes as they will grow back twice as long and thicker.

I can confirm this is not true. I was 15 and they have never grown back properly :(