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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

AIBU to ask for your homemade / expensive beauty disasters?

43 replies

AIBUPODCAST · 24/04/2019 21:57

Hello, the team at AIBU Podcast have been talking about ridiculous beauty treatments they've paid through the nose for at a salon: Lucy ended-up with frizzy eye lashes after getting them permed - making them curl downwards over her eyes (it cost her £40), the whole team have paid good money for various 'toning' treatments - which didn't work.
AND we also want to know about those home treatments which had disastrous consequences. Examples so far include: Honey based face-masks, which got stuck in hair, carrot face-masks turning skin orange and body scrubs made with peppermint oil - causing white heat over recently shaved legs.
We might well talk about this on the podcast and include your responses (all in the name of schadenfreude).

OP posts:
MNHQ
RowanMumsnet · 25/04/2019 15:47

(not really much of a salon girl myself, but I do remember buying some 'exfoliator pads' that claimed to painlessly remove body hair - they were basically fine-grade sandpaper and appeared to work by wearing away your skin and your leg hair at roughly the same rate)

Rottiemum4102 · 25/04/2019 18:07

I read that apple cider vinegar is good for spots.
Didn't bother reading actual instructions and put a hefty amount on the face.
Left on for 20 mins, ignored the burning thinking it was just my face being cleaned up.

Looked like I'd been scalded for a week Grin

MadSweeney · 25/04/2019 18:18

I recall deciding it couldn't possibly be that difficult to wax my armpits using the veet strips.
The resulting bruising took about a month to fully subside 😳

RichPetunia · 25/04/2019 18:25

Went to a salon for a body wrap that promised to tone and trim my belly, bum and thighs. Spent an hour on the train to get there, only to find the aforementioned wrap was actually clingfilm. Paid all-in, probably £50 for the privilege. Needless to say, the only thing I lost was money.

Zerrin13 · 25/04/2019 18:30

There are beauty schools everywhere now advertising 1 day training to learn all manner of beauty treatments. Over processed lashes will curl up touching the eyelid and will go frizzy and dry on the ends. One day courses can not prepare anyone for troubleshooting. There is some really dreadful, cheap training out there. Most beauty treatments take plenty of practice and trial and error to master before taking people's hard earned money!

KC225 · 25/04/2019 18:46

Choose a home dye that was too dark and it made me look like an Asda Basics Ozzy Osbourne

Jebuschristchocolatebar · 25/04/2019 18:49

Tried a bit of home waxing on my top lip. Wacked the strip on and lashed it off which was so painful I cried. About three mins later I found out I was allergic to the wax (patch tests are for wimps). I spent the next two weeks with a crusty sore ridden lip. Suffice to say i paid for laser treatment instead.

Knittedfairies · 25/04/2019 18:53

Years ago my sister decided to use an egg as a hair conditioner. Being impatient, her hair was still warm and the egg sort of ...poached.

Crappygilmore · 25/04/2019 19:02

Fell asleep whilst using veet under my arms in the bath. Woke up in excruciating pain and a trip to a&e where i was laughed at by a nurse as she slapped some cream on my pits. They eventually crusted over and i couldnt wear deodorant for 6 months. I didnt shave/ veet for over a year and by that time i could plat the hairs (lol).

MrsDrudge · 25/04/2019 19:03

Beer shampoo was a big thing in 1970s - my Gran decided to make her own by adding beer to her usual shampoo. Her hair looked beautifully shiny but she was plagued by wasps for some days afterwards (her worst nightmare)

BitOfFun · 25/04/2019 19:05

Oh yes, my mum and her sister used sugar water to set their bouffant hairstyles in the 1960s Grin

jinglet · 25/04/2019 19:10

I'd used an epilator on my arms and legs for years and thought it was brilliant until one day I realised I'd save myself a salon trip and use the damn thing on my nether region too- after all, it does the same thing as waxing doesn't it- taking the hair out from the root. The bloody thing got caught amongst the hair and wouldn't come off- I almost died from the pain. I then had to switch it off from the mains, detached the cord and walk with this thing stuck to my fanny until I found a pair of scissors to lopp off the epilator from the hair. NEVER AGAIN.

AnguaUberwaldIronfoundersson · 25/04/2019 22:04

Using Veet on my top lip... took it off too soon so I whacked some more on there and waited the appropriate time.

Had to meet my boyfriend’s entire family that evening with a lovely chemical burn moustache!

federationrep · 25/04/2019 23:14

As a teen I read (probably in Jackie) that raw egg was a great hair conditioner. Unfortunately they didn't point out the need to rinse with cold water so I used water the usual temperature for a hair wash and ended up with a scrambled egg wig. My DM thought it was the funniest thing she'd ever seen. It took several shampoos to get rid of it (undoing any amazing conditioning that may have happened)

federationrep · 25/04/2019 23:16

@knittedfairies I promise I'm not your sister, I'm an only childGrin

butterflykiss00 · 26/04/2019 07:03

I ought my own hot wax kit,
Started to use it and I did great , my legs and armpits and bikini line looked amazing,

then i thought I would do my actual pubic hairs in a nice shape, I put the wax on and then applied the strip only for the wax to not come off when I pulled leavin me with a massive clump of wax that would not come off , for days!! I had to wear a damp sanitary towel with wax remover until it all loosened off!

Then a week later every hair that tried to come through on my legs couldn't because I didn't exfoliate so I'm now stuck with ingrown hairs all over my legs 😞

Drivemecrazy1974 · 26/04/2019 09:48

I remember back in the days of Jackie Annual being a regular gift at Christmas that I followed their 'advice' on using an egg as a final conditioner for your hair to make it shiny. Didn't realise that if you used water that was too hot, it would just be scrambled egg in your hair! That took ages to wash out!
Also, remember following similar advice but with beer as a final rinse - stank like a brewery - not a good thing really on a 15-year-old girl!

Drivemecrazy1974 · 26/04/2019 09:49

Federationrep - how weird, I've literally just written exactly the same thing as you! That bloody magazine had a lot to answer for! Ha ha

Drivemecrazy1974 · 26/04/2019 09:52

I trained as a hairdresser back in my dark and distant past! I remember my boss telling me about how ladies would use sugar and water as a setting agent for their beehives in the 1960s - she said that they would often find maggots in some of the hair because people washed their hair a lot less often then (well, some people anyway!)

WellVersedInEtiquette · 26/04/2019 10:51

Once decided to wax my public area. Was a teen. Didn't read instructions properly and didn't taut the skin. I ended up with what looked like every pore bruising. Looked like I had caught something dodgy.
Another time (younger this time) I decided to run neat dettol onto my face thinking it would stop me getting spots. It burnt so much I ended up with my face under the cold tap. Didn't get any spots though (Mother Nature waited until I was in my thirties for that!)

AlpacaPicnic · 26/04/2019 10:57

Decided to try and wax my underarms the day before one of my GCSE finals. Ouch... and then more ouch as I tried to write without moving my arm at all from the awkward angle that I had to adopt so none of the raw skin was touching.

Is anyone else now picturing that scene from friends where Monica and Phoebe try the home waxing kit with the magical herbs?!

BlueMerchant · 26/04/2019 10:59

I decided to shave my nail varnish off once😬

turtlelove · 26/04/2019 11:51

Bleached my hair after using natural henna hair mask on it - resulted in bog green tresses.

Eliza9919 · 26/04/2019 13:22

@butterflykiss00 Fri 26-Apr-19 07:03:28
Then a week later every hair that tried to come through on my legs couldn't because I didn't exfoliate so I'm now stuck with ingrown hairs all over my legs

Pull them out with tweezers, I love doing that. Don't do what I did once. I had ingrown hairs and decided to try to exfoliate them with a cheese grater foot file. I ended up with grazes practically from top to bottom of my legs.

I decided to run neat dettol onto my face thinking it would stop me getting spots. It burnt so much I ended up with my face under the cold tap. Didn't get any spots though (Mother Nature waited until I was in my thirties for that!)

I did that once. I heard it was good for your skin. I didn't know you were supposed to dilute it. Put some on a cotton wool ball and wipes it ALL over my face. I ended up having to submerge my face in a sinkfull of cold water for ages, taking breaths every so often.

I once used an epilator on my bikini line. Got one hair out and then gave up in pain. That was not a good idea.

Bleached my hair and put a red dye on it. It was a toner for dark hair so I ended up ginger.

Eliza9919 · 26/04/2019 13:25

Another one was a straight perm. Had it done by a few hairdressers, all fine. Went to my local hairdresser who used dark & lovely and ended up with chemical burns all over my head (my hair isn't afro). I know it did this but continued to have it done every so often, and then proceeded to buy the dark & lovely kit the hairdresser bought and do it myself.

I did start to buy the no lye children's fine hair one which seemed to not be as bad.