Women will often go to great lengths in the name of beauty, so it’s no surprise that along the way urban legends get passed down from generation to generation. From the classic toothpaste on a blemish trick to the skipping of sunscreen on a cloudy day, beauty fiction is all around us and some of these can do more harm than good or are just plain wrong. Here, we’re busting 10 popular beauty myths about hair, makeup and skincare.
- You can shrink your pores. This breaks our hearts, but it’s impossible to change the size of pores. You can make them look smaller, however, with products that help reduce their appearance.
- Your shampoo will stop working after continued use. If we had a dollar for every time someone claimed this… Guess what? Hair can’t get “used to” a shampoo, but you should switch it up if you’ve dyed your hair, the weather changes or have had a keratin treatment.
- Makeup will cause you to break out. Let’s not hate on cosmetics, guys. Each pore is breathing just fine with foundation over it. It’s crucial to cleanse and exfoliate, however, because dirt and oil can build up and lead to breakouts.
- Split ends can be eliminated with certain hair products. Sad story, but split ends are inevitable, and while oils and serums help smooth them out and make them appear less noticeable, the only way to banish them is a haircut.
- Expensive products are more effective than inexpensive ones. There are so many amazing products at every price point. It’s all about how they’re formulated, the active ingredients and the type of benefits they provide — not their price tag.
- You don’t need sunscreen on a cloudy day. As sunscreen addicts, we’re offended when we hear this. UV radiation from the sun is so powerful that it penetrates those gray clouds, reaches the Earth’s surface, through your window and onto your pretty skin. Don’t mess with the sun, y’all.
- Pluck a gray hair and a few more will appear. Um, given the amount of gray hairs some of us personally have, we totally believed this. Alas, it’s impossible to increase the number of follicles you have on your head by plucking one pesky gray out. Phew! But you should stick to touching up those roots as needed.
- Toothpaste will clear a pimple. Certain ingredients in toothpaste, like hydrogen peroxide and baking soda, can cause pimples to dry out, but it doesn’t work better than acne products. Also, toothpaste is irritating to skin and can cause redness and peeling. Just stick to a spot treatment that’s made for zits.
- Shaving will cause hair to grow back thicker. When you glide the razor across an area, you’re cutting the midshaft, which is the thickest part of the hair. It grows back as stubble, which only feels stiffer, but it’s really not thicker. Darn midshaft.
- Steam will open up your pores. We seem to love the idea of pore morphing, but just like their size, you cannot open them up with steam. They can stretch, however, which is why they look bigger when they’re filled with blackheads and steam will loosen the gunk inside to clear them out.
