These are considered “controversial” beauty tricks because they’ve been given a bad name in some circles… but if they work, who cares?!
The thing is—these tricks have some serious potential. So let’s look at the details, bust the myths, and get over the over-reactions.
The Controversial Beauty Tricks That Are Worth Doing
1. Face Shaving (or “Dermaplaning“ in fancy-speak)
Marilyn Monroe supposedly shaved her face.
Here’s the common horror story:
“Don’t shave your face, the hair will grow back dark and strong and you’ll have to pack your razor and join the circus as the bearded lady!”
But wait… two things:
First: How would shaving, which cuts off only the hair on the surface of the skin, do anything to the root of the hair??
When you shave, the hair is usually blunter when it grows back. AKA it is missing that fine natural tip so it can give the illusion of being darker.
And it can feel less “soft”.
But in reality it isn’t growing darker, and if you don’t like the effects just stop. The blunter hairs will fall out and grow back as the finer peach fuzz, just like before.
Second:
Dermablading your face is actually a good thing for women!
Dermaplaning is basically an excellent physical exfoliant for your face. It “shaves” off the top layer of dead skin cells and collects that annoying dulling peach fuzz along with it.
Professional facials use blades (scalpels) eeeek. Ok, they’re pro’s. The more scary thing is perhaps the price.
So if you want the same results at home, use a razor!
Buy a pack of those cheap Bic razors and use one per session. Throw it out after use.
The Quick Guide To How A Lady Should Dermaplane (Shave!) Her Face:
- Cleanse your skin
- Apply a thin layer of oil such as almond, apricot, jojoba
- Get out ya razor, wet it under warm water, and gently but kind-of firmly shave
- It helps to start with shaving downwards (with the hair growth), and then finish up by shaving upwards
- Splash your face with cool water and apply a nice mask, serum, moisturizer…
This will probably need to be done once a week or so, no big deal. And once you see and feel the baby soft and smooth glowing skin it gives, you will be a face shaving convert!
Plus, as far as natural beauty tricks go this is a good one. No products involved!
2. Silly, weird, and possibly-dangerous Lip Plumping Products
Who can forget the Kylie Jenner lip plumping fiasco a while back (cringe).
Yea… but the truth is plumper lips can look better (to a certain point!)—more youthful, sexier.
Hey, they feel kinda cool too—who doesn’t want to be all pouty pouty?
And that’s where these dodgy lip plumping tools come in. The glorious thing is they are non surgical.
Lip injections have the unfortunate side effect of, well, looking like lip injections.
In contrast these tools can only plump up your natural lips so much. This means they actually work quite well…
Yea, because the cool thing is they can work and they can have a slight long term effect (it’s all about the suction increasing blood flow…) if you use them consistently.
Just use the right one, and don’t over do it! Bruised mouths never look sexy.
Anyway, isn’t a couple of minutes of looking like a weirdo with a lip sucker on your face better than a painful injection?!
You might like: How to Whiten Teeth at Home—the right way
You might like: Peppermint Oil for Lips
3. Cheap fake nails
Cheap fake nails are GREAT for two reasons:
- They can look just as good as expensive fake nails.
- They make excellent natural nail savers. Details below:
If you like to have nice nails (who doesn’t), but deal with that one that always breaks, this is where your packet of cheap falsies come in.
One broken short nail ruins the look of your perfect manicure..
Simple: apply a fake nail to that one little stumpy. Shape it, paint it like the rest and voila! Who can tell??
But aren’t stick-on nails bad? All that glue oh my!
Your nails grow, and they grow from the nail bed. So no matter what the myths say about wearing fake nails or nail polish being bad for your nails, they really aren’t.
A fake nail over one that keeps breaking can prevent it from breaking more. Think of it like armor. A little protective battle shield.
Here’s how to keep your nails healthy and strong the right way:
- Massage oil (you can go fancy with special cuticle oil or just use Vaseline) into your cuticles daily. Or more often if you remember.
- Eat your protein! Get enough protein in your diet and your nails with be as strong as armor by themselves.
And lastly, cheap plastic nails really are as good as the not-cheap ones. And you just get so many in those little packs!
3. Rubbing alcohol on skin blemishes and other stuff
Oh the harshness! The chemicals! The absolute no-no of using alcohol on your skin!
*eye roll*
Really, this stuff dries out pimples like no other. Plus it’s a perfect antiseptic.
Hit a pimple in its first “stages” and you can seriously shorten its lifespan – or even prevent it altogether.
Because the truth is (the right) alcohol isn’t all that bad for skin.
Those expensive pimple zapper treatments (as well as plenty of other skin care products) you buy usually contain alcohol as one of their main ingredients anyway. Often disguised by some other fancy other chemical sounding name.
So save your money and go straight to the good stuff. Get a bottle of 70 – 80% rubbing alcohol from your pharmacy and next time you get a pimple – dab some on it twice a day:
- Just be careful of the surrounding skin because it is drying
- Bonus trick: A quick swipe of alcohol over your nose before applying makeup can keep it oil free all day. Try it!
- Another bonus: Clean your makeup brushes the easy and cheap way by applying some rubbing alcohol to a tissue and wiping the bristles over it.
4. CHEAP Drugstore Shampoo
Using an expensive salon brand shampoo makes me feel fancy.
‘Cos I spent so much on it.
And I bought it from a shiny, slightly-intimidating hairdresser in a shiny, very-intimidating salon.
But why does my hair still feel like straw?
Pondering this question, I harked back to my younger days. The days of Sun-In spray-on hair bleach (remember?!)…
…and yet I had soft hair. What was the secret?!
PANTENE!
Yes really, that’s what I came up with 🙂
Cheap shampoo from the supermarket aisle. It came in giant containers and made my hair soft and manageable and luscious. Everything the commercials promised and more!
“Don’t hate me because I”m beautiful…“
So I went back to it.
Now I save myself $30+ on every ‘poo restock-day. And I swear it smells better.
Fact: Pantene Full and Strong is awesome.
For some reason Pantene gets an extra bad rap in the hairdresser world. I’ve been told numerous times that it “coats” your hair (vague utterances of it containing plastic or something).
Well, I’ll take a coating of softness over a head of expensive straw any day.
5. And last, the dodgy beauty trick that may indeed be bad – Hemorrhoid cream under eyes
Hemorrhoid Cream (like Preparation H) works by constricting blood vessels.
For under eyes it can tighten up bags (puffiness) and reduce the appearance of wrinkles.
It can also cause irritation.
This is one of those really controversial beauty tricks:
Dermatologists don’t recommend it. Kim Kardashian’s makeup artist does.
The jury is out on this one. Maybe it’s a good beauty trick for that once-a-year special event…
Other Bad Beauty Stuff that actually rocks:
- I don’t use any of those awful “heat protectant” products when blow drying my hair. Every single one I’ve tried leaves my hair sticky or heavy or just ugh.
- I often sleep in makeup. As long as there’s a decent cleanse involved in the morning who cares. Pores don’t get magically clogged over one night of concealer wearing. But what is important? Cleansing your face after exercise! If you meticulously cleanse your face at night but exercise with makeup on and don’t cleanse it as soon as possible after – you’re pushing a boulder up hill my friend.
- I love St Ives Apricot Scrub. Some like to hate on it, but this skin care exfoliant is amazing for blackheads and maintaining smooth skin. The Blemish Control Scrub is even better because it contains salicylic acid. Apply a layer to your face in the shower, do your thing, then after a few minutes gently scrub and rinse off.
- I hate yoga. I drink too much coffee. And I believe a beer a day keeps the doctor away – best beauty trick ever.