Dont Be Fooled; Beauty Myths Revealed

There are many false stories that go around about certain beauty routines and beauty experiments that many women find worrisome. These fallacies have many wondering if they are doing the right or wrong things; today let’s pick on some beauty myths and inform you on some that are true while debunking the false ones.

Age spots means you are getting older: Having spots does not necessarily mean you are getting old. Anybody can have them from a little child who has freckles over his face to a teenager having acne. The term age spot in itself is a misnomer and is simply a brown discolouration which is usually caused by too much exposure to the sun.

Plucking your eyebrows stop them from growing: This is totally true because the hair follicle may become fatigued from the years of applying tweezing pressure and this can stop them from growing new eyebrows.

There are beauty products that get rid of wrinkles: Don’t be mislead into believing that there is any magic cream or concoction out there that will help you get rid of wrinkles. Wrinkles are simply the resultant effect of the sun on your skin and a breakdown of your skin’s natural support structure. Don’t mistake dry skin lines for wrinkles, what you can do is to use moisturizers and make sure you live healthy in terms of diet and exercising.

Removing a gray hair brings on more: It is next to impossible to increase your hair follicles by removing a gray hair on your head. The myth is probably as a result of when a gray hair starts growing the next follicle beside it starts graying too and when you pluck one out, it seems you have more growing around it.

Drinking more water helps dry skin: The conception that when you have dry skin and you drink lots of water will help you resolve it is totally false. Research has shown that there isn’t much difference between when you drink much water for dry skin than when you act normal. Avoid the use of too many moisturizers as well or trying to add too much moisture to the skin, it only breaks down the substances that help skin cells perform normally.

Shaving makes your hair grow faster and thicker: It is often said that when you shave or cut your hair, it usually grows back at a rapid rate and thicker but this is totally unfounded. Shaving has not effect whatsoever on the rate at which your hair grows and does not determine the thickness.   

The skin adapts to products after extensive use and stops working: This is one common beauty myth that many people believe in. This is however a fallacy as saying a product stops working because your skin has adapted to it is like saying that good food stops working for your body because your body has adapted to a healthy diet. External factors are usually responsible for the stop in the effectiveness of a product.   

You can’t smell your own perfume: As odd as this may sound it is sadly true, when someone wears the same scent every day, they become immune to the smell and may not be able to perceive it but this does not mean that people around them cannot. Most people tend to apply too much scent just because they can’t smell it and this leads to an overpowering scent for people around them.

Lip balm makes your lips drier: This in itself is not entirely true as your lips don’t go drier for applying lip balm, it is only the wearer feeling uncomfortable because she has been used to the glossiness of the lips. You should however note that some of the ingredients used in the making of lip balms like alcohol, menthol or camphor can cause irritation to the lips. But for those that it happens for it is advisable to always check the ingredients used for the lip balm and avoid licking your lips too much.

Acne goes away with age: Don’t be deceived into believing that you can outgrow acne, it is no respecter of age and cannot be outgrown. Anybody can develop acne and just because it is more commonly found in teenagers doesn’t mean that someone in the late 20s or early 30s or even more mature people cannot develop acne. 

After reading this article, I hope that you are now better informed about certain beauty myths that are flying around. While there are yet still many more that are baseless, be careful in what you choose to believe in and always try to live on facts rather than hearsay. 

Poshkid Gidigenius is a National Diploma holder in Mass Communication from Yaba College of Technology. He currently majors in English at the University of Lagos. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram @gidigenius