Mythbuster: Beauty

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 11, 2009

Angela Cuming and Kristie Lau

We look at the grooming tips your mum gave you - and which ones you should believe. Angela Cuming and Kristie Lau report.

Lemon juice gets rid of freckles

Mums do know what they are on about, sometimes. Applying lemon juice to your freckles does act as a bleaching agent. However, dermatologist Dr JoAnn See says you have to keep going to maintain the faded affect. "Lemon juice offers an optical lightening, yes, but it won't get rid of freckles altogether. It's like putting lemon juice in your hair in summer - that works as a temporary method, too," she says. Verdict Fair dinkum

Brush your hair 100 times a day

Well, if it was good enough for Marcia Brady it should be for us, right? Wrong, says hair stylist George Wilson. "You should try (to) brush your hair as little as possible, especially when it's long, because brushing causes split ends," he says. "And if you do have to brush dry hair, do it from underneath to avoid all those flyaways on the top of your head."

Verdict Give it the brush-off

Don't go to bed with wet hair

This beauty no-no does not just leave you with a stiff neck and a bad case of the sniffles the next morning. "If the scalp is moist for a long period of time it can aggravate the small amounts of bacteria found on the skin's surface, which will cause flakiness and irritation and itching," Wilson says.

Verdict Right on

Cucumber alleviates puffy eyes

While at face value it appears that mum just invented this to stop teenage daughters wasting their pocket money on expensive eye creams, there actually is some truth to it. Sydney make-up artist Anya Fransman says turning to the vegie crisper can work wonders. "Cold cucumber slices placed over the eyes can help to alleviate puffiness simply because the coolness of them helps to constrict blood vessels, aiding in slowing down fluid retention," she says. Verdict Yes

Using toothpaste on pimples makes them go away

If your spots are looking particularly red and nasty, you can dab on a smidgen of toothpaste - but don't expect long-lasting results. JoAnn See says toothpaste should only be used as a temporary treatment. "It will dry your pimples out because toothpaste is an anti-inflammatory agent. It can reduce the redness if left on overnight and the results are usually evident within 24 hours," she says. "But it's not designed to stay on your face as a cream; it's supposed to be washed off, even on your teeth." Verdict Quick fix

Never wash your face with soap

Soap can not only strip away all the natural good oils and sebum that keeps your skin healthy, it can disrupt the skin's pH balance. "Instead, choose a soap-free, gentle facial cleanser suitable for your skin type (dry, oily, normal, combination), making sure that you use it in the morning and in the evening and massage it into the skin for up to 30 seconds or until all the impurities have dissolved," Fransman says. Verdict You heard right

© 2009 The Sunday Age

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