Pinterest is a gold mine of tips, recipes and beauty DIYs. But not all these handy tips are good for you, In fact, some of those skin care tips are downright scary if not dangerous. Remember your skin is a delicate organ with its own ecosystem and a narrow margin of error. Anything that disrupts its pH balance can throw it off its ideal functioning and up your chances of irritation, acne and worse. Check out the top six Pinterest DIYs you should avoid at all costs.
Skin Care Tip: Applying Lemon Juice on your face
You skin has a natural pH of about 4.5 while lemon juice—on the other side of the pH scale at 2—is highly acidic. Just as sucking on a lemon can erode your teeth's enamel, applying pure lemon directly to your skin will irritate it and disrupts the acid mantle. Plus the oils in citrus fruits are phototoxic, which means that sun exposure will worsen the irritation to the point of causing chemical burns.
Beauty Tip for Skin: Applying baking soda on your face (or hair) It may be the only way to get your cake to rise or kitchen sink to shine but it's way too alkaline to use on your face. Baking soda has a pH of 9. Using something so alkaline can damage your skin's natural barrier, make you prone to breakouts and cause your skin to flake and peel. Never ever use on your skin or hair.
Tip for Clear Skin: Hydrogen Peroxide to Treat Breakouts Hydrogen peroxide is a mild antiseptic so perfect for dabbing on minor cuts and burns. But that doesn't mean you should apply on breakouts. It's corrosive in nature and can cause burns and blisters due to oxidation when in contact with skin for a while. Besides, hydrogen peroxide is a common allergen that can cause inflammation, so NEVER apply on acne or use in a steam bath.
Tips for Healthy Skin: Petroleum jelly on your faceIt's great for healing cracked heals and chapped hands, but on your face? Not so much! While petroleum jelly seals in moisture on super dry, fragile skin, and protects cuts, bug bites, and other wounds from the air, it isn't a long-term fix. Sure your skin will feel softer but the formulation is so thick that it will also trap dirt and debris that cause dryness over time because it keeps air and moisture from touching skin.
Sensitive Skin care: Toothpaste to zap pimplesThis is another quick fix that does more harm than good. Toothpaste contains ingredients that are drying and irritating, so sure the pimple may look smaller the next morning but it'll also zap healthy moisture from the surrounding skin, and could even chemically burn it, leaving ugly scars. Instead dab on a drop of spot treatment or even a dab of tea tree oil, instead.
Coconut Oil Face Mask Sure, coconut oil is the new superfood. Gargle with it, drink it, cook with it and even apply on your body and hair. But your beloved coconut oil doesn't belong on your face. Coconut oil ranks high on the comedogenic scale, a 4 out of 5, which means it has a very high likelihood of clogging your pores and causing pimples. If you have dry, flaky skin you're better of using a soothing, light formula like Argan Oil instead.
