Top Five Beauty Myths: Busted

The internet is an amazing tool when it comes to learning new information, isn't it? We can Google away to our little hearts content, and find answers to just about any question imaginable. But a lot of the time it can be difficult to know what exactly we should believe, in regards to beauty there's so much contradictory and misleading information out there it's enough to confuse anyone. Much of the advice we're given may be a ploy by advertisers to get us to spend money on products we don't need, and home remedies can possibly cause more harm than good. Here are my top five beauty myths that are commonly accepted as fact, but are actually completely false. 

1. Hair gets used to shampoo and conditioner- FALSE
Hair is essentially dead so cant actually 'get used to' anything. It's just more likely that you're used to the effects of a certain brand, so doesn't feel quite as nice and novel as it did in the beginning. I like to switch up my shampoo and conditioner to try out new things anyway, but if you do find products you really like and work well you can stick with them indefinitely with no negative effects on your hair.

2. Shaving makes your hair grow back thicker- FALSE
Think about it, if this were true then by the time women were in their thirties or forties, they'd practically be gorillas. I've been shaving my legs for over ten years now, and I'm happy to report no scary thick hair. This myth probably came about because shorter hair looks thicker, but hair thickness is determined by genetics and no amount of shaving will change that.

3. Cocoa butter will get rid of stretch marks- FALSE
Unfortunately once stretch marks have appeared there's not much you can do about them until they fade naturally with time. Using a cream such as cocoa butter may help new stretch marks from appearing, but the same is likely to be true of any intensive cream or oil. If you moisturise at the first sign of stretch marks appearing you might be able to slightly reduce the chance of getting more, but as the redness isn't actually on the surface of the skin they won't fade from the use of moisturisers. There are so many products on the market that claim they will eliminate stretch marks and it's so misleading because it's simply not true- once they're there that's it until they fade. They may be good for prevention but nothing more.

4. Toothpaste will get rid of a spot- FALSE
I used to hear about people doing this back when I was at school. I was lucky enough to never have suffered with acne, but can easily understand how people would want to take desperate measures. Although toothpaste can help to dry out a spot, the flouride can burn the skin and potentially end up making it look worse. There are quite a few 'spot zappers' on the high street that are apparently quite effective, so don't bust out the Colgate just yet.

5. Expensive eye creams can help reduce dark circles-FALSE
No topical cream, ointment, lotion or potion will reduce the darkness under your eyes. Dark circles can be improved with sleep and healthy lifestyle including exercise and good nutrition, although stubborn dark circles are likely to be a result of age or genetics and there's not much that can be done about them. This is another area of the market that I think needs closer monitoring, it's unfair for products to make claims that they quite simply can't live up to. If you do suffer with dark circles there are lots of great concealing and eye brightening cosmetics available though, so you can massively change the appearance of them with a bit of cleverly placed makeup.

Did you believe any of these things? I know I used to! Do you know of any more beauty myths?