Many make content about skincare “hacks,” and they are often packed in bite-sized videos. These 1-minutes videos are not only harmful because of misinformation but also the number of details they leave out. These videos can get popular it’s quick, easy, and budget-friendly acne treatments or whatnot.
The thing is that these items can be sensitizing to the skin and can do more harm than good. These products are made for cooking or eating. The chemicals on them are not made for the skin, especially on the sensitive parts like the face.
Here are ‘natural’ remedies that should stay in the kitchen:
Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) has become a cult favorite in the wellness community because of its weight loss and blood sugar regulation benefits. However, these benefits have not been scientifically proven to translate to the skin.
ACV comes from the fermentation of apples that produce acetic acid which has antibacterial and antifungal properties. It contains 5-8% acetic acid, and there have been no studies proving using ACV on the face is safe or how much of this vinegar can be used.
Needless to say, acetic acid is not salicylic acid or glycolic acid that are safe to use on the skin. Just because there are other acids safe on the skin doesn’t mean all the other acids are safe as well.
Coconut Oil
This is one of the things that has a plethora of benefits on the skin and the hair. It’s like the top student in class who’s also in every extra-curricular activity, but just because you’re a jack of all trades doesn’t mean you’re a master of all.
The skincare magic coconut oil does is attributed to lauric acid, Vitamin E, and caprylic acids which are antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antifungal respectively. The catch is that coconut oil is highly comedogenic. It stays on top of the skin like a barrier, suffocates the pores, and clogs them. On a comedogenic scale of 1 to 5–1 being the lowest and 5 being overkill–coconut oil scores 4.
Coconut oil on the ingredient lists of skincare products could work, though, because they are formulated to be beneficial to the skin. If that’s hard to come by, aloe vera gel is anti-inflammatory, moisturizes, and removes fine lines as well.
Coffee grounds
Exfoliation is necessary to achieve a healthy-looking skin that glows, and a popular use for coffee grounds on the skin is a face scrub. Mix it with coconut or olive oil, and you’ll have an antioxidant face scrub.
On the other hand, coffee grounds are extremely abrasive to the skin. Some grounds have sharp edges and inconsistent sizes. Worse, they don’t dissolve as you rub it on your face. These result in micro-tears which are “rough, etched tears made to the epidermis which shows the unevenness of physical exfoliation.”
The best alternative to this are chemical peels because they are gentler and more effective to the skin. Products like AHA/BHA are best to penetrate the skin and remove layers of dead skin cells.
It’s best to stick to actual skincare products to solve your worries. These products have been tested by dermatologists and experts as well as screened under regulations to be widely distributed. Hence, they’re safe to use on the skin because they were made for that specific purpose.
