10 Common Beauty Myths

Most of us have a daily beauty regimen.  But often those hard and fast routines are based on beauty myths that simply won’t make us as comely as we had hoped.  So if you’re looking to battle acne, get rid of the bags under your eyes or perhaps eradicate spider veins, then we’re here to help give some effective tips. Cotton Candy beauty contributor Claudia Mejerle divulges the truth behind ten common beauty myths.

Myth:  Eyeliner makes your eyes appear smaller.
Truth:  Properly applied eye liner will make your eyes appear larger.   Eye liner applied on the upper lash line can instantly wake up your whole face.  Liner on the lower lash line or water line (inner eye) can do the opposite, depending on the size of your eyes.   A little trick to open up anyone’s eyes is to line that lower inner eye with a white or flesh-colored pencil.  Your eyes will be bright and wide open.

Myth:  Day old hair is this best for updos.
Truth:  Not always.  You can always add products to your hair to attain that day-old effect, but it’s harder to remove excess oils to give your hair lift.  Ladies with thinner, finer hair should wash their hair the day they are having their hair done.  If the hair is weighed down by oils, it will be heavy and difficult to give desired volume.

Myth:   You should wash your face more often if you’re acne prone.
Truth:   Nobody needs to wash her face more than two times a day.  You can actually overstimulate, your skin by washing it several times a day. That can lead to breakouts.  If you strip you skin of the oils and moisture that it needs, it will over-produce oil and can create additional breakouts.  So focus on washing your face at night, in the morning and after a workout.

Myth:   The more expensive the product, the better it works.
Truth:  If you dig through a pro’s makeup kit, you will find both drug store and department store cosmetics.  You are often paying for the brand and packaging rather than a substantially better product when you spend more.  Feel free to indulge in a pretty compact or luxurious tube of lipstick, but when on a budget, know that most of the drugs store brands will deliver the same results as the pricier options.

Myth:  Shaving will make hair grow back thicker.
Truth:  Not true.  That’s just what our mama’s told us to keep us from shaving our legs at a young age.  Hair that hasn’t been cut is wide at the base and is thinner toward the tip.  Shaving cuts the hair off at the base where it is widest.  When the hair starts to grow back, it seems coarser since that softer, thinner end has been removed.  To make the regrowth a bit softer, try waxing because it removes the hair from the root and the hair is forced to regrow root to tip.

Myth:  Pumping the mascara wand in and out of the tube helps get a better mascara application.
Truth:  By pumping the wand into the tube, you pump air and bubbles into the product as well, causing the mascara to dry out quickly.  Dry mascara means clumps and flakes—which no one wants.  So if you don’t want to shorten the life of your mascara, avoid pumping the wand, and just swirl the wand in the tube to collect more product if necessary.

Myth:  Crossing your legs causes spider veins.
Truth:  So-called spider veins, or varicose veins, can be the result of hormonal changes, obesity, pregnancy, lack of physical activity, sun exposure, increasing age but not the way you sit.   You can see your dermatologist about varicose veins, but if it’s not a quality of life issue you’re dealing with, just use some leg makeup to disguise the red and bluish veins temporarily.

Myth:  You can decrease the size of your pores.
Truth:   Wrong.  Pore size is genetics and can’t be changed.  There are cleansers, creams and blackhead-removing strips that have big promises of shrinking pores, but it’s impossible.  You can temporarily decrease pore size with cold water or a mask made of egg, which will simply tighten your pores.  You can also fill in your pores with certain foundation primers.

Myth:   Redheads shouldn’t wear red lipstick.
Truth:  False.  Reject makeup rules that declare who can or cannot wear certain colors.  Rather, it’s a process of trial and error.  A warm red such as brick or tomato will be beautiful on redheads.

Myth:  Cucumbers de-puff bags under your eyes.
Truth:  Yes and no.  If the cucumbers are cold, they will de-puff your eyes.  It’s the cold that really does the trick—not the vegetable.  Keeping your eye creams in the fridge will help deliver similar results.  It’s the same as putting ice on a bruise to keep swelling down.  The cold from the cucumber, eye cream, etc. will help constrict blood vessels underneath the eye area to reduce puffiness.