A study, of 2,000 females, found 32% have followed the mantra that shaving their legs should be avoided as it makes your hair grow back thicker – when in reality it makes no difference to the colour, thickness or rate of growth of the hair. While 22% have turned to toothpaste to help soothe spots – despite the fact that it can actually cause more irritation to the skin.
Other misconceptions women have believed over the years include that crossing your legs causes varicose veins, plucking grey hairs causes more to grow in its place and chocolate gives you spots.
And some have been taken in by the belief that cutting your hair makes it grow faster – although this has little impact on the rate of growth, or that overplucking your eyebrows is fine, as they will grow back.
But it also emerged more than one in twenty (6%) have even been harmed by a beauty myth they tried, with some suffering skin reactions, bruising and even burns.
TV presenter Frankie Bridge, an ambassador for beauty supplement brand Perfectil, which is working to help separate beauty facts from fiction, said: “I’ve spent a lot of time in the past googling various beauty myths and then giving them a go, hoping they would be the quick fix I was looking for.
“As you can imagine, I was almost always left disappointed. I’m sure we all have our own mishaps and stories to share. I feel like a lot of women a similar age to me are probably guilty of over plucking their eyebrows back in the day – that was definitely one of my mistakes.
“It’s so hard to know exactly what’s real and what’s not, especially with the internet and social media making it so much easier for false pieces of advice to quickly become viral and therefore we all seemingly jump on them.
“However when it comes to our skin, hair and nails, we all want to make sure that what we are doing is not going to do more harm than good.”
The study also found 58% of women believe there is more fiction than fact out there when it comes to beauty advice. Great reviews from customers (39%) are most likely to make someone trust a beauty product, along with knowing it has gone through a scientific trial (39%), and an explanation of the science behind the product (29%).
For Gen Z, a social media video showing it being used (22%) and influencer recommendations (12%) are also key. But just 7% of all women tend to believe the results shown in before and after photos – with older generations of women more sceptical than their younger counterparts.
Generally, just 16% trust beauty information they see on social media – but this rises to 41% of Gen Z. The research also found 25% of women have bought a beauty product based on something they saw on social media – with Gen Z and Millennials twice as likely to do this than Gen X or Boomers. But just 45% of all those were happy with its results, according to the OnePoll figures.
Susanne Bisinotti, from Perfectil, which has created a guide to debunk the UK’s most popular beauty beliefs with the help of esthetician and beauty expert Katie Onyejekwe, said: “It can be overwhelming to sift through the vast amount of beauty advice available today.
“Perfectil aims to provide clarity by debunking common beauty myths and to help women make the best choices about their beauty routines, leading to real, positive results for their skin, hair, and nails.”