Beauty Blunders

We’ve all made mistakes in the name of beauty; and we’ve all learnt from them, quickly mentally compartmentalised them and tried to forget they ever happened. In my early teens, I was far more ambitious and creative (probably not a good thing) in my quest for beauty than most of my friends and classmates – so I think I’ve made more mistakes than most!

So here are the of the lessons I’ve learnt from some of the worst beauty mistakes I’ve made. I’ll tell you now, they all seemed like really good ideas at the time.

1. The time I waxed my eyebrows with a leg waxing strip….

You know the ones; the pink Veet home waxing strips that you rub to warm up and peel apart (obviously I cut it up, so that it fitted under my eyebrows!) I wanted nicely shaped, smooth brows like the other girls at school. In reality, my genius plan was not so genius. It was painful, they didn’t look great, and then two days later I got the most horrendous little spots under my eyebrows (let’s not even talk about the swelling). There were literally hundreds of the things – all red, painful and itchy. Cue questions like: ‘what’s happened to your face?’ and ‘is that contagious?’

Moral of the story is… get your eyebrows done professionally! I get mine threaded in town every six weeks or so, and pluck any stray hairs in between. Threading is the quickest method, and gives a perfect edge. But if you can’t handle the pain, you could get them professionally waxed, sugared or plucked. And on top of all that, if it’s designed for your legs – don’t use it on your face!

2. The time I bleached my hair blonde with John Freida Go Blonder…

I was 14. I wanted blonde hair. The John Freida Go Blonder range promised me lighter hair with every wash, which seemed like the holy grail of home hair dying – I didn’t realise it contained bleach (DUH! What did I think was in it? Fairy dust?!) So every morning, I bleached my hair a bit with the shampoo and conditioner, and then I put on the bleaching spray before blow drying (no heat protection in sight!) Yes, my hair got lighter, but it was frizzy, straw-like and full of split ends; not to mention how unnatural it looked. Two years later, I went to the hairdresser to get it professionally bleached, and my hair was still in such a bad state I had to religiously use a heavy-duty protein shampoo for 12 weeks, and then a mixture of protein and moisturising shampoo for 6 weeks after. Although this treatment massively helped my hair, I would say it has only recently properly recovered from the John Freida ordeal – 4 years later.

Moral of the story is…. Should you bleach your hair yourself? No, because it will kill your hair! I know some people do, but I really would not recommend it. I still want to be blonde, but this time my hairdresser is helping me. Its takes time, its expensive but its worth it! I having been taking steps to lighten my hair for over a year now, and its still not the colour I’d like it to be. But this time, my hairdresser’s happy, my mum’s happy, I’m happy and most importantly: my hair’s happy!

3. The time I put too much primer all over my face…

I found it in my mum’s make-up bag when she left it in the bathroom, and I was beyond excited to have found a new product I’d never heard of before. I read the directions on the back, totally ignored them, and then applied a nice, thick layer of it all over my face. It was white, chalky and not quite what I was expecting, and really difficult to smooth on. Still, I carried on with my make-up and went off to school. For the rest of the day small, white, chalky patches kept appearing on my face. By geography at the end of the day, my whole face had taken on the texture of The White Cliffs of Dover. The boys had a field day teasing me about it, although most people thought I had something seriously wrong with me. I have never been so happy to get home and wash my face!

Moral of the story is… less is more and blend, blend, BLEND! Blend every product that touches your face! The key with primer is to use as little as possible. Then, you guessed it, (I can’t say it enough) blend! Although I didn’t touch it again for years after, No7 Shine-Free Primer is actually a very effective, mattifying base – when applied correctly!

4. The time I washed my hair with fairy liquid…

Okay, this wasn’t something I did at school. This was something I did about a month ago (yep, still making those tragic mistakes!). I’d been thinking of buying a clarifying shampoo to get rid of some of the product build-up that must be happening in my hair. I did some research on google and twitter, and apparently fairy liquid works just as well! I didn’t notice anything was wrong until I got out of the shower and tried to dry my hair. I could barely get my Tangle Teezer through it; and when I started to dry it, it was looking more ‘poodle’ than ‘chic blowout’. I was saved by a combination of hair oil and Aussie Miracle Moist, and I put the Fairy Liquid back where it belongs – by the kitchen sink.

Moral of the story is… think about what fairy liquid is. It emulsifies oils so they’re easier to clean off saucepans/plates/cutlery etc. When you put it on your hair, it completely removes all the natural, healthy oils your hair produces to look after itself! Think about what your hands are like when you’ve done the washing up. My advice is don’t put it anywhere near your hair – if you want to get rid of product build-up, use something that’s designed for the job!

See? I wasn’t joking: I’ve done some really stupid things! As long as your learn from your mistakes though, it’s all okay. However, these ones were so bad I thought I’d share them with you, so you can learn from my mistakes rather than having to go through the trauma yourself!

Have you ever done something crazy in the name of beauty? Link me to your posts, or let me know in the comments below! I’d love to learn from you before I try it myself!

Panda Eyes xx