Don’t believe the hype around those black face masks
DON’T believe the hype about those famous black face masks. ‘You might as well put duct tape on your face,’ writes Rachel Corbett in this honest review.
IF YOU’RE a fan of social media you’ve probably noticed a stream of videos featuring women who look like they’ve just stepped off the set of Hey Hey It’s Saturday after pissing off Harry Connick Jnr.
The now ubiquitous black face mask is the latest craze in beauty blogging with one blogger’s video review being watched over 23 million times.
Now I’d like to think of myself as a pretty level headed woman. I’m usually fairly immune to the powers of advertising and unwilling to jump on a passing bandwagon unless I can come up with a better reason than “just coz.” But the other day I saw an ad for said mask on my Facebook feed and the next thing you know, I was entering my credit card details.
This is not normal behaviour for me. I’m the type of person who doesn’t know why anyone would need more than three beauty products, but while I can walk past all the cleansers and toners in the world, the one thing I’m a sucker for is those damn pore cleansing strips.
I’m sure the line “pain is beauty” was inspired by someone trying one of them but there’s something so oddly satisfying (after you’ve stopped crying) about seeing all those blackheads standing to attention like tiny oily soldiers.
When I originally placed the order, I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I casually mentioned it to the friends I was with but played it down with comments like “it’ll never work” and “I’ve probably just sent $12.95 to Nigeria.” In my heart of hearts, however, I was excited.
When the package finally arrived from whatever far away country it was sent I raced to the bathroom and began covering myself in the tarry goodness. I paced the house willing the requisite 30 minutes to go faster, giddy as a schoolgirl for the treasure trove of garbage I was about to mine from my face.
When the mask was finally dry (no mean feat in the current 50-degree weather with a constant sweat moustache), I peeled it back and despite feeling like my soul was being ripped out through my pores I knew the excruciating pain would be worth it.
As I released the last corner I brought it close to my eyes to survey the oily treasures and …
… nothing.
Not a single flippin’ black head.
In their place, however, was half my facial hair, which I’m sure was serving some kind of protective purpose. So essentially I’d spent 40 minutes of my life giving myself a painful and unnecessary face wax.
Naturally, after this experience it’s been difficult to watch the continuing stream of video reviews with women still screaming “OMG! My face is so smooth!!!!” Of course, it’s smooth — you just ripped all your hair off!
So, if you’re thinking of investing in a black face mask and have been dreaming of unclogged pores and that odd sense of satisfaction might I suggest covering your face in duct tape and ripping it off instead?
It’ll do exactly the same thing and it’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper.
Rachel Corbett is a writer, radio, TV and podcast presenter and creator of the online podcasting course, PodSchool. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook or at her website.