We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about some of their most horrifying beauty stories. Here are their stories.
1. The hot comb horror.
"I used to use a hot comb in the morning to straighten my natural nappy hair so a friend could cornrow it at school. One particular morning, I let that comb get TOO HOT and as it went through the front of my hair, my hair straight turned to ASH and fell right on the sink. And it was a good chunk of the front too! I had to sport bandanas and headbands for a while then shaved my head for prom. Twenty years later, I still shudder at that day!"
—Trey Haliburton, Facebook
2. No lip luck.
"I had my upper lip waxed the day before starting a new job. My skin had some kind of weird reaction to the wax and for the first week of work I had huge red blisters all around my mouth. Pretty sure everyone thought I had oral herpes."
—Sara Faith Reichert, Facebook
3. Bad bleach.
"At 19 I had a cute pixie cut and platinum blonde hair. I went to the salon for a trim and root dye and my normal stylist wasn't there but another woman said she'd do it. Half-way through my root job, my head starts feeling like it's been lit on fire and there's a very odd smell. She said it was normal, but I knew better. I ran to the rinse sink and started pouring water over my flamingly painful head. I notice chunks of hair going down the drain. All my hair melted off! I ended up going to the doctor and had chemical burns for weeks."
—Danni Haverfield, Facebook
4. The wax factor.
"I have friends who are estheticians so I got them to buy me my own wax pot and wax. I waxed my legs regularly so I figured I knew what I was doing. I decided to wax my bikini line myself.....it didn't go well. To this day I am happy I was alone so no one saw me sitting on the floor, crying and bleeding from my panty line. It was bruised for quite a while; wearing underwear was rough."
—Lindsay Bridgeman, Facebook
5. JUST NO.
"I accidentally used nail polish remover instead of face toner. It hurt so bad afterwards and my face was peeling for a week!"
—Mary Shanks, Facebook
6. Tears of a clown.
"I don’t have a picture, but once I thought it’d be smart to use lipstick as eyeshadow. I ended up waking up with a rash on my eyelids and tear ducts swollen to the size of peas. I had to visit the dermatologist who tried her best not to laugh."
7. A browsing problem.
8. The eyelash incident.
"I got too close to the oven while cooking dinner when I had eyelash extensions on, completely singed and melted them! I had to walk around like that for days."
9. A waxing war story.
"I was getting my eyebrows waxed, and the woman insisted on waxing my entire face. She was so insistent that I’d love the results, and decided to do it anyways, against my protests. Well the wax was wayyyyy too hot and with my sensitive skin I had a lot of burning before she even ripped the wax strips off. Instead of getting a super smooth face I cried the whole time and got scabs/blistering two days before I returned to school for my sophomore year of college."—littleladylaur
10. Literally dyeing.
11. NO.
"I bought a DIY bikini waxing kit. There weren’t any strips or anything. Instead of testing a small patch like the instructions said I spread it all over my whole pubic area like a goddamn idiot. When it came time to rip it off I was horrified by how extremely painful it was. The region was covered in this wax and there was no way I would be able to rip it all off. I got in a hot bath thinking it would get soft making it easier to get off but that didn’t work. It actually just made it worse. I spent over an hour cutting the wax off my pubes with scissors and crying."—amandaw493aeb7f6
12. OH NO.
"A couple years ago, I was getting ready for a party and I turned my curler on to heat up while I was in the shower… It must have fallen on the floor at some point because as soon as I got out, I stepped right on top of it. It burned my foot so badly that I had to go to the hospital and be on crutches for a week!"—allegrag4e456019a
13. OH HELLLL NO.
"I went to get my eyebrows waxed and the technician put the wax underneath my brow. I couldn’t help but blink, and my eyelashes got caught in the wax and the middle section of my lashes just ripped right out."—andreac4837684ee
14. A sunscreen sob story.
"My fair-skinned father used hairspray instead of sunscreen while on vacation in Hawaii. He was redder than the BuzzFeed logo."—bridgetm46e72d7d8
15. The cat's meow.
16. Cocaine conspiracy.
"My dad agreed to letting me go to a party, and knowing I would get shiny I used a lot of Make Up For Ever’s HD Pressed Powder. After a few pictures with some friends on Snapchat, my aunt sent a screenshot to my dad and—long story short—he accused me of snorting coke."—maddyb4c7978c7e
17. The nose noes.
"I used extra strength Nair in my nostrils to remove nose hairs."—meganh45a337777
18. The Sharpie struggle.
"I literally tried to use a Sharpie as eyeliner."—gabbit2
19. The eyes have it.
"I was curling my bangs shortly after waking up late and sans coffee. Sleepy me let go of the iron and it hit my eyeball. A $400 trip to the E.R. later for my burned cornea and I got to listen to pirate jokes for a week until I could take off the eye patch. Lesson learned."—daunejaimesd
20. The brush off.
"One time I accidentally brushed my teeth with IcyHot pain relieving cream. I thought it was toothpaste until my tongue started feeling numb halfway through."—lyndseywest
21. The Nair nightmare.
"I was living overseas and working with people from all over the world at a campsite/resort. A co-worker was leaving to go home, and left me a bag of her beauty products. Fast forward a few weeks, and I’m getting ready for a hot date. I’m out of mousse, so I grab a can from her products and it’s only after I’ve scrunched it into my curls that I smell an unmistakable odor, and realize that I have put Nair foam in my hair. Thank God I don’t put mousse at my roots, but my hair was crunchy and dry for a while!"—katiew470cb3c03
22. Pee problem.
"My friend once peed in the booth while getting a spray tan. She had streaks running down her legs. It looked terrible."—emilyl46fdd2dae