Pore Strips

0 Posted by - January 2, 2012 - Hair & Beauty

I’m a vain little tramp, I admit. I am also a cheap bastard. That’s why this pin originally appealed to me.

Yes, some other poor, vain tramp figured out how to use Jello as a pore strip. Genius.

I began as instructed.

1. Acquire gelatin.

2. Acquire milk. Although I am 30 years old, I never can keep around milk that is not expired. I don’t know. I used it anyway.

3. Mix.

4. Apply to face.

At this point, I began to fear the worst. In my haste, I applied the stuff to my whole face. As I was rinsing it off my fingers after application, I noticed that it was a little difficult to remove. It didn’t peel off so much as… rip. Hm. Also, it smelled a little funny.

This lead me to Google the actual ingredients in gelatin, which I probably should have known before I applied it to my face. It is “derived from the collagen inside animals’ skin and bones,” people. Ew. Ewwwww.

But it was too late to turn back, so I let it solidify while I made a snow globe.

I felt a little like a zombie. A zombie who can’t move its face and desperately wants beanie weenies instead of brains, but still. Ok, fine, I really only looked like a zombie.

The first peel wasn’t so bad.

Subsequent peels were.

No one told me that the peeling process would peel away not only the junk in my pores, but the top layer of skin and anything that was on that top layer of skin. Eyebrows, the edges of my scalp, etc. As I continued to peel, my soul began to die in tiny, disgusting flakes. There was pain, there was agony, there was despair. And it lasted for 29 minutes.

Know what’s awesome about real pore strips? They don’t take 29 minutes to peel off. By the end, I was wiped.

And there was a pile of nasty.

People, don’t do this. I am not generally in the Public Service Announcement business, but take this as a warning: You will regret it. If, in fact, you decide to do it anyway, though, I recommend you put it right up close to your eyes, all in your eyebrows, and along the hair of your scalp, too. (That should teach ya.)

  • http://www.andrisbear.wordpress.com Andris Bear

    OmG! Bahahahahaha! I especially love the pictures! Oh, and the curse words. :)

    • Pintester

      Thanks Andris! Come back soon for more pictures. And curse words.

  • http://www.bethcaudill.net/ Beth Caudill

    Umm, yeah I’ll definitely be sticking with my wash off masques. I hated the peel-off stuff to begin with and this process did not inspire me.

    Sorry to hear about your snow globe. Even if it is from one of those Blue schools. Red is the color of choice in my house. Great attempt at repair though.

    • Pintester

      Liar. It was a LAME attempt at repair. LAME. ;)

  • http://www.redheadedkitchen.blogspot.com Melody (Redhead in the Kitchen)

    This site is brilliant AND hilarious, Sonja! Awesome idea.

    • Pintester

      Thanks! Of course, I think it’s pretty awesome, but I’m glad someone else is around to affirm me.

  • Nancy Lee Badger

    Yuck! I’ve tried the commercial brands and they don’t do much except dry out the skin on my nose. This looked much worse. What we do to look nice can go to the extremes. Hope you are home moisturizing.

    • Pintester

      Hmm, maybe I need to test a home-made moisturizer to balance it out…

  • Pingback: Crock Pot Cheesy Meat and Hashbrown Casserole | Pintester

  • Sarah D

    It’s become fairly apparent to me, thanks to pinterest, that some things shouldn’t be home made. like ketchup. and obviously pore strips. and probably facial moisturizer.

  • nursebethy

    I tried this painful pinterest trick too!!!!!! It felt like my face was ripping off when I was trying to peel it off my face!!!! I tried the band aid method of ripping it off…… Don’t do it it just makes it worse. Blackheads were still in my pores, and my face was RED for 4 days!!!! Don’t do it unless u like PAIN!!!!

  • tasha

    ive done this and it smells soooooooo bad

    • Tana

      agreed! i tried this a few months ago and i sat there waiting for it to dry with my face smeling like old wet dog, trying not to vomit.

  • angie

    I tried this and I also applied it all over my face and eyebrows, it smelled gross I was seriously gagging! and it even peeled off some facial hair (ouch!) it is torture.

    • Amber

      I put it all over my face too..and tried not to gag. It was awful. Who comes up with this kind of stuff?

  • http://bedazzlecat.wordpress.com bedazzlecat

    Dude, just use duct tape.

  • http://Facebook Emily

    I just did this one tonight thinking it was going to work..it hurt sooo bad and I broke out major right afterwards..never again

  • http://www.facebook.com/joanna.angel Joanna Angel Benson

    glue is another good alternative to pore strips… but i would only use for your nose… BTW I am literally cracking up while reading your site :)

  • MissAli

    Yup, this does NOT work! I learned the hard way too. My face was red for 2 days.

  • Amber

    Uhh yeah..i tried this awhile back…the smell alone should have been warning enough that this wasn’t a good idea…but i didn’t stop….the pain was like plucking all of your peach fuzz off your face one by one with tweezers. Never again.

  • Liz

    It isn’t as bad smelling if you use water instead of milk and I only put it on my nose/forehead cause the rest hurts like a bitch. But it does work great for me! Love your blog by the way :P

  • http://www.facebook.com/heather.davisson.7 Heather Davisson

    LOL OMG dude, I did the same damn thing when I saw that blog. Expired milk and all. It smelled super ass weird, but I had the forethought not to get it into my eyebrows and hair. It is a much better experience without the bad milk and missing hair, trust me :)

  • Adrian

    I just did this a few days ago, I agree that it was terrible. About halfway through i got a wet rag and soaked my face, that helped get it off, but i still cried my way through the first half! On the bright side, no more unwanted facial hair!

  • pix

    @The gelatin info- Yup. This is why most vegetarians can’t consume yogurt, gummy bears, gummy candies, you name it. Insane (and unnecessary) how many animal products are in EVERYTHING! For example, most white sugar involves a process that utilizes animal products (such as bone) for no other reason other than the end result *looking* better.

    The more you know!

  • Faith

    I love this. I could not stop laughing. My family just stared at me thinking I had lost my mind. (maybe so) but this was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time. And I had already tried this one before and whoever came up with this should be arrested. I thought I was going to rip my eyebrows off, NEVER AGAIN.

  • Lea

    i actually tried this one and i liked it as long as it did not go under my eyes or on my eyebrows! hahaha!

  • Cadi

    I don’t know what I did wrong with these– but I tried it twice on the same day and it just didn’t seem to peel off. I ended up washing it off because it wasn’t peeling…?

  • Angel

    You are seriously hysterical!!!

  • http://gravatar.com/toogirls Jodi

    Just to let you know agar agar is a seaweed based gelatin (no animal ick). And perhaps we should repin this as a natural waxing process. Sounds like a lot of people lost hair in the process. :D

  • Cindy

    I unfortunately tried this pin (before reading your public announcement). I too did my whole face. I had to grow a new one back. It was like having your whole face waxed. Lots of cussing and tears.

  • Liz

    On the plus side– good zombie costume idea for next Halloween!

    • fuzzybat06

      The only time I’ve seen people use gelatin on their face is FOR zombie/monster makeup! lol

  • Liz

    I found this on Stumble Upon a couple years ago and made my roommate do it with me. I had a very similar experience. It took us 30 minutes to peal off and we were both in tears by the end… This is not so much a way to remove pores, but actually a torture device. Don’t be fooled because it’s one Pinterest……. 

  • Devon

    See, I feel super smart.  Well sort of.  I was idiot enough to try it in the first place, but after I realized it was going to rip my face off and hopped in the shower and let the warm water do it’s business.  Came off like a breeze.  But then my face still smelled nasty.  And I still had blackheads on my nose.  Curse it…

  • ClosetCravings

    I love Biore strips, so I tried this pinterest beauty diy too. I had the same unimpressive results – pain without the clean pores. Never again.

  • kr60201

    Oh God I wish I found your site sooner. I tried this last week. SO MUCH PAIN! I wasn’t careful (nobody told me to be careful) and had it in my eyebrows and too close under my eyes. I didn’t think of using a washcloth or getting in the shower to melt it off. I pealed that sucker off. I took off 1/2 my eyebrows, I swear I got some new wrinkles under my eyes from torturing that delicate skin. I took about 1/2 hour and I was crying the whole time. NEVER AGAIN.And I still had blackheads and broke out the next day.
     
    On the plus side, I provided much needed amusement to my college age son home for the summer.

    • MartiD

      @kr60201

    • MartiD

      I’m so sorry but I am laughing so hard right now. My son is home from college also and I am imagining his reaction if I had done this

  • Butterfly97

    I am so glad I never could bring myself to try this. The original photos look like she has spew all over her face! I couldn’t do it for that reason alone..but glad you put the PSA out there. BTW, your mixture didn’t look as bad.

  • MartiD

    OMG!! I laughed my ass off so long and hard I had tears running down my face AND that was only after the first two (I tell you 2) sentences. Hadn’t even read your entire blog yet, lol

  • JenniferBuckler

    i am so glad that someone else had the same experience as i did. i was red and blotchy for days! it was awful, and the blackheads seemed to come back the next freaking day…. whilst i was still injured from this horrid flesh peeling mess.

  • TrinaWithersCoconuts

    OMG. I fucking love you and your blog. You’re making my day!

  • fuzzybat06

    That stuff is used as an alternative to spirit gum in makeup prosthetics. I would never peel that off without a removal agent! lol

  • Alison

    THANK YOU!  I am totally deleting this pin; you saved me…and my eyebrows.

  • Busia

    I had saved this pin early on, too!  Nope, nope, nope, not keeping it now!!  You warned me and i’m listening!!   You are soooooooooooooooooo funny!!  you rock

  • http://evolvingepicurean.blogspot.com/ Carmel

    This SAME THING happened to me. I almost lost an eyebrow. It hurt like hell, too. At least I took off some extra little blonde hairs on my face, though…if you’re looking for an upside.

  • beckyreimnitz

    I did try this pin….on my husband before using it on myself. He has A LOT of blackheads! I highly recommend trying things on your spouse or BFF before using on yourself, then you know to avoid eyebrows and hairline before using on yourself.

  • jilly81

    OH God you know I would not have done this a few months back if I would have known about your blog back then! I lost half an eyebrow to this shit and I had to go on FB and warn all my friends NOT to do it! It ripped my skin off but I’m pretty sure it left behind the damn blackheads!

  • Caroline1800

    When I tried this I was lucky enough not to loose an eyebrow, but the smell was awful! I almost puked and I haven’t been able to eat pork or drink milk since. Halfway through the peeling process I started crying because it got too close to the delicate skin under my eyes. The worse part was it didn’t even help my black heads :(

  • Greg

    I just don’t understand why you’d put it on your entire face. Like a retail pore strip you should only put it over areas that actually need it. If your entire face has clogged pores, you should see a dermatologist!

  • AmyLindee

    OMG this is my new fav site, my reference guide to Pinterest, if you will hahaha thank you so much!
     

  • Nichole

    Hahaha, i experienced the same thing. It smelled like shit and the first peel wasn’t bad. Then as I do my forehead, there goes some of my eyebrows- serious pain! May as well call this shit homemade wax. As I did my cheeks… ya, it seemed to take all that “baby fine hairs” on my damn face with it too. In the end, great, cleaner pores, but some bald hair spots, some serious redness, and I actually had to wet the areas surrounding the rest of my eyebrows and hair to peel it off as a gel. Less pain there. I’d do this again, but only on my damn nose. And i might try “waxing” with it… on like, my legs. But truly, waxing, with wax, is less painful.

  • AmandaBrine

    So did this while drunk.  Found out that 30 minutes after you take your skin off, your face turns beet red and BURNS!!!!!!!  Crazy enough I have done it again, but sober.

  • http://suzysocialworkermeetsbettycrocker.blogspot.com/ Marci J

    I am dying here…… Best post ever… I will take your advice and avoid the jello pore strips with old milk……

  • RoseBella

    i tried it too!! but mine somehow never dried that hard ..so i didn’t have to suffer the agony of peeling!!
    it had a really bad smell….What i want to know is did it clean your pores!!??and by the-way if most of these @ home facial thingy isn’t working for you maybe your skin is a little  sensitive  !!

  • lgramos

    You really have to goop it on thick. My daughter and I agreed it smelled much like my 3 month old great neice’s throwup!!

  • romantic4evr

    BAHAHA between the beanie weenies and the soul dying i am laughing so hard i can barely breathe! I can’t even laugh out loud because my little one is sleeping. I think im gonna die trying not to laugh, at least i’ll die happy, thanks for that!

  • StaceyM

    Convinced I just burned like 500 calories laughing…your blog is my new ab work out! Can’t stop laughing (with you of course…not at you)
     

  • ThreeQbd

    As icky as this can be, it’s actually a really good shield to use on your skin when dyeing your hair.  I dye my bangs with a direct dye, so the INSTANT a fleck of dye hits your skin, you’ve messed up.  And vaseline is just a mess (I end up getting the hair that I’m trying to dye stuck in it)
     
    Mix up a batch of this, slather all over face, let it dry, dye hair, secure dyed hair away from face, peel away.  Boom: no dyed skin.

  • stellarwbz

    This made me laugh. I did this a couple months ago and used it on my whole face. Holy crap. It was so painful. It does work though. I will only use it on my nose in the future. 

  • KerryWellsJones

    I went so far as to buy the gelatine, but haven’t tried it yet. I’m lazy that way. I guess I’ll save the gelatine for something else.

  • bluebeta

    I had all the ingredients for this and decided to try it on my oldest daughter.  She had a few areas along her hairline that we needed to get as well.  It ended up ripping the hair out of her scalp and was umbelievably difficult to get off.  Needless to say, she hated me after this tortuous and agonizingly painful experiment. 

  • guest2034

    I did this once, and I made the unwise decision, as I now see most of you did as well, to cover my entire face. It went great until the peeling began. I regretted it immediately and had a mini panic attack when I realized I may not be able to get it all off. I put it way too close to my eyes, but avoided my eyebrows….thank god! It pulled the skin under my eyes and hurt like no other. It also wouldn’t peel off in large pieces. Im quite certain it removed ONE of my blackheads, at most.

  • Reagan

    Ahhhh, I did this and it hurt so bad! it also waxed off part of my eyebrow :( And the concoction smells like my dog’s breath… I was in between gagging and crying out in pain the whole time.

  • kmae

    am i the only person who liked this mask? i must be. i thought it was great!  i didn’t think it hurt that bad… the strip i had on my nose pulled out a disgusting amount of blackheads. and the rest of my face is still soooo soft a week and a half later. 

  • CourtneyMadson

    I found this on a different site and I tried it. The difference was the other site said to heat it up in the microwave for like 30 seconds. I think it worked great!

  • Anntastic

    I’m reading this while at the office trying not to laugh my ass off (unsuccessfully). Instead, I’m reduced to a ball of high-pitched wheezing, right eye squeezing wonkily closed and snot drips out my nose. Thanks for the laugh!

  • ames139

    I did this.  Wish I had read you blog before, though, as my experience was exactly like yours!  Will never be doing this again!!  Anyone need any gelatin, cause I have l leftover packets!!!

  • TerboPinguin

    White glue! That’s it. Kid school glue, apply, let dry. I’ve used this method for the last few years after a nice steamy shower! Give that a try :)

  • TooCheapToBuyIt

    I tried this before I read your post. I use to have baby fine short blond hairs on my face. I do not now. I ripped off anything it touched. Anything. I am convinced it ripped my pancreas out of my face. I damn near cried. On the upside, I think I could use this as a waxing technique on my legs.

  • Izzyrae

    Hahahah! Before I found your blog, I had tried this. Last week to be exact. It hurt like mess, and I still have to draw on the half of my eyebrow that this pin took from me…. which is super awesome…. -_-

  • skincaregirl

    I saw this post a few days ago and warned all my clients on fb page NOT to do this. The fact that the original pinner tells you it’s painful should be enough of a warning. :) Blackheads just can’t be removed with any kind of pore strip. What you are seeing is just the top of it. They are still lingering under the surface. :( So bad for your skin.