Methods Library

Slugging (Overnight Occlusion)

Petrolatum is the most effective occlusive available and the trend uses it correctly — on a compromised or dry barrier, over a humectant, at night.

Skipping Sunscreen ('Sun-Maxxing')

The claim that sunscreen causes cancer is not supported by any evidence. The claim that UV does is supported by about as much evidence as exists for anything in dermatology.

Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)

Real, modest benefits for barrier function, redness and sebum — routinely oversold as a pore-shrinking or brightening headline act.

Tanning Beds for Shadow & Definition

It delivers the tan and it delivers a Group 1 carcinogen. Use before age 35 raises melanoma risk by around 60–75%.

Red Light Therapy (LLLT)

Decent evidence for mild collagen stimulation and hair growth; consumer panels are often underpowered.

Chemical Peels (Professional)

Depth-dependent and real: superficial peels for texture and pigment, medium-depth for scarring and lines. At-home high-strength acid is how people scar themselves.

Beef Tallow as Face Moisturiser

A functional occlusive with an unusually comedogenic fatty-acid profile. Fine on dry, non-acne-prone skin; a bad bet if you break out.

Home LED Face Masks

The photobiomodulation science is real; most consumer masks underdose it badly.

PRP Microneedling ('Vampire Facial')

Adds a modest, inconsistent increment over microneedling alone, at several times the price — and has a documented HIV transmission cluster from an unlicensed clinic.

Caveman Regimen (No Water, No Products)

Built on a made-up mechanism ('the skin rebalances'). The characteristic result is a keratin build-up its own followers call the 'skin mask'.

NoFap for Jawline & Testosterone

The testosterone spike people cite is a small, transient blip around day seven that returns to baseline. No hormone level in that range reshapes an adult face.

Water Fasting for Facial Definition

Acute water/glycogen loss masquerading as fat loss; rebounds within days and stresses everything else.

Dutasteride (Oral)

Outperforms finasteride head-to-head by inhibiting both 5α-reductase isoenzymes — with a longer half-life, so side effects take longer to clear.

PRP Injections for Hair Loss

Meta-analyses show a real increase in hair density over placebo. Protocols are wildly inconsistent, it is expensive, and it requires indefinite maintenance.

Ketoconazole Shampoo (Nizoral)

Small studies suggest a modest anti-androgenic effect on the scalp beyond its antifungal action. A useful adjunct, never a treatment.

Rice Water Rinse

Starch coats the shaft and makes hair feel thicker. It does not reach the follicle, and protein build-up on the shaft makes hair brittle over time.

Onion Juice for Hair Regrowth

One small 2002 trial in alopecia areata — a different disease from male-pattern loss — found regrowth. Nothing supports it for the loss most people have.

Canthoplasty / Canthopexy ('Hunter Eyes')

Genuinely changes canthal tilt — and is a functional eyelid operation, where a cosmetic misjudgement means dry eye, scleral show or a rounded lower lid.

Fox Eye Thread Lift

Six to twelve months of subtle lift, then it is gone. Visible thread extrusion, dimpling and puckering are common enough to be the main reason it fell out of favour.

Adult Frenectomy for Facial Development

Legitimate for a genuine restriction affecting speech, feeding or airway. Sold in looksmaxxing circles as a route to 'finally mewing properly' — that part is unsupported.

Masseter Botox (Jaw Slimming)

Reliably narrows a genuinely wide lower face over 4–8 weeks. Note the direction: this makes the jaw smaller, which is the opposite of what most people here want.

Lip Filler

Reliable and reversible for modest volume and vermilion definition. Almost every bad outcome you have seen is volume, not technique.

Botox Lip Flip

A small, short, subtle change — two to three months, a millimetre or two of vermilion show. Marketed as a filler alternative, which oversells it considerably.

Cutting Dairy for Acne

Consistently associated with acne in large observational cohorts — skim milk most of all — but the effect size is modest and it is not universal.

Drinking More Water for Skin

Correcting real dehydration visibly helps. Drinking past your needs does not — the excess leaves as urine, not as plumper skin.

Avoiding Seed Oils for Skin

No controlled evidence links seed oil intake to acne, ageing or inflammation in humans. People who cut them usually also cut fried food — that is the variable that moved.

Bone Broth for Skin & Jawline

A pleasant, mineral-light stock. Its collagen is digested into amino acids exactly like the powder — which is to say it never reaches your face as collagen.

Melanotan II ('Tan Injections')

It works — that is the problem. An unlicensed, unregulated peptide with documented melanoma reports and eruptive, darkening moles.

Carotenoid 'Tanning' (Beta-Carotene Loading)

High carotenoid intake genuinely shifts skin tone toward golden — subtle, diet-achievable, oversold in degree.

Gray-Market GH Peptides for 'Facial Growth'

Unregulated peptides won't reshape an adult face — but acromegalic changes from real GH excess are a disfigurement, not a glow-up.

Perineum Sunning

No tissue absorbs sunlight in a special way. You are applying UV to some of the thinnest, least-protected skin on the body.

DIY Teeth Filing (Nail File)

Enamel does not regenerate. Every millimetre removed is permanent, and the usual result is sensitivity, exposed dentine and decay.

Dermaplaning

Effective physical exfoliation with an immediate smoothing and makeup-application benefit. The hair grows back exactly as it was — that part of the panic is unfounded.

Castor Oil for Brow/Lash Growth

No clinical evidence for hair growth; conditioning effect makes existing hairs look marginally fuller.

Brow Lamination

A perm for your eyebrows. Genuinely makes sparse brows look fuller and more uniform for six weeks, at a real risk of chemical burns near the eye.

Facial Symmetry Exercises

Skeletal asymmetry cannot be exercised away; claimed results are camera angle and expression control.

Suction Lip Plumpers

Swelling injuries dressed up as enhancement — hours of duration, real bruising risk.

Microcurrent Devices (NuFace-type)

Small, genuinely measurable short-term lift in several trials — and it is fully use-dependent, so it is a subscription to your own face.

Face Taping for Wrinkles

Prevents the repeated creasing that etches expression lines, which is a coherent mechanism. There is no trial evidence, and it does nothing to existing lines.