Madina Shrienzada, a beauty vlogger who specializes in testing (and, more often than not, creating) crazy DIY hacks, posted a video this week of herself removing the hair on her forearm using—wait for it—nothing but toothpaste and turmeric. She simply mixed the two ingredients in a bowl, slathered the blend over her arm, massaged it in a bit until it dried, and then rubbed it off, removing visible clumps of hair as she wiped it away.
Yes, I know, I’m just as shocked as you are. “This is such an easy little concoction using Crest toothpaste and turmeric powder,” writes Shrienzada, adding that the turmeric is a “calming agent” for the skin (true; it’s an anti-inflammatory), while the toothpaste is “the main agent for hair removal" (false—mostly).
“Toothpaste is a skin irritant—it’s meant for your teeth, not for your skin or hair,” says dermatologist Mona Gohara, M.D., dermatologist at Yale University. But what about the video?!, you cry. HOW DID SHE DO IT? Well, we’re not saying that rubbing a dry layer of toothpaste back and forth over your arm until it essentially rips the hair out of your follicle won’t work—because it probably will to an extent—but that doesn’t make it the best hair-removal choice.
“It may make a good paste, like how sugaring is a good paste for removing hair, but it can also be irritating and not that effective,” says Dr. Gohara. Plus, turmeric can temporarily stain your skin yellow (trust me—it’s happened to me with DIY face masks), so beware if you do attempt this hack at home.