Pinterest Popular Pin FAILS

Ever wonder if those viral DIY Pinterest pins really live up to their claims? I played Myth Busters to find out!

How many times have you been cruising Pinterest and you noticed a homemade or DIY beauty treatment that has thousands or even tens of thousands of repins? I remember a few years ago, there was a teeth whitening pin that was insanely popular. This month, a DIY blackhead removal mask has been crowding my feed. Anyone else? Perhaps the internet has become so savvy it "knows" I just had a baby and my skin has suffered terribly from the hormonal changes... Or it's just a really popular pin. Either way, I wanted to find out - Does this homemade mask really work?

There are two pins I see often for this: one is a gelatin and milk mask. It has really grotesque pictures of the blackheads after removal. Then there's a milk and flour mask, with photos of beautiful glowing skin after it's use. Who doesn't want that?! Since having Otto, my skin has been a playground for all kinds of breakouts so I thought, "Perfect! Easy, nontoxic DIY remedies? I'm all about it. This pins have to go viral for a reason, it must work!" But did it? Let's take a look.

First, the gelatin and milk mask. This one made sense to work; the gelatin would harden on my nose and pull out all the gunk with it, right? What the milk was for I had no idea. Alas, here we go! Here's my before pic. I have ZERO makeup on, and actually just returned from a barre class so my hair is up and in a post-sweat sesh messy bun to boot.

Hey blackheads.

I followed the directions to a T! One tablespoon gelatin, one tablespoon milk, microwave for 8 seconds. This is what happened:

So it was pretty chunky and gross looking but I thought, "Hey you never know! Maybe it will still work?" I applied it to my face anyway. Y'all. I have to tell you. It smelled JUST like Otto's vomit/spit up. I mean, just like it. I guess that's what happens when you microwave milk.

Not what it looked like on Pinterest!

It didn't look like the pictures on Pinterest at all. It was disgusting! Clearly not even the consistency of a mask. The chunks started to fall off as I attempted to apply them. There was no way this would harden and be "peelable" off my face! It was so foul.

Ok so the gelatin mask failed miserably. What about the honey and flour one? The after photos from that were of such beautiful, glowing skin! I had to try it. Plus, with the honey, there was no way it would smell like the nasty gelatin mask. Game on!

This one was super easy to throw together too: one part flour, one part honey, one part warm water. Mix together and apply to your face until it congeals. Boom - flawless skin! Or, so it promised. It mixed together easily and formed a consistency that actually would go on my face, unlike the gelatin mask. "Ok, we're already miles ahead of that thing!" I thought. "Maybe this will actually work..."

Not the prettiest facial mask, but if it works, who cares right?!

I put it on. It was thick enough to stay put, although it did run down my face a little bit. It didn't burn or sting, and the honey added a nice scent. I went to do some work to let it dry, hopeful that Pinterest wouldn't let me down for a second time in a day.

I let it sit for about 20 minutes. When it came time to remove it, it wasn't "peelable" (like a Biore strip). It was actually quite hard to get off my face! It took about 3-4 minutes of consistent washing to get that cement-like gunk off. But seriously, if that was what it took to get a DIY blackhead removal mask to work, no biggie!

And... The result? Drum roll please:

Yeeeeeeeeeah. It didn't. Pinterest fail number two of the day. Although, my skin looks bizarrely more yellow in this shot than in the first and I'm standing in the exact same spot for all the photos. You can see my nose is a little red too - not sure if that was from the mask or from trying to jackhammer the cement off scrub it off my face. Who knows. I won't be trying it again to figure it out either.

Pinterest is a funny thing. Pins go viral for absolutely NO REASON at all. Neither of these masks work, but you'd never know it from how many repins they got! You'd think it was God's gift to blackhead removal. They aren't. They don't even come out looking like the pictures associated with the pin! It just goes to show you - before you hit "repin" on any of those super popular homemade or DIY beauty remedies, perhaps you should check to see if they work first. Odds are, it was a pin that went viral because people want it to work and it seems like a good idea. But the reality is there's simply no value behind the pin.