Is This ‘Nature’s Botox’ or Total Bullshit?

Social media is overrun with people desperate to find everyday things that, when smeared on your face, reduce your wrinkles, clear up your acne, and magically transform you into a supermodel.

At times, it can feel like self-parody as people desperately smash the contents of their refrigerators and pantries into their faces hoping that maybe, just maybe, they will look 10 years younger.

CNN took the time to explore this world of sad social media desperation for what is often called the hunt for “nature’s Botox,” aka the seemingly endless communal search for cost-effective DIY natural alternatives to professional beauty treatments like Botox.

People Are Rubbing Bananas on Their Faces to Look Younger

The result of this mad dash to recapture beauty and youth on a budget can be seen in TikTok videos shared by influencers like Kirti Tewani. Tewani went viral for rubbing banana peels on her face, proclaiming its benefits as a wrinkle reducer thanks to the presence of an antioxidant called lutein.

A six-ounce tub of an actual wrinkle reducer from CVS might be more expensive than the $0.49 you spent on a banana, but it might actually work. And you didn’t have to rub a banana peel on your face in the hope that it made you younger like you were a mad medieval queen about to have her quack doctor executed.

Flaxseed is a big one. Beauty influencer Daniela Martinez had some posts pop off as she shared her flaxseed facial mask, promoting its skin-tightening effects while, I’m assuming, keeping her face’s bowel movements bulky and constant.

Yes, of course, CNN would balance all the weird at-home beauty mad scientist-ing with the opinions of actual dermatologists who resoundingly say that all of this shit is stupid, made up, has little to no scientific backing, and may not have as much impact as the influencers say they do.

For instance, Dija Ayodele, a UK-based founder of a skincare company, says that people should not listen to social media influencers who claim that smearing lemon juice on your face lightens dark spots because you might get chemical burns. Especially if you did put on sunscreen.

Here’s my advice, even though I have no expertise in the field, but then again neither do any of these influencers: Just wear the sunscreen. Turning your face into an aïoli won’t make you beautiful.