“I are unable to see my pores everywhere,” a person TikToker mentioned in approval, proclaiming the product or service produced her skin look “super matte.” Other natural beauty lovers on the platform have hailed calamine as a primer — boasting it assists their makeup stay set in the summer season solar and all through 12-hour workdays.
TikTokers say they are “obsessed” with the discovery and the hashtag #calamineprimer has about 3.5 million views on the platform. But dermatologists and make-up professionals are warning that those leaping on the trend could risk worsening pores and skin ailments and very long-phrase hurt.
“It just does not make sense to use calamine lotion and danger drying out the pores and skin and harmful the skin barrier,” Azadeh Shirazi, a dermatologist working towards in the San Diego location, instructed The Washington Publish.
Shirazi, who goes by the username “skinbydrazi” on TikTok, has attempted to tackle the craze head-on, using her account to debunk elegance myths and developments. Shirazi claimed that in new months buyers have tagged her in opinions on such video clips, inquiring her for clinical suggestions.
Shirazi has utilized the system to urge individuals to look at the substances ahead of turning to calamine lotion as a primer, as overuse may possibly direct to “severe discomfort and worsening of scars.”
Though experts say the lotion can be applied to shrink pimples lesions and marks left on the pores and skin, specially as a targeted remedy, the American Academy of Dermatology warns that the astringent calamine can worsen pores and skin irritations if not used sparingly.
“Calamine lotion is produced up of zinc oxide, ferric oxide and phenol. Zinc oxide is an astringent that can assistance take in excess oil and have a mattifying impact,” Shirazi reported, introducing that the product or service is commonly advisable to address oozing wounds from bacterial infections these types of as chickenpox and monkeypox. The lotion is also applied to soothe insect bites, pimples, rashes and poison ivy.
The product, Shirazi claims, causes the skin area to dry up and harden, shielding it while it repairs. “Ferric oxide will help with itching and the phenol is also a potent exfoliant,” she said. “Combining phenol with an astringent as in calamine lotion can be very drying and annoying, foremost to a harmed pores and skin barrier. It can worsen pores and skin situations these kinds of as pimples, rosacea and dermatitis.”
On TikTok, Shirazi advised her 1.8 million followers simply just: “It’s a no from me.”
Makeup pros say primers are an crucial attractiveness staple that must be utilised beneath makeup to assist put together and clean pores and skin and continue to keep make-up locked in place. But makeup artist Kourtney Hammett, dependent in Essex, England, also warned versus working with the lotion as primer, predicting that it might result in fantastic lines and wrinkles in the extended run simply because of the product’s “drying” nature.
Hammett stressed: “You should really be employing makeup that is acceptable for your skin type,” which includes primers and moisturizers. At a least, she reported, do not use it day by day.
Although some folks may perhaps be ready to tolerate utilizing the lotion as a primer, not everyone will see constructive final results, Shirazi stressed. “Much like everything else connected to skin treatment, the prospective challenges depend on your skin kind so it is greatest to always test with your dermatologist to start with,” Shirazi mentioned.
The development is also coinciding with experiences that calamine lotion is turning out to be more challenging to locate. In the United Kingdom, some mother and father have described in latest months that they are struggling to purchase the lotion to treat kids suffering with chickenpox.
In the United States, other people have also described difficulties on social media. Beneath a single of numerous calamine primer video clips, a single user wrote on TikTok: “I have to use this when my lupus flares up, now it is offered out in Walmart.”
Even with the warnings from authorities, the lotion may possibly keep its enchantment as a more affordable substitute when compared with primers from main make-up manufacturers amid a charge-of-residing crisis. A bottle of calamine lotion in the U.K. prices under 2 kilos ($2.40).
One make-up enthusiast advised her followers on TikTok that she experienced attempted an array of costly products and solutions but that calamine lotion experienced worked very best for her.
“I are likely to devote a whole lot of dollars on primers. I’ve tried out all varieties of primers,” she instructed viewers, keeping up primers ranging from $20 to $64.
“I was so astonished at how very good my makeup appeared,” she claimed, keeping up a bottle of calamine that she mentioned costs $4.50 from Walgreens.
