Spill the beans... on products that don't live up to the hype

LouLou

I LOVE Clarks shoes, sorry..maybe I just haven't bought a bad pair. Guaranteed comfort and style (depending on which style you buy, of course). I haunt a lot of skincare forums and Clinique really aren't rated at all! They're considered over-priced and over-hyped.

euronorris

notatvstar wrote: »

... Also - Vitamins. You don't absorb most of the pills you're taking, and also you have to take certain combinations to have them work properly (eg iron and vitamin C).

Also - if you have a low grade chronic allergy it may be worth getting a prescription for your anti histamines as that may save you money rather than buying brand name loratidine over the counter. As the man said - it is the same chemical!

... Just don't buy any drugs online.

Ever.

I already buy the cheap versions of paracetemol, ibuprofen and cold/flu remedies.

But what you say about the vitamins is interesting. Is a multi vitamin useless then? Does it have no benefit at all (ie, would we not absorb any of it)? I thought that I was (when I've tried them before), as (sorry for TMI) my pee became very yellow/orange for a few hours after taking it in the mornings. I read that this was just my body getting rid of the excess Vitamin C.

I'm just keen to ensure I get a good balance of the vits and minerals I need. I try to do that through diet, but sometimes I am lacking (I don't like a lot of meats, so I don't eat them often and will mostly choose chicken).

I get my allergy tablets from the doctor as the over the counter stuff hasn't been strong enough lately. It's called Aerius (apparantly the active ingredient is desloratadine - I used a translation site so many that's not quite right). I dunno, it's covered by my insurance and it helps without making me nauseous (other medicines I tried did!).

Brian_T123

polka.dot wrote: »

Posner chocolate fountain. Fab reviews, appaling performance. Got a dribble, lots of very irritating whirring noise while it was on, loads of washing up afterwards. Would have been much better off with a bowl of melted chocolate.

In case you wonder what posessed me to buy a product that clearly doesn't serve a useful purpose - it was a present.

Clearly wasn't a commercial one, my wife and I run a Chocolate fountain company , we paid £1,300 for our first Giles and Posner fountain and found it so reliable that now we need another we have just paid nearly £3,000 for a new one.

If you only got a dribble and can hear the motor the likelihood is you didn't have enough choclate in it. OR you failed to use "Fountain ready callets" which are app 38% cocoa butter, ordinary chocolate doesn't work and adding veg oil is just vile !

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience, but you can't really knock the company in general for one machines underachievement, some of which may have been down to user.

notatvstar

patchwork_cat wrote: »

For the person who asked about the difference between a chemist and a pharmacist. A chemist (pharmaceutical chemist)shop on the high street is really a pharmacy with a pharmacist in it who has done a pharmacy degree.

A chemist is someone who has done a degree in chemistry they do not work in pharmacies ( although they are frequently involved in the development of new drugs) - your chemistry teacher at school probably had a chemistry degree.

A pharmacologist is someone who specialises in the action of drugs, an area in a pharmacy degree and they will often be involved in the creation of new drugs in industry.

ahem BiB...

Pharmacology is a discipline in itself.... <tilts nose in air and flounces off to cry>

<.. runs back> may I add these items for consideration to be placed on the utterly disappointing pile

any sort of nail varnish that I've ever bought
Cilit bang. It dissolved my bathroom...
George Foreman Grill - we gave ours away in the end
those gel insoles for high heels... nope - I was still in agony!
HS shampoo... scalp still flaky, but hair decided to get so charged full of static that I ended up getting electric shocks from metal hand rails at work (true!), Very sore... one of my techs swore she saw sparks from me one time.
pure linen cloths for cleaning glass... they are as unabsorbant as a plaggy bag until they've been boil washed a couple of times, then when they just get good, they fall apart.
Any fountain pen I ever used.

notatvstar

erm... in answer to vitamin question. You *should* be getting more than what you need if you have a balanced diet (ie 5 a day, protein, carbs etc). It is a fact that some vitamins (A, D, E and K) are lipid (fat) soluble and so if you can have some dairy in your diet that's where you get enough of those. You can actually make your own vitamin D by going out in the sun ... hard at the minute - I know

Iron is a tricky one. It can irritate the stomach. It's found in most green veg and also red meat, but if you want a cheeky quick fix - have a pint of stout - I do - when I'm feeling anaemic. In fact the boyf gets in a regular monthly supply of Guinness, as apparently I can be a bit 'tetchy'.

There's nothing wrong with taking supplements per se, but it is better for you to eat a balanced diet rather than rely on popping pills. There are lots of other nutrient benefits (amino acids, enzymes from raw fruit) which have a plethora of beneficial effects that we (all scientists!) do not know yet. Not to mention dietary fibre, sugars etc...

If your post-vitamin pee is yellow/light green, it may be from the food colouring they use in the pills...

dasophster

Catriona_P wrote: »

I've just had a big problem with Tresemme shampoo - bought a massive bottle of it to save money, it's now given me dandruff! Which I've never had in my life, was mortified. I've switched to a different brand and its fine now, but I have a half bottle of Tresemme still! Will that clean the toilet like H&S apparently does?

Tresemme is marvellous at cleaning the bathroom in general. It gave me dandruff too! xx

BOBS

just searched here to see if any cure for dandruff - never had until recently - and guess what I bought tresemme too .... how did you all get rid of it apart from stopping tresemma ?

Catriona_P

BOBS wrote: »

just searched here to see if any cure for dandruff - never had until recently - and guess what I bought tresemme too .... how did you all get rid of it apart from stopping tresemma ?

Hey BOBS, I just stopped using it altogether and switched to a gentler shampoo, it cleared up by itself in no time. The rest of the bottle has been used to clean the bathroom! Hope that works for you too!

HoneyMel

I've never had a problem with TresSemme, it's one of the only shampoos I can use without causing the back of my neck to itch like crazy!! I switch between it & Aussie depending what's on offer at the time even though my hairdresser's told me time and time again that Aussie just causes massive buildup of product in your hair... smells so good though!

The one product I've really been disappointed in is Garnier BB Cream, although luckily all I was using was a free sample. Made my skin tone look uneven and the circles under my eyes 100x worse. And then came the breakouts of spots... so essentially it's done the complete opposite of what this "Miracle" is supposed to do! I'll be sticking to Neutrogena from now on.

patchwork_cat

notatvstar wrote: »

ahem BiB...

Pharmacology is a discipline in itself.... <tilts nose in air and flounces off to cry>

<.. runs back> may I add these items for consideration to be placed on the utterly disappointing pile

.

Sorry if I offended, I was trying to keep it simple, I am aware that Pharmacology is also a distinct degree and discipline.

Unfortunately the public will not be aware of the very important work done in Pharmacology.