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

lmp0507

VfM4meplse wrote: »

Sounds like my ex .

:rotfl: You made me spit coffee over me and my now coffee coloured cat, hahaha.

JimmyTheWig

Not sure if this is just for beauty-type products or anything.
If it's anything then I'll say...

Hot Wheels.
They look great on the adverts. Look great on the boxes. Kids get all excited.
Then once you get it out and build the thing, it doesn't work anywhere near as well as they make out.
We've had a few over the years. Always sold them on pretty quick. Don't buy them any more.

delain

Can say the same for plastic my little pony castle.

miffy001

Body/hair care shops, i.e. LUSH (yuk - does anyone like novelty soaps?) and Body shop.

Body shop deodarant stick - I honestly started to have BO when I used it! Straight back to Sure/Dove/Nivea.

Body shop shampoo - for oily hair - it is making my hair feel more greasy and get greasy quicker because it doesnt clean properly. As a result Im washing my hair more and using more shampoo and water than usual. Not very eco friendly as they state!

I have learnt not to be fooled by fancy packaging and enticing shops, stick to the brands/regime you know works for you because its false economy. I once spent £50 on Elemis cleanse/tone/moisturise products when all I can be bothered to do is wash my face in the shower every morning. They are stagnating in my cupboard

redfragglebiker

jenniewb wrote: »

I have several for the list!

Head and Shoulders: now I've not had the joys of trying this, but I have spoken to several hairdressers, all unrelated and unknown to each other. Its a big well known deal for professionals that this stuff is bad! Its apparently designed for dandruff, but actual dandruff isn't just a flakey scalp, its a proper medical disorder where the scalp turns yellowy and flakes off in larger peeling flakes, hurts and is red raw in places. H&S is so harsh it can apparently be used to clean toilets of limescale. Its not designed for dandruff, if you get dandriuff its a medical condition (unless you 'just' have a mildly flakey scalp) and you should see your doctor.

Any haircare for coloured hair (bar one I tried which did help but even that didn't prevent fading). Fact is, its the water you use which leeches a large amount of the colour, unless its very close to the actual colour of your hair you will get hair colour fading and especially with red dyes.

Herbal sleeping pills. Rubbish and do not help me sleep at all.

Clinique. OMG THIS STUFF IS PAINT STRIPPER! How are they allowed to sell toners which are that harsh? And the dramaticly-different-moisturiser? Its just petroleum jelly and water! You can get this from the most basic cheapo moisturisers and even very basic body moisturisers are very similar in make-up.

Mitchum deoderant. Just a gooey mess when I sweat (gym type sweating), I have heard of good reviews on this but am yet to meet a real live person who has had those good experiences. Sure/Dove maximum support cream deoderants are worth a try but be aware if you stop the sweating in one area its likely to begin in another area to compensate.

Value versions of diet lemonade/diet coke. If you have tried to lug this stuff home on public transport you will no doubt feel just as highly irritated as I did when I tried this stuff.

Specially designed foot creams. Nope, still doesn't soak in any faster then normal body moisturiser no matter how much foot I pumic away.

Mattifying SPF creams, They may well work to prevent sun damage but none are mattifying, all leave that horribly sheeny-shiny greasy film, don't pay extra for it to mattify as it wont.

Neurofen/Anadin/Panadol. Just buy the supermarkets own value range, add a can of pepsi max/coke if you want it to "work faster" as all you need is the caffiene. Neurofen is the one that really gets to me, have a look in your supermarket/chemist and count just how many different problems Neurofen has specially designed pills for, then look at the active ingredients on each....I rest my case.

Reed air fresheners. Nope, still can't smell it.

Products which claim to reverse aging on your skin. Unless they have retinol (which is not to be used in the day as it will increase any sun damage and so increase the risk of skin cancer) it will not reverse ageing. Infact the best it can do is plump up your skin to give the appearance of reduced fine lines and what not. This will all come off in the shower. Silicon/dimethicone and other 'cones is a big part of what fills your skin and makes it appear less creased but these can clog pores so your always going to need to exfoliate and so erase all the 'hard work' these anti-aging products have done.

Must say I agree with you on MOST of these, especially the painkillers. I only ever buy shops own brands now but the other half (who can be a bit of a brand snob) is unconvinced so I just put the cheapo ones in a brand named box and them told him so about a month later. Needless to say he's now a convert.
I do have to defend mitchum deodorant though. Whilst I've never got on with the 'stick' variation i love the spray and the roll on. I get very self concious about sweating and odour and mitchum is the only brand that truly lasts the day for me. Oh and coloured hair shampoos. Some of them may be rot but any of them which are advertised as sulphate free are generally much better. My hair has been pink, green, blue, orange, purple, red and is going a rather fetching shade of teal when I get home tonight and I DO notice the difference in the shampoo and conditioner I use when it comes to how long the colour lasts.
Whilst I'm at it can I add catlitter to the list. The catsan odour control litter actually smelled WORSE than the cheapy value own brand stuff I usually buy at about a third of the price

tropicaltopaz

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

Hot Wheels.
They look great on the adverts. Look great on the boxes. Kids get all excited.
Then once you get it out and build the thing, it doesn't work anywhere near as well as they make out.
We've had a few over the years. Always sold them on pretty quick. Don't buy them any more.

Couldn't agree more!!

tropicaltopaz

bromleymum wrote: »

Any product that claims to make window cleaning quick & easy.

This is my most hated chore and I have a cupboard full of gadgets and cloths and cleaners and wipes and so on, that all claim to take the hard work out of cleaning those windows.

Complete nonsense.

Sadly the only two solutions are

1. Elbow grease and get going

2. Or buy transparent blinds that you can pull down and ignore (my favoured option).

I'm still gullible to try new window cleaning products though. Sad.

A quick, easy AND NO MESS way is spray on diluted washing up liquid or stardrops, wipe away with newspaper - the print doesn't come off and there's no fluff left on the window, and no streaks either. If the windows are very dirty wipe with a cloth first, respray and wipe off with paper.
I was skeptical too, but it really does work!

Mrs_Dizzy

redfragglebiker wrote: »

Must say I agree with you on MOST of these, especially the painkillers. I only ever buy shops own brands now but the other half (who can be a bit of a brand snob) is unconvinced so I just put the cheapo ones in a brand named box and them told him so about a month later. Needless to say he's now a convert.
I do have to defend mitchum deodorant though. Whilst I've never got on with the 'stick' variation i love the spray and the roll on. I get very self concious about sweating and odour and mitchum is the only brand that truly lasts the day for me. Oh and coloured hair shampoos. Some of them may be rot but any of them which are advertised as sulphate free are generally much better. My hair has been pink, green, blue, orange, purple, red and is going a rather fetching shade of teal when I get home tonight and I DO notice the difference in the shampoo and conditioner I use when it comes to how long the colour lasts.
Whilst I'm at it can I add catlitter to the list. The catsan odour control litter actually smelled WORSE than the cheapy value own brand stuff I usually buy at about a third of the price

I have a friend who is a pharmacist that only ever buys the cheapest shops own brand painkillers

lollipopsarah

How I hate cleaning the windows, best results for me are a bowl of hot water with just a little washing up/vinegar and a microfibre cloth - brilliant.
no faffing about with rinsing.
xx

norfolkmum

MartinWickham wrote: »

Clarks shoes.

The soles disintegrate over a period of time, even if the shoes are yet to be worn. Not to be deterred by a split in the sole, I wore them round the house regardless. Within 30 minutes there was only a 3" attachment between the sole and the top, and the shoe was flapping round my ankle. Not very good for shoes still sporting the price label! I should have used the receipts as insoles, then I could have returned the junk to Clarks for a refund.

Clarks walking boots previously went the same way.

My daughter has problems with her feet and goes regularly to a podiatrist. He told me NEVER to buy Clarks shoes for her. He said they spend all their money on advertising and their shoes are made out of cardboard. He said you may as well go to one of the cheap shops and spend a tenner instead of the £40+ for a pair of kids' shoes, they'll be about the same quality!