My mother knocked my belief in fish stories out of me at a young age. I remember my very first pimple when I was thirteen. The world had come to an end you see, so I followed a classmate’s advice and put toothpaste on it. My mother laughed and told me why I had pimples followed by the advice to disturb them as little as possible. So, hands off. I’m not one for taking advice from my mother but her doctorial status definitely put some weight on the scale. I hope my arguments are just as convincing.

Chocolate gives you zits

This is a classic. Hundred thousands of studies have been done to find the missing link between chocolate and zits and up until now not one of them is 100% secure. Your hormones influence impurities. Too much stress for example, or maybe you changed the brand of your pill. This doesn’t mean your diet doesn’t influence your skin. A healthy protein rich diet combined with fatty Omega-3 acids contributes to strong skin. That’s what this study showed.

Crossing your legs leads to varicose veins!

People tell me all the time my way of sitting is strange (I always wrap my right leg around my left leg), and that I’ll get ugly varicose veins. “Not true!” I dictate right back. These veins are hereditary and frequently seen on pregnant women. Thank goodness they can be treated, they inject a special type of solution to get rid of them. According to a friend it’s not nice but hey, there’s no beauty without pain, right?

Cutting hair makes it grow faster

“I have to go to the hairdressers then my hair will start growing again”, my friend R said.  I don’t know who came up with this but your hair grows from your roots, not from the ends. Duh.

If you go outside with wet hair you’ll get sick

I have a friend from Montenegro and a dear mother-in-law from the Balkan. When she spots me outside with wet hair she loses it. Preferably pulling me inside, blow-drying my hair and wrapping at least 15 scarves around my neck (doesn’t matter if it’s summer). I explain to her again and again that a virus in combination with a weakened immune system causes the flu and colds. She just won’t buy it. You do, right?

Exercising your abs will give you a six pack

An intern said it last week: “I’m going to exercise every day and in a few weeks I’ll have a six-pack.” No point to this if there’s still fat in this area. If you want a tight tummy watch what you eat (abs are made in the kitchen) and get active. Jet is always going on about this.

After shaving hair grows faster

“Ever since I’ve shaved my legs I have thicker hair.” Nonsense people. The structure of your hair starts in the hair follicle (see point 3). I understand why you believe this to be true though because if you cut off the hair in the middle it feels sturdier than it did before.