TikTok is full of weird health and beauty hacks, from creating fake freckles to drinking boiled lettuce and the latest involves stuffing garlic up your nostrils to clear your sinuses. But doctors explain why you shouldn't try this at home.
Why are TikTok users stuffing garlic up their noses?
The new hack entails peeling the skin off two garlic cloves and inserting one in each nostril, before pulling them out and feeling the relief of your sinuses draining the mucus.
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But it's had some mixed results.
TikTok user Rozaline Katherine tried it out and her video went viral. She claims after keeping the garlic cloves in her nostrils for 10-15 minutes, her sinuses were left completely clear.
During the video, we see her insert the garlic cloves into her nostrils and wait 10-15 minutes. When she pulled the cloves out of her nostrils, a load of snot followed (it's pretty gross actually) and she said "IT WORKS!" "LIKE REALLY WORKS!"
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But other users such as Dani Audas haven't been so impressed and have deemed the new hack a "fail."
During the experiment, Dani had to swap one of the garlic cloves because it had split open and was stinging the inside of her nostril.
Is it safe?
With more and more TikTok users wanting to try the hack out for themselves, doctors are urging people not to do it for a number of reasons.
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"If you do this enough, the body will start to react to the oils and chemicals in the garlic and cause contact dermatitis in the nose," Dr Neil Bhattacharyya, M.D. told Shape. Contact dermatitis is a skin condition which can cause an itchy rash and even blisters - definitely something you don't want up your nose.
"Some garlic cloves are really strong, and if you get enough leaching of the chemicals and oils into your nose, it will definitely irritate it," he added.
There's also the possibility of getting the garlic cloves stuck and you needing to pay an embarrassing visit to the out-of-hours clinic to get them removed.
Does the garlic actually clear your sinuses?
No. Dr Bhattacharyya added that the 'mucus drainage' from doing this is a false sense of relief and that you're not actually clearing anything, but just creating something instead.
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"Garlic has a strong smell and, when it starts to irritate the nose, you'll definitely have some mucus drainage," he said. "You may feel like, 'Wow, something is mobilizing' but in reality, you're just reacting to the compound." Dr. Bhattacharyya says that gives off a "false sense" that you're getting relief.
Not to mention the smell of garlic would probably follow you everywhere for the next few days. If you've ever peeled garlic, you'll know that even after countless hand-washes, nothing gets rid of the smell. Imagine that up your nose.
So there we have it, it's a no from doctors and it's best to stick to the traditional methods of clearing your nose such as breathing steam or sucking on throat sweets which contain menthol.
Featured Image Credit: Jam Press