DO VIRAL BEAUTY HACKS REALLY WORK?

Intrigued by hair and skincare advice trending on TikTok, Julie Cook, 46, decided to put it to the test

- JULIE COO

TikTok... the internet Wild West favoured by Generation Z. There, nothing is off limits. With advice on everything from make-up to shopping on a budget, TikTok knows all.

And just recently, I was scrolling on my phone when I saw a selection of 'beauty hacks' - some of which were old wives' tales I'd heard of before, but others were brand new and, quite frankly, baffling.

My daughter is obsessed with these beauty hacks though, and is forever raiding the fridge for 'an egg for glossy hair' or 'flour to add to a face mask'. It got me thinking about whether any of these Tik Tok tips actually work, so I set myself a challenge to try as many as I could and see what difference they made to my late-40s skin and my longsuffering dyed hair.

Here's how I got on...

GARLIC TO MAKE HAIR GROW

The glam set on TikTok say garlic can aid hair growth. There are even videos with advice from trichologists (hair experts) confirming that this is true.

I love garlic in pasta, but on my hair? The advice on the videos is to combine two teaspoons of fresh chopped garlic with one teaspoon of olive oil and massage into the scalp. I use my garlic crusher to ensure the pieces are small and mix with olive oil. It doesn't seem enough to cover my scalp, so I add a bit more oil.