I wanted to unzip my skin after getting a virus from a charity shop – I tried a silly TikTok hack… don't make my mistake
HACK BACKTRACK
Meg's warning will make you think twice about trying out TikTok trends
, Digital Senior Reporter
A WOMAN has warned against trying out a silly "TikTok trend" after she ended up contracting a skin infection when trying it out in a charity shop.
Meg had uploaded a video which she had intended to be a before and after look at her spray tan, but it ended up being something very different.
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As she and her friend prepared to head to the tanning booth, Meg's pal pointed out that a small rash that had started on the back of her neck a week before was "spawning" onto her face.
And because she had the beauty filter turned on for the video, she hadn't noticed.
However the itchiness was hard to ignore, as Meg said she "literally want to unzip out of my skin".
After deciding she wouldn't have the tan, Meg instead opted to head to the local hospital, as she said that the speed at which the rash spread "scared" her.
Once she was at the urgent care centre, the doctor told her they were going to treat the rash in two ways - one with oral antibiotics, and one with a cream.
When she left, Meg was scratching her head trying to figure out where she could have contracted the virus.
She'd previously tried swapping her shampoo, skincare products and jewellery, as she thought they may have been responsible for the little bumps first appearing.
However, once she'd been to the hospital, she once again tried to figure out how she had ended up with the infection - and decided to look through her previous videos to see if it jogged her memory.
When she did so, she came across a clip of herself in the charity shop - where she tried out a TikTok hack which involves wrapping the waistband of jeans around the neck to see if they'd fit.
And when she suggested to the doctor that the hack could have potentially been responsible, he immediately agreed.
We went hunting in the charity shop's 'rag house' and were stunned by our discoveries - we found a £80 bag & £600 shirt
So Meg then returned to TikTok to warn others against trying out the trend.
"I just wanted to come on here and say I'm so sorry, I take full responsibility for like spreading that trend," she sighed.
"Please don't try that!"
She also urged people to always wash their charity shop clothes before putting them on.
"That was what caused it," she concluded.
And the comments section was almost immediately filled with people stunned by Meg's revelation.
Top charity shop tips for bagging a bargain
Ross Dutton has been a manager for Crisis's charity shops for four years and currently runs the charity's Finsbury Park shop in London.
Choose your area - As a rule of thumb, the posher the area, the better quality the clothes that are donated.
Don't hang around - If you see something you like, buy it, as it'll likely be gone when you come back
Look out for cut-off labels - Some of your favourite high street stores will have deals with local charity shops to donate stock that isn't sold during their own sales. Often part of the deal is that they need to cut the labels off the clothes.
Stay at home - While some charities have their own site, like Oxfam and Crisis. many also sell from dedicated eBay stores, such as British Heart Foundation and Scope. You won't get the range of bargains that you would get in a physical store, but if you're looking for something specific it may be worth checking online too.
"Omg I've been doing that hack for YEARS," one gasped.
"Stop…I do this all the time…!" another said.
"Got it - I will never be doing this again," a third promised.
"I've done the jean trick for years - have never had this happen but nice to know it could be unsafe," someone else wrote.
"Same - I think it was the hangers at this specific store!!" Meg replied.
While others shared their own similar "horror stories", with one writing: "My ex got ink poisoning from his new jeans for wearing them before washing them.
"He was in the hospital because of it!"
"Thrifting horror story: when I was a child I had a veryyy small on my foot cut from a stubbed toe," another added.
"We bought some light up Barbie shoes from a thrift store that my mum let me wear straight out of the store.
"I ended up getting very intense staph that had me hospitalised and almost lost my leg."
"As someone who works in retail, the clothes stay out all day, thousands of people touch them everyday," a third commented.
"We do not wash the clothes - we fold them, fix them up, that is it.
"This is why I wash everything used or new in stores before I wear it!" someone else sighed.
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