Dangerous ‘full-face wax’ TikTok trend could cause suffocation, experts warn

Medical experts have warned TikTok users against covering their entire faces in hot wax. Yes, really – it’s a thing.

Dutch barbershop Kapsalon Freedom – which posts videos of ‘full-face waxes’ – has attracted more than 850,000 followers on TikTok.

Barber Renaz Ismael told the BBC that the process is safe, but medical experts argue differently.

Some are suggesting that TikTok should put a warning on such videos, to deter impressionable users from trying this trend at home.

“It is clearly not a good idea to cover the whole face with wax,” said Dr. Emma Wedgeworth, a consultant dermatologist and spokeswoman for the British Skin Foundation, in an interview with Yahoo News.

Wedgeworth described the viral trend as “senseless practice,” noting it is particularly harmful when the wax is put on the nose because due to fragile skin and blood vessels near the surface.

Alex Echeverri, who works at John and Ginger salon, in West Sussex, told the BBC that face waxes could lead to suffocation.

She said: “There’s no control element to smothering the face with wax, and wax hardens, so it could harden in the airways and have to be surgically removed."

Waxing of the face is a fairly common practice by Turkish barbers, and leaves a soft and smooth finish when done with a thin layer of wax in very precise areas. In other words, not all over your face.

People online aren’t warming to the idea of this TikTok trend.

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