Iodine and Baby Oil Hair Remover

"1Tbsp of iodine 2% 1 Cup of baby oil Rub your hairy area with the mixture and let set for only 5 minutes. Then gently wipe away with a damp cloth. Viola!!!! NO MORE HAIR!"

I've had a lot of people asking about this one. My first step was try to locate the source of this image. I was unable to find the source though so if anyone knows, please let me know. But right off the bat, the leg shape, muscle tone, as well as the hair growth made me believe this was a man's leg. Not that men can't and don't remove leg hair, but if you look closely you'll also notice a rather large scar running down the knee of the hairless leg.  We often see similar ideas where an image of one thing is used to promote a completely different idea, like the spray paint light bulbs, brown sugar for hair straightening, coffee for hair remover, and the fake tan from cocoa powder, just to name a few of the ones this blog alone has disproven. 

Which leads me into why I don't believe this is even remotely plausible as a pin. You see, it's common for surgeons to scrub an area before surgery with iodine. If iodine was such a remarkable hair remover, why would they bother doing pre-op shaving? Anyone who has had surgery on an area with hair growth can tell you that the area is shaved before hand. Wouldn't doctors, of all people, look for time-saving methods and skip the shaving if iodine could double as an antiseptic AND hair remover? 

Not only that, but a lot of results when you google iodine and mineral oil pulls up people talking about how back in the days of bottle brown tans, this was one of the go to tanning methods. If it worked as a hair remover, I think it would be more commonly known today, and I also doubt a lot of men back in the day would have used it as often as they did. Anyone who has used iodine can attest to how it stains the skin, however the hairless leg seems oddly void of any kind of staining. 

And finally, chemically, there is NOTHING in these two that would cause such a reaction as hair loss. 

But in the name of science, and because I know you love proof, I tested this pin out just for the blog. Since it's summer though, my legs get shaved regularly, so I brought in a stand in for this pin. Meet the other half of "us" here at Don't Pin That, and my editor in chief, Tay.

Tay, bless him, is hairy. Very much like the original image. So who better to test this pin out? 

Tay was a good sport spending his father's day evening letting me test this out. I mixed up the mixture and then tucked a towel under his leg incase it dribbled onto the sofa, and applied it.

Then we waited. The pin says 5 minutes, but since there was a bottle of wine and an episode of Conan to catch up on, it turned out to be more like 15 for us. Gently rubbing it away didn't do much, so I then scrubbed. The hair however, remained firmly attached to his leg: 

His very yellow stained leg I might add. 

So there you have it. No, this doesn't work. There's no way this would work chemically or even logically. I have no idea what the source of the original image is, but it's not from some miracle iodine hair remover. 

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