10 strangest drugstore products
Working at a health and beauty website, we've become comfortable and familiar with our catalogue. Between the ammonia-free hair dyes and obscure supplements, there isn't a lot that surprises us. But when you have more than 10,000 health, beauty, and skincare products, chances are you'll come across a few interesting ones. Here are 10 strange drugstore products we found that are still leaving us scratching our heads.
1. Midol Complete Menstrual
Now, we know what this is for, so this isn't so much of a strange product in the traditional sense that is it unusual. But it is puzzling when we look closely at the ingredients. The main active ingredient is acetaminophen, making it a pain medication like any other. We're not denying it works, but we just wonder what makes it period-specific and different from generic pain relievers.
2. Bioré Deep Cleaning strips
Another product we're well-familiar with, having used it several times, but it still baffles us every time. It's like a Band-Aid on steroids, where instead of uprooting your hairs and skin cells when you strip it off, it pulls up hundreds of little pockets of oil and dirt from under your skin.
It never gets old and while it's undeniably fun-in-a-perturbing-way, it's not an activity you'd want to share with your first date. There's something incredibly alarming about seeing an clean, white adhesive strip covered in little larvae-like seeds of sebum, dirt, and oil. And even more alarming to know this was all resting under your skin a few seconds ago.
3. VCF Vaginal Contraceptive Film
How does this work? Is it to sperm what screendoors are to summer bugs? Except that screendoor is laced with DDT, or in the case of this film, spermicide. We think this screendoor-film/insecticide-spermicide is a pretty accurate metaphor of what happens here, but we don't understand how it could be sexually enhancing.
4. VCF Vaginal Contraceptive Foam
It doesn't stop there, either! There's a foam version, too. How does it work? Does the spermicide sit plesantly in the folds of your vagina, building a Great Wall between your eager partner's seeds and your eager eggs? How reliable can it be, if it's little bubbles of gas and liquid that keeps popping? Is there a time limit? So many questions.
5. Option 2 Levonorgestrel Emergency Contraception Tablets
This is the last contraceptive, promise. It's surprising even to us how many over-the-counter contraceptives we offer, though. This morning after pill requires no prescription, because we know when you're in a rush, it's no use slowing you down with paperwork (and in this case, they say you have a 72-hour timeframe). As the naming even suggests, we encourage you to have an option 1 (or "Plan A") and not completely rely on this.
6. Rougier Nozovent Latex Free Nasal Dilator
Another product from Rougier, oh those French Canadians. The concept of this nose dilator makes perfect sense, it's the execution that tickles us. It's quite a look and we imagine you won't be using both this Rougier product and the previous one at the same time. We do wonder whether long-term use can alter the shape of your nose. But that's merely a trivial worry, compared to your bedmate's inability to sleep with your snoring volumes.
7. Equazen Concentration Capsules
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder is a chronic condition that is diagnosed and usually treated with psychostimulant medications and behavioral interventions. We kind of wish we had natural softgel caplets that could help us with concentration problems. This probably won't completely help the condition, it says it's for concentration symptoms. But can that help control the mind and impulse control? So interesting.
8. New Nordic Active Legs
Seems there's an OTC solution for most things nowadays, leg swelling is generally caused by chronic venous insufficiency, when blood doesn't completely flow back upwards towards the heart and, instead, pools in the leg's veins.
The best way to treat it is to incorporate more acitivity into your day: avoid sitting or standing for long periods time, frequently flex and extend your legs, feet, and ankles to keep the blood flowing in the leg veins, regular exercise regularly, and walking frequently. Compression stockings can also help. And apparently, also these tablets.
9. New Nordic Hair Volume
Another New Nordic product, those Swedes. This one says it can help hair grow more, and avoid grey hairs, as well as improve your skin and nails. All of this using apple extract (and more). Very interesting.
10. Diva Cup
Ah, the Diva Cup. The strangest and most fascinating of the drugstore products. I've tried it for many moon cycles (am wearing it right now, actually. Is that TMI?) and can confirm is saves on pads. I still wear a pantiliner with it just in case, but environmentally, they've got the right idea here.
Like the pore strips, there is definitely something shocking about seeing a collection of what was just inside you. It's not hidden and sponged away into the fluffy absorbent cottons of a disposable pad. It's all welled up right there, in a cup. You learn a lot from this, like how much blood you're losing every few hours, how thick blood and everything is, what it all looks like (there's not just blood, uterine lining is in there too). It promises to lighten your cramps load, which we're unsure how that works, but in this humble blogger's experience, yes, the cramps have been less severe.
What are a few strange and interesting products you've come across in your drugstore (or online)? Let us know in the comments below!