Instantly I felt regret as I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was completely dry. Not only was it dry but I felt a burning sensation too.

I thought to myself, “Oh no what is happening?” Is this normal?”

Scrolling through Instagram I came across a popular celebrity stylist post of a product that he used on his skin.

With much excitement, I went to the mall to purchase the facial cleansing bar.

His skin was very clear and blemish free, so I wondered if mine would be that clear too.

At the time, the fact that the stylist was an “Instagram influencer” didn’t occur to me. His face was just so flawless that I had to invest in the product.

Instead of not using the cleanser anymore I tried it again believing that the symptoms would get better.

It only got worse and by day two my face was burning even more than before.

I applied castor oil to my face thinking it would help with moisturizing my face, but it didn’t help either.

As days went on my face just kept getting worse.

Dry patches started to come up around my forehead and around my top lip.

Shortly after that my skin started to peel, all while still burning and itching.

I went to buy hydro-cortisone cream to cool my face down a little.

Finally, after about another week and a half my face began to heal.

I was so relieved.

I couldn’t believe that I fell into the trap of Instagram product marketing by an “influencer”, but it’s so easy to fall for the hype.

40% of people said that they have purchased products online after seeing a social media influencer use it and 72% of consumers said they trust a business more after its been promoted by an influencer, according to a survey by invesp.com

I didn’t go into the purchase blindly, I did my research and knew that there could be side effects, however I didn’t think my skin would be so sensitive to the product.

What attracted me to it in the first place was that it catered to people of color, but it just didn’t work for me.

Disappointed, I returned the facial cleanser to the beauty store and thankfully they accepted a return on my purchase.

Instagram influencers have a lot of power on their platform. Gaining the trust of their followers and promoting sponsored products online makes them even more powerful.

Social media followers can easily get caught up trying to be or look like a person they admire online, but unfortunately it could end in a situation similar to what I experienced where they’ll be plagued with instant regret as an outcome.