Cody Simpson confesses to committing *this* skin care sin

We swear Cody Simpson has lived a thousand lives in his 25 years. He started out as a teen singing sensation (“Pretty Brown Eyes” still goes hard), spent years as half of some of the most famous celeb couples our generation has seen, and has now moved back home to the Gold Coast to take up a competitive swimming career. This is all in addition to his new side hustle as a skin care guru, of course – in a recent Harper’s BAZAAR Go To Bed With Me video, Simpson opened up about everything that goes into his evening routine.

But while his general line-up was pretty good (which he credits to the fact that he learnt heaps about skin care from his mum, sister and girlfriends), there’s one big faux pas on his roster: toothpaste on a pimple. Hold for shock! It’s worth noting that ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid has also previously admitted to doing the same to banish a blemish. Perhaps that’s where he picked it up!

“I don’t get a ton of pimples or acne,” Simpson noted, crediting his generally clear complexion to his lifestyle choices. “I try to avoid oily foods [and] foods that cause inflammation.” He was, however, dealing with one particularly stubborn spot. “I do have this one pimple right here, which sits on my goggle mark. I can’t get rid of [it] cause I wear these goggles for hours a day,” he continued. “It just keeps coming back, which is really annoying. Sometimes I’ll put toothpaste on my pimples to get them going and to dry them out; the trusty old toothpaste trick.”

We forgive him for thinking it's 'trusty' – it’s definitely a ‘trick’ that gets talked about a lot. But it's notorious for a reason, right? Toothpaste can actually be an extreme irritant which can cause damage to the skin barrier. And when said skin barrier is damaged? All hell breaks loose. Well, at least oil overproduction does; cue the vicious cycle!

A YouTube commenter had some decent advice for him about what he could replace it with: “Have you thought about trying a pimple patch on your blemish when you’re wearing your goggles? They keep the blemish from being rubbed and irritated, so it’ll be able to heal. Any plain old hydro colloidal patch will do,” they suggested.

And they’re spot (ironically) on! A colloidal patch like the COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch ($7.90 at Adore Beauty) will help to calm inflammation and combat bacteria while also protecting the spot from external issues (such as the friction caused by goggles, if you happen to also be a swimmer).

Moral of the story? Put the toothpaste down (we're talking to you, Simpson); it's simply not worth it.

Main image credit: Getty Images

After more spot solutions? Here are all our favourite blemish treatments…