Episode 3 Skin Deep: The Business of Beauty

I'm Jessica-Jane Clement. When I'm not modelling or protecting you against getting scammed

on The Real Hustle, you'll find me at the beauticians, trying out new treatments.

But I've learnt from my own experience that it can be

like the Wild West out there.

In most parts of the country, you, me or anyone can open up a salon.

You don't need qualifications to practise

and I can tell you, there's some shocking work out there.

A few years ago, I had some lip fillers and ended up with

two small, hard lumps right in the middle of my lips. Attractive(!)

Each week, we're going to be investigating

various beauty disaster stories and try to discover what went wrong.

Tonight, a skin peel bought online turns ugly.

I sort of looked down and just saw red, raw skin.

SHE GASPS

And one girl's dream hairdo becomes her worst nightmare.

Slowly, my face was ballooning up.

If you don't get treatment within an hour, you can die.

'I'm on the case to find those responsible.'

Can I talk to you about the acid you're selling?

Where are you getting this acid from, please?

Are you making it yourself?

Last year, we spent an incredible £420 million

carrying out beauty treatments at home,

but we're no longer satisfied with just dyeing our hair

or painting our nails.

We can now get our hands on products that only used to be

in the hands of trained beauticians or medical professionals.

And as Alisha Clarke found out, DIY beauty can turn into a disaster.

# My body tells me no

# But I won't quit, cos I want more... #

23-year-old Alisha is from Tottenham in North London.

Ever since she was a little girl, she has dreamed of a pop career.

I have a day job, I am an accountant, but I enjoy writing,

I enjoy singing, playing piano,

but if this hobby did turn into a career that did make me money, all the better for it.

Alisha has always been hell bent on looking her best.

Image is more important than musical talent.

There's a lot of people

out there in the charts right now that cannot sing, but look amazing.

So, Alisha went on a quest for the body beautiful.

I had a few small, almost unnoticeable marks on my legs

that I wanted to get rid of. I just wanted my legs to look perfectly airbrushed.

Alisha believed the key to perfect pins lay in a chemical peel,

a powerful acid which burns through skin.

It's usually carried out by professionals,

but Alisha decided to do it herself.

-She went online...

-I actually Googled it.

..and for just £12.99, thought she'd found a quick fix.

I couldn't believe how cheap it was.

It says, "removes lesions or scarring, including stretch marks

"and ice pick scars."

I guess I took its word for it, really.

Alisha paid her money

and set to work on her legs as soon as the product arrived.

I literally just poured it onto the cotton pads

and put it straight onto my legs.

It burnt, but, erm, it's acid, so it's supposed to burn.

Then it started changing colours

and that's when I looked down and just saw red, raw skin

and thought, "I've done something stupid."

Alisha was left with 18 scars across her thighs.

Best pal Wande is one of the few people she showed her legs to.

-When I saw it, I was just like...

-SHE GASPS

"Oh, my God! What have you done?"

To see the extent of what she had done to herself was awful.

It has affected her confidence, she can't wear skirts or shorts.

'I'm conscious of the scars when I'm walking down the street

'and my legs are always covered. I wear tights, but I tend to wear'

two or three pairs of tights now because you can see the scarring through the tights.

Will you get your legs back to normal?

There is no cure, I feel like... I don't know what I'll do.

Oh, Alisha! Oh, don't get upset.

Skin peels are the nation's favourite chemical cosmetic treat.

A professional job costs from £90 to £800,

depending on which bit of your body it's for,

but Alisha opted to buy one of the chemicals commonly used,

trichloroacetic acid, or TCA.

It burns through the outer surface of your skin,

removing up to seven layers, but it's dangerous stuff,

and in the wrong hands can lead to a disaster.

Nowhere is the unregulated world of beauty more uncertain

than when you're shopping on the internet.

I really feel for Alisha.

I've bought all sorts of DIY beauty products to use at home.

But the consequences for Alisha could mean that she's scarred for life.

I'm really nervous, but hopefully she'll be able to help.

-I'm Jess, nice to meet you. How are you?

-Fine, thanks.

-I've got a room for us downstairs, do you want to come down? Bit more privacy.

-OK.

So, Alisha, it's nice to meet you, finally. What were you thinking?

-I think I was after that whole perfection thing, because really...

-Who were you looking at?

I'm constantly seeing music videos and images of these models...

All these girls are so airbrushed and that's what angers me -

girls look at these girls and they aspire to be like that.

I just feel so ridiculous now, cos I knew that at the time, I don't know what I was thinking.

Have you got any photos of what it looked like immediately after?

-Yeah.

-You do? Can I have a look at those?

-SHE GASPS

-Oh, I don't know what to say!

-Awful.

-I would be distraught.

-Exactly.

-I'd be scared.

I can't believe that. You're very self-conscious

about showing them in public now, how would you feel about showing them to me now?

-Yeah, I suppose that'll be fine.

-So what have we got?

-Oh, Alisha!

-There's a few round the back as well.

These are in-growing hairs?

There's tiny pin pricks...

I can't believe this has done this to you.

Can you just talk me through exactly what you did, how you applied it?

It came in, like, really simple packaging, with, I think it was two A4 sheets of instructions.

Literally opened the bottle, emptied it onto a cotton bud

and applied it to the areas that I had a problem with on my legs.

So all the dark marks or the in-grown hair, pin pricks and stuff.

I remember it was really painful, they went really red and it didn't subside,

that's when I got a bit worried.

On this bottle, this product,

what did it say that it could actually do?

Was it for your legs? Was it for your face? What did it say?

It promised to get rid of age spots,

sun damage, acne scarring, stretch marks,

-tattoos, warts...

-Warts?

-It said that it could remove warts as well.

It sounds like a miracle cream. That's when it's too good to be true - it can get rid of anything!

I really appreciate what I had before. I wish I could have it back.

So, I think there's two things that need to be done now.

We need to find out exactly what has happened to your legs

and what the extent of the damage is.

And investigate what is in that bottle?

-Hopefully we'll be seeing you soon.

-It was really nice meeting her,

she's really lovely, I just hope that she can help, really.

I want to find a fix for Alisha's legs and get to the bottom of why

this product is so readily available to buy online.

I'm angry because I think, what if I had a child

who found this product and started putting it on their skin

and started... You know, I want to meet the person

and see what they have to say about it.

Last year, hair dye addict Rachel Dowley had her own

DIY beauty disaster when she had a horrific reaction

to a product sold on every high street.

The hospital said next time I dye my hair,

I might go into anaphylactic shock,

and if you don't get treatment within an hour, you can die.

20-year-old Rachel has lived in Southend in Essex all her life.

She's a natural blonde who spent years trying to be a brunette,

using home dye kits.

I was 11 when I started dyeing my hair.

My beauty role models are Megan Fox and Eva Longoria.

I loved Katie Price's hair when it was black, but I don't like her!

All the celebs Rachel loves have one thing in common,

-the colour of their barnet.

-I love black hair.

If you've got a certain colour hair, you can have certain styles,

whereas I think certain styles don't suit certain colours.

But six years ago, while on her holidays,

Rachel had an allergic reaction to a black henna tattoo.

Ever since, she's been allergic to most hair dyes as well.

I've tried about 20 or 30 different hair dyes

and about six wash-in, wash-out ones and every one, I'm allergic to.

But one day, Rachel's mum thought she'd come up trumps.

It just looked like quite a natural-looking product

and the name HerbaShine made me think maybe it was herbal.

I was really, really excited when Mum brought it back.

In her rush to get back to black,

Rachel cut short the pack-advised patch test.

It said to leave on for 48 hours, the patch test,

and I left it on for about 40 and then put it on my head

because I got a bit excited.

Within about ten minutes, my arms started to react

where the patch test was, so I really quickly washed it

out of my hair, but it was too late.

Rachel's reaction spread to her face. Mum sent her straight to A&E.

Slowly, my face was ballooning up, you could actually see it.

Everyone kept saying, "Rachel, your face is getting bigger."

I got there as quickly as I could, walked straight past her cubicle,

because I didn't realise it was Rachel,

because by this time, all her features had disappeared

into the swelling and she didn't look like Rachel anymore.

The hospital said it was most probably a chemical called PPD.

The doctors said they had never seen a reaction as severe as mine.

I was so shocked that something that could do that much damage

was being sold, and I find it really weird how they can take hearts out of people

and put it in someone else and it works, but they can't make

a hair dye that stops me from looking like a balloon.

And Rachel isn't alone.

PPD allergies have caused breathing difficulties,

severe facial swelling and even death.

It took two weeks for Rachel to recover,

but astonishingly, she's still hell bent on being a brunette.

As soon as my face went back to normal, I thought, "I'm going to dye my hair again."

And my friends said, "Rachel, you really can't dye your hair, stop being an idiot."

But I said, "At least I'd die with nice hair!"

Next - I'm back on Alisha's case.

Regulation of cosmetic products sold over the internet is woeful.

Alisha Clarke fears she's scarred her legs for life

with a £12.99 acid peel she bought online.

We've been doing some digging and according to

Department of Health guidelines, the acid that Alisha bought

should only be handled by medical professionals,

but Alisha was able to buy this acid over the internet.

'I want to find out more about the skin peel she bought,

'so I've ordered the same product from the same supplier as Alisha.'

"TCA instructions." There's a lot of stuff on here, but already, I'm a bit confused.

'Alisha read these instructions and applied the acid neat.

'Looking at this, I really can't tell

'how much to dilute the acid by, if at all.'

"For 50% solution, mix one part 100% TCA with one part bottled..."

That's even wrong, because it's not even a 100% solution.

Shall I open it? You know what that looks like?

That looks like a little hygiene pack that you get in a hotel.

This is the actual product here, it look like a sweetie.

I'm sorry, that's just shocking. That looks like a little tester bottle

that you get in a department store for perfume.

I know from an organisation called the MHRA,

that's the Medical Health Regulatory Authority,

that anything that claims to fix a medical problem

is a medical product, not a cosmetic product.

In these instructions, it claims to get rid of genital warts,

which is definitely a medical problem. If that's the case,

this bottle should have been through strict controls

and have a mark on it to prove it, called a CE mark.

This looks more like it's been made at home.

I want to find out if this stuff is actually legal.

But first, I want to find Alisha some help.

So I've arranged to take her to a top London clinic

to see Dr Raina Zarb Adami.

Raina is a leading practitioner in Botox, fillers and peels.

A chemical peel is a very serious procedure

and it's very worrying that members of the public

are carrying this out at home.

-Do you know, by any chance, what strength it was?

-50.

-50%?

-That's what I used on my legs.

-That's industrial strength acid, practically.

I would never, ever go higher than a 30% peel.

I usually use 15-20% peels,

my insurance will only cover me up to 30% peels.

-You'd only go to 30%?

-Absolutely.

This is heavy duty stuff.

'Raina wants to show Alisha the effect acid has on our skin.'

And when we peel, we want to separate this layer.

That's what 12.5% does.

50%, I would hate to hazard a guess, but it's somewhere about here.

This is where all the action occurs.

This is where all the blood vessels, the nerves, the hair follicles -

go any deeper than this and it's a full wound.

Did you just pour the acid neat?

I done it straight with a cotton bud,

just applied the acid to the cotton bud and rubbed it

on the problem areas there.

How long did you leave the acid on?

-Maybe 30 seconds, a minute, not too long.

-OK.

-And you just washed it off with water?

-Yeah.

If you had done this on your face,

with 50%, you'd basically look like a burn victim.

-Shall I have a look at these scars?

-Yeah.

-Do you want to jump up onto my couch?

These ones. But those ones on my thighs were the stretch marks

-that I was talking about.

-Mmm.

They're definitely burn scars.

But one good point is that they're flat.

When I run my hand over them, they're flat.

What we're seeing here is actually

excess pigmentation, because when I press it, it doesn't lighten.

Will they go away completely? They won't, they won't.

The options depend on the commitment you're willing to undertake

and that obviously depends on how much this costs, probably.

They really do bother me a lot.

I feel like it's impeded on my lifestyle.

I don't know, I'm trying to get into an industry as well

where image is important, and it's really

an infringement on my life, it's so inconvenient having them there.

Oh, bless. No, of course, I completely understand.

Let me think on it and I'll get back to you.

-How do you think that went?

-I do want to get this sorted out

to get it to the best that it possibly can be.

It'd be great if she did say it was 100% fixable,

but anything's better than what I've got now, really.

Earlier, we met 20-year-old hair dye addict, Rachel Dowley.

She's been warned she could die if she dyes her hair again.

Friends said, "Rachel, you really can't dye your hair,

"stop being an idiot!" But I've said, "At least I'd die with nice hair!"

So I think it's time for an intervention.

I've arranged something for Rachel that should hopefully quench

her desire for new hair colour and keep her out of A&E.

Hello. Nice to meet you - Toni, you Mum?

-I am, yes.

-Nice to meet you.

-Rachel, hello. How are you?

-Fine, thank you.

-Good, good.

So, Rachel, I've heard all about your story, and I can relate to you

more than anybody, cos I've dyed my hair, I mean, as you can tell, so many times.

-Mum, what do you think?

-I think she should leave it as it is,

but I know she doesn't like it. I know she's not happy with it

and I know she will try something again,

but I just wish she would leave it as it is, really.

Do you know why I've dragged you out of bed?

I hope it's something to do with my hair.

Shall we go and find out? Come on, follow me.

My secret weapon is super-stylist to the stars, Jonathan Long.

His clients include the Beckhams and Leona Lewis,

and now, Rachel Dowley.

Rachel's been running really big risks with her hair.

It's something we're not too comfortable with. She needs to look after herself.

So what we want to do is wean her off colouring her own hair

and get her to actually love her own look.

So, Rachel, I've heard about your history with colour from Jess.

What don't you enjoy about your hair? What don't you like?

It's got all different colours in, but they're not nice colours.

For me, you're incredibly lucky, cos we can go many a different place with your hair colour.

-I love your hair.

-She wants your hair!

I'm trying to do multi-coloured, look.

I think I've got some of yours in there now. I'd love that.

-See, I want the dark bit in your hair!

-Do you?

-If you actually did that, if you put your hair on...

-Go on.

You look quite pale. And even if you go fake tan or sunbed, you can't do that all the time.

If you came in to me a normal, everyday client, I would say no.

I think we can do a small amount

of colour where we don't put it on your scalp, so you won't have these issues.

-Sound good?

-Thank you.

And Rachel's got a surprise coming.

We'll give her some highlights through the top of her hair

just to break down her natural block colour on top.

Then we'll give her a fabulous haircut, really give it some shape

and then a big blow-dry.

She won't have a clue, because we've covered up the mirrors

to prevent her getting a sneaky peak.

Whose hair have you cut, then?

Westlife, Girls Aloud, Naomi Campbell...

Not scaring you by how much hair's falling on the floor?

I'm not scared, cos I know you've cut famous people's hair.

So I know they wouldn't come back to you!

-You wanted it pink, didn't you(?)

-Don't scare me!

After half a day of grooming,

it's time to see if our hair dye horror loves her lighter look.

-Do you want to give her a spin?

-Shall we? Here we go, are you ready?

-Yeah.

-Ta-dah!

-Oh, my God! Oh, I love it.

-Yeah?

-You OK?

-You promised me you weren't going to cry.

-You OK, sweetheart?

It just shows that you are really a blonde.

-Gone are the dark, stay away from that.

-A blonde bombshell.

Your eyes are popping... I think you just look stunning.

I never thought I'd suit light hair, but I really like it.

It's the first time I've had coloured hair

-and my face hasn't been out here.

-Aww!

Mum, what do you think?

-I love it. I really do like it.

-This is the new, natural you, yeah?

-You sticking to it?

-Yeah.

-Good. Happy?

-Yeah.

Well, it's worked - Rachel looks incredible

and most importantly, we've used a treatment that's safe. I think I can say

that my work here is done.

I'm making progress with my investigation

into the acid Alisha Clarke bought online.

'I want to take the supplier to task and find out what they've got to say about Alisha's scars.

'But first, it's time to don a white coat for a spot of science.'

I'm at the London Metropolitan University and behind me are the science labs.

I've given them some of the acid and asked them to run some tests.

I think it's time to find out exactly what's in this bottle.

'Dr Andrew Searle is the chief biochemist here.

'I've asked him to check if it is what it says on the bottle,

'50% concentration TCA acid.'

What do your results tell you?

Well, if we look at the results here,

we can see the concentration of TCA

in that test solution is 62%.

There's a margin of error there,

-so it's plus or minus 5%.

-62%?!

-62%.

So it ranges from 59 up to possibly 65%.

The supplier that we got it from said it was 50%.

I'm genuinely shocked.

Raina can't even get insurance to use 30% TCA.

If a dermatologist actually bought this off the internet

and tried to use it

and diluted it down to what they thought was 30%,

they'd be wrong, it would be considerably more than that.

'But the point is, a complete novice got her hands on it

'and this is what 62% strength acid does on raw flesh -

'well, a juicy steak.'

Oh, wow! So, straight away, it's turning white.

Yeah, it's turning it white. What TCA does is it alters

the normal, natural structure of proteins into an unnatural structure

and then, what you've got now

is a sort of artificial skin on top of the meat.

It actually feels slightly stiff.

Alisha put this on her legs.

Well, I think at that strength, I'd be very surprised

-if she didn't see some similar effect.

-Wow!

-It's a very dangerous thing to do.

-It just looks like cooked beef.

Why do you think that the strength of the TCA was so different to what it claimed to be on the bottle?

Well, in my opinion, this looks home-made,

and when these things are home-made,

then they lose things like quality control. When you buy it

from regulated suppliers, they have much greater accuracy.

They would have accuracy to within a fraction of a percent.

I wasn't expecting that at all.

To be told that it's being sold at a higher concentration

than it's been advertised is just scary and it needs to be stopped.

-Hi, Alisha, come in.

-Hi.

Alisha's about to get big news too -

the prognosis on her acid burn scars.

I've had a think about things.

There are various treatments, none of which, I think, are going to be

a super miracle that's going to make your legs look like new.

It's a combination of creams and a technique we call micro-needling.

I don't think the scars are going to disappear completely,

but I think we could be reasonably hopeful of a significant difference.

I'm just really happy that you guys can help, thank you so much.

That's what we like to hear!

Can I give you a hug? I'm so... Thank you so much!

Feeling comfortable? Are you happy for this?

-Scratching.

-It's just scratching.

Micro-needling uses hundreds of fine needles to stimulate skin growth.

SHE MOUTHS

It is painful, obviously -

it's 200 needles, it's painful! But hopefully it will be worth it.

But you know what they say - no pain, no gain.

I'm relieved there's now some hope for Alisha.

'But I want to make sure the supplier knows what their acid has done.'

We wrote a letter to the seller who sold Alisha her acid,

asking her to talk to us about the product.

They did reply, but unfortunately,

they've chosen not to respond to any of the allegations.

I just don't think that's good enough,

so I'm now on my way to the address that we found in the online ad.

I've been doing some research.

She actually comes up as being registered

on an online networking site for witches,

and it also says that she dislikes meat,

so she probably won't like our acid test very much.

'I'm closing in on our acid supplier.'

Today, I want to find out

why the acid is so much stronger than what it says on the label,

how and where the acid is made,

and also, I want to find out how they feel about the fact

that a young girl significantly scarred her legs

after using the acid that they sent her.

So the address is just round the corner,

it's a normal-looking house in a residential area.

My best chance of getting answers is to spot them before they spot me.

We've got this camper van that we're all going to be waiting in,

me and the crew, so fingers crossed, it's all going to go down well.

I don't really know what to expect.

She might end up wanting to talk to me

and giving her side of the story - if she's smart, she will.

If not, I'm just going to have to get as many questions out

as I possibly can and hope that she responds.

'We've parked outside the business address

'and within minutes, I've spotted the seller.'

Shall I go?

I'm Jess, from the BBC. Can I talk to you about the acid

you're selling on the internet, please?

It's a significantly higher strength than what you say it is.

I've got some photographs to show you of a young girl

who's used your acid and she's ended up severely scarring her legs.

How do you feel about that?

She's not coming out.

Hello?

Excuse me, I'd just like a few minutes of your time, please,

just to talk about the acid.

I just want to know if you know the acid you're selling isn't 50%.

Where are you getting this acid from, please?

Are you making it yourself?

'Sadly, it doesn't look like she's coming out.'

So I still haven't got the answers to my questions,

but there's one thing that I've definitely learnt -

there are some beauty treatments out there

that should be left to the people who know what they're doing.

Because when you buy online,

you can't always be sure what you're getting.

After three sessions with Dr Raina,

Alisha's scars are already showing an improvement.

We contacted the MHRA to see

if they could do anything about the online acid.

They say they've investigated the matter..

But we've had a result. Since our investigation, the site selling the acid has closed down.

And we contacted Garnier about their HerbaShine hair dye.

They say...

Hold it together like that, straight in.

Oh, my God, what have I done?

He'd got holes in his lips along the top here, dripping with blood.

-So you've got your camera?

-Yeah.

That was absolutely unbelievable.

It's disgraceful.

It was weeping and bleeding.

I'm scarred for life, basically.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

E-mail: [email protected]