All The Weird Beauty Notions Our Moms Have Sworn By For Decades

The women who raised us gave us so much— love, strength, resilience, and some questionable beauty advice. Whether it came as unhinged warnings, like “Don’t go to bed with wet hair, you’ll wake up with pneumonia and scalp infection,” or yelled over the sound of a whirring blender, “Apply this tomato paste on your face—it’s nature’s bleach,” these mom-mandated rituals shaped our earliest ideas of what it meant to take care of ourselves. And while we’ve upgraded to what's new in the beauty world, from exfoliating toners to the newest trending slugging balm, some of their beauty gems (read: chaos) still follow us around like the scent of Medimix soap in our childhood bathroom.

In honour of Mother’s Day, Team ELLE rounded up the most bizarre, sweet, and oddly specific beauty beliefs passed down by the OG beauty queens in our lives, our moms! Read on for a healthy dose of nostalgia with a side of eye rolls.

Kannagi Desai, Beauty Editor

“My mom still believes copper jewellery purifies your blood—and by extension, your face. Every time I break out, she asks if I’ve stopped wearing the ‘healing’ kada she gave me in 2010. For her, skincare starts with metal. It’s like a mix of Ayurveda, and paranoia.”

Isha Mayer, ELLE Gourmet Digital Editor

“Whenever I got a tan, my mom would make a fresh mix of besan, haldi, and malai—which she insisted was ‘100x better than sunscreen’. I love her, but I still smell like a Diwali laddoo after a summer getaway. She thinks SPF is a scam. And I think I need a chemical peel.”

Krishika Bhatia, Beauty Writer

“I was told never to pluck a single grey hair because apparently ten more would come to its funeral. It was practically a horror story growing up—like, one wrong yank and you’d end up looking like Gandalf. To this day, I hesitate before tweezing. My trauma is rooted in maternal folklore.”

Aditi Magesh, Junior Graphic Designer

“My mom banned me from shaving, insisting it would make hair grow back ‘thicker, darker, and angrier’. She was convinced razors were the fast track to turning into a bear. So I snuck around with a razor like it was contraband. She’s still skeptical about my 'smooth legs theory'.”

Siya Bhambwani, Beauty Editorial Assistant

“Cabbage leaves on the chest—yes, really—was my mom’s go-to for any hormonal breakout. She claimed it 'draws out heat'. I have memories of lying flat on my back with coleslaw components strapped to me like spa-grade body armour. Honestly? Weirdly cooling. Not dermat-approved, but very mom-approved.”

Sure, some of these tips were…unconventional. But there’s something endearing about how seriously our moms took the business of beauty. It wasn’t just about looking good—it was about intention, tradition, and a deeply maternal need to fix things with whatever was in the kitchen. And maybe that’s the real legacy they’ve passed on, the idea that beauty starts with care, even if it occasionally smells like turmeric.

Happy Mother’s Day to the queens who taught us how to glow—cabbage leaves and all.