What was claimed
You can make a substance that removes body hair by mixing one tablespoon of 2% iodine and one cup of baby oil.
Our verdict
This won’t remove body hair.
Mixing baby oil and iodine won’t remove body hair
A post on Instagram has claimed putting a mixture of iodine and baby oil on the skin for five minutes can remove body hair.
It won’t.
There are several examples online of people trying this and it not working. We don’t know where this misguided “hack” comes from—shop-bought depilatory creams are usually strong alkalis that break down the keratin in hair, and there’s nothing in this DIY that suggests it would do the same.
We have also seen examples of people using this mixture as a tanning aid, which you also shouldn’t do. The NHS says that “there's no safe or healthy way to get a tan” and advises that you should wear an SPF of at least 30, even in the UK.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the mixture does not do what the post claims.