Woman Thinks She's Been Using 'Moisturizer' for a Year, Realizes Her Mistake

A woman who spent a whole year using what she thought was simply a not-very-good moisturizer was left mortified when she realized she'd been using something very different instead.

Alice James, 32, from Melbourne in Australia, has gone viral online by revealing she had been using body wash as a moisturizer for a year, and only realized her mistake when she saw the product in a friend's shower.

In a video shared to TikTok on May 8, which has been viewed over 1.3 million times, James shared a video replying to her "haters" who "can't believe how I've been able to use my body wash as a moisturizer for the whole year".

Showing off a large bottle of what she now knows to be Dove's body wash, James pumped out some liquid and began rubbing it into her arm. And while it did appear to lather at first, it then soaked into the skin, with James saying: "This is why I just thought it was really bad moisturizer."

James' admission has led to hundreds of people revealing they have made the exact same mistake, as her newest video was in response to a woman who said: "The way I RAN to my bedside table to discover my moisturizer is actually body wash."

"Same thing happened to me til my husband used it, his beard was a bit wet and it started to foam up," another user said, adding that both she and her mother had been using it as moisturizer "for weeks".

Another said: "I've made this mistake too haha I did realize sooner but I still fell for it! Have since found the actual dove moisturizer haha."

Speaking to Newsweek, business owner James said she felt "very silly" when she finally figured out she had been using the wrong product for a year.

"I went and stayed at a friend's house in Adelaide and she had the body wash in the shower, I thought, 'Oh that looks like my moisturizer,'" she said. "Then when I came home and used it the penny dropped because I realized the consistency was lathering up not rubbing in!"

Asked if the body wash worked as a moisturizer, James admitted that it had not.

"I had been complaining to my mum only a week earlier that my skin was dry no matter how much lotion I use," she said, adding: "Makes sense now!"

One good thing to come from James' public admission to using the completely wrong product for a year is that she now feels "vindicated" upon learning that she was not alone.

"I don't think anyone managed to make the mistake as long as me, but the fact there are hundreds of people out there doing the same thing makes me feel not as dumb!"

She added that the word "moisturizer" is in large writing on the bottle, while "body wash" is written in small writing, so it "makes sense everyone else has done it".

Dove is one of the most popular beauty brands in the world, and in 2023 was valued at approximately 6.5 billion dollars.

In 2021, Dove was among the top three health and beauty brands worldwide, "with over two billion consumer reach points," Statista wrote.

James said she hasn't heard anything from Dove despite her videos going so viral for some "free viral publicity," as "everyone obviously loves the products, we are just using it wrong."

She added however: "Their packaging needs an overhaul for people like me who don't read fine print."

Newsweek has contacted Dove for comment.

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