TikTok isn’t just about silly dances and legendary Ryan Reynolds/Will Ferrell duets. It’s also chock-full of life hacks you never knew you needed. Things like how to put a bag in a trash can and how to fold a fitted sheet, for example.
And now the latest life hack to go viral? How to remove a hickey. With a whisk.
Whisks aren’t just for whisking anymore, apparently.
Gone are the good old days of having to wear a turtleneck or scarf in the middle of a heatwave. Or smothering your love bite in a pound of Cover Girl concealer. Thanks to this hack, our teens may never know the panicked desperation of attempting to hide the glaring evidence of their makeout session exploits.
Because now they can just whisk that hickey away.
This hickey hack has been circulating for a while now but has experienced a resurgence in the past few days.
Originally posted by @mads.larocque, Madisson’s demonstration of the 5-minute hickey whisk technique has been viewed by a whopping 13.5M people.
That’s a whole lot of hickeys, Kenickie.
Madison starts out by explaining that her boyfriend was over and she got a “little” hickey.
“Ladies and gents, let me put you on something, OK? My boyfriend was over. Got a little hickey. Like, you can’t see it now because I’ve been doing this technique, and I need to show it to you. It is the simplest thing.”
She shows her neck, which just appears to have a slightly red mark on it.
She then pans to a “before picture.”
Yup, definitely a hickey.
She says:
“Like no, not pleasant. Don’t want my mom to see it. Don’t want his parents to see it. Uh no.”
I’m pretty sure that by posting it on TikTok with 13.5M views and counting that mom and the boyfriend’s parents have seen it.
Anyways…
Madisson goes on to demonstrate how to use a metal whisk to magically make that strawberry tattoo disappear.
“You want to know what I did? You’re going to take a metal whisk and you’re going to whisk your neck like some freakin’ Sunday morning eggs. Ok? You’re going to whisk it five minutes. That’s all it took!”
Voila!
@mads.larocque Guys I am so happy rn! Lifesaver!! #fyp #foryou #hickeyremoval #remedy
She does a follow-up TikTok two hours post-whisking to further prove the results.
Take a look.
The success of the hickey hack makes sense. According to pediatrician Dr. David Shafran:
A hickey is caused by suction on the skin which causes damage to the walls of small blood vessels.
The vessels then leak into the tissue surrounding them called the “interstitium,” which causes discoloration or bruising.
Dr.Shafran tells Insider that the whisk method works because it breaks up the clotted blood that’s accumulated under the skin for faster reabsorption. Stimulating the area also increases blood flow, which can help speed up the healing process.
And the young ones are here for it (and probably some old ones too).
People took to the comment section in droves, over 37K, to thank her for sharing her whisk-ey wisdom.
And to predict the upcoming kitchen whisk shortage.
And just a few days ago, fellow TikToker, @thesecrethoebag, jumped aboard the hickey whisk train.
She posted her own tutorial which has racked up a whopping 39.7M views and 22K comments.
@thesecrethoebag oops
Although her technique also included a finishing touch: putting green concealer and liquid foundation over it to completely hide it.
Another TikToker, @syydthesciencekiid, also posted her own take on trying out the hack. However, hers was flagged by TikTok and includes a warning from the platform stating:
“The actions in this video could result in serious injury or adverse health effects.”
While TikTok may think it’s “whisky business” and doesn’t recommend it, doctors don’t seem to be too concerned by the trend.
Dr. David Shafran told Insider that the chances of whisking hickeys being harmful is low and any damage to the major blood vessels in the neck would be “exceedingly rare.”
And let’s face it, teens actually heeding a warning by TikTok? Also, exceedingly rare.
So parents, heed this PSA: if your kitchen whisk mysteriously goes missing, it’s probably not because your teens are practicing their culinary skills. Just sayin’