When thrifting, shoppers don’t always have the privilege of trying on clothes before buying them. Sometimes stores may not have fitting rooms, or perhaps the rooms have a long line, and you don’t want to stand around waiting. For others, the concern is cleanliness–when thrifting, it’s probably not a good idea to try on the used clothes before washing them.
To make sure you’re buying the right size, shoppers came up with a “neck trick” you can use when buying clothes. This jeans-sizing hack has been around since before social media, but it recently resurfaced on TikTok and changed the lives of many fashionistas. One TikToker eager to try the hack, however, ended up at Urgent Care days later.
A hack gone wrong
“This video is a warning and an apology,” Influencer Meg DeAngelis (@megsdeangelis) says in her clip. She shares how she participated in this “TikTok trend” and didn’t realize it would backfire so badly. DeAngelis says that about a week ago, she was showering when she noticed bumps on her neck. She thought nothing of it, but it gradually became worse as the days went by. DeAngelis then shares a photo of the rashes on her neck.
Puzzled by the bumps, DeAngelis says she checked her skincare and haircare products and nothing had changed. She figured it was jewelry, but when she checked her photos, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. Then it suddenly clicked. She scrolled back to a TikTok she had posted about the sizing hack.
In it, she takes a pair of jeans and wraps the waistband around her neck to see if it’ll fit around her waist without having to try it on.
“The doctor right away was like, ‘Yeah, that is–yeah,’” DeAngelis says. “I felt so validated because that is literally the only possible thing…that I did.”
She continues that the doctor couldn’t figure out exactly what the rashes were, but gave her some antibiotics and a cream, and it’s mostly gone now.
DeAngelis concludes by saying she will bring down the video because she doesn’t want to promote it to other people who might end up at Urgent Care like her.
What’s the jeans-size neck trick?
As mentioned, TikTokers did not invent the jeans-sizing hack. In 2017, the hack made headlines as a groundbreaking way to try on pants and jeans without actually having to try them on. In a morning segment on TODAY, Dana Avidan Cohn of PopSugar shared the trick as a “fast fix to summer fashion.” Basically, if both ends touch comfortably when wrapping the jeans around your neck, it’ll fit you perfectly. If it overlaps, it’s too big, and if it doesn’t reach, it’ll be too tight.
In 2022, the hack resurfaced on TikTok, and retail shoppers were happy they didn’t have to try on jeans anymore (because everyone knows what a sensory nightmare it is).
@megsdeangelis it’s common sense I fear
♬ original sound – MEGS
Does the jeans-sizing hack actually work?
What people wanted to know was whether the hack actually works. As someone who has used this hack for decades, this writer knows the hack has worked without fail almost every time. For some, however, it doesn’t always work. One woman shared a TikTok of the jeans fitting around her neck, but not around her waist.
“It’s not true for all body types,” she said. “If you’re like me, and you have an apron belly, this little hack is not for us ladies.”
The Mary Sue has reached out to DeAngelis via email for further comment.
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