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Amy Schumer just won Throwback Thursday. 

The writer/actor/comedian/STAR shared a pic from her childhood, in which she dances in the best, most classic '80s dress that could ever grace a family photo album. 

Judging from the #roadmanager hashtag, the adorable little creature on the left is a tiny version of Schumer's sister, Kim Caramele. These days, Caramele works as Schumer's road manager, and collaborated with her on projects like "Inside Amy Schumer" and "Trainwreck."

That was them then. This is them now:

 a

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Familiar With Fashion Week


(Photo Courtesy of Marsha-mcgowan.tumblr.com)

What Is Fashion Week?

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Surfing is hard enough for some people, but doing it in high heels? For pro surfer Maud Le Car, it ain't no thing. 

In the video above, Le Car dons a cocktail dress, earrings and a pair of heels before she dives into the ocean with her board. The 23-year-old makes her moves look easy and totally badass at the same time.

The clip may be an ad for mosquito repellant company Para'Kito, one of Le Car's sponsors; their tagline "naturally free" closes the video.    

If you'd like to see more badass women surfing in heels and a dress, check out this awesome video of Russian surfers in Bali in 2013: 

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Beards are not only crazy hot (hey, its science), they're actually good for you. So if someone ever brings up that one study that found feces particles in beards, you can counter with any of the following 8 facts:

1. A beard can protect your face from the sun's damaging rays.

"Men with a lot of skin exposure end up with leathery skin and increase in wrinkles," Dermatologist Bobby Buka, founder of Greenwich Village Dermatology and section chief at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, told The Huffington Post. "There's a condition known as dermatoheliosis -- that is chronic sun damage. The manifestion of that is spots, saggy skin and wrinkled skin." 

As Jonha Revesencio mentioned in her HuffPost blog, "Science Explains Why a Beard Makes You Look Hotter," beards are able to block up to 95 percent of the sun's harmful UV rays. Citing researchers from the University of Southern Queensland, Revesencio explained that a beard can mitigate sun damage and even reduce a man's risk of contracting skin cancer.

 2. A beard can keep you warm in winter.

As the temperature drops, your beard is there to keep you warm.

"Having facial hair of any kind acts as a barrier of protection -- especially in winter months," Buka told HuffPost. "When we're talking about wind and cold weather chapping of the skin, it acts as thermal protection as well as physical protection against the elements."

3. A beard can ward off throat disease. 

Facial hair can help keep airborne bacteria out of your mouth, which assists in protecting your throat. The effectiveness of the beard has been documented as far back as 1875! In the book Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Its Pathology, Nature, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Prognosis, Causes, Hygiene, and Medical Treatment, Dr. Addison P. Dutcher noted:

There cannot be the least doubt that the beard, and the hairs that grow in the nostrils, were designed by nature to guard the lungs from the invasion of these deleterious particles. Such being the use of the beard, individuals engaged in employments where the air is constantly filled with particles of fine dust should never shave. I have come to this conclusion from a careful observation of the effect of wearing the beard and of shaving upon the air passages and lungs. And I could, if space allowed, record many cases of throat and lung-diseases that have been permanently cured by wearing a beard.

Also on HuffPost: Can We Guess Your Facial Hair Situation? 

4. A beard can assist those with asthma.   

Similar to the prevention of throat disease, beards provide another barrier between your body and toxic exposures. "If you have a reactive airway condition like asthma, [a beard provides] an additional filter before [toxins] enter your lungs," Buka told HuffPost. 

5. A beard can reduce the chances of bacterial infection. (Bye bye, acne!)

Beards can add an extra layer of protection from infections. While bacteria naturally exists on the skin, shaving can create openings that bring in the bacteria and lead to infections and ingrown hairs. Not shaving can also reduce acne flare-ups. 

According to the bookThe Acne Cure, by Terry J. Dubrow and Brenda D. Adderly, shaving can bring on acne breakouts, worsen existing acne and contribute to acne-related skin infections, per an article on Livestrong.com quoting the book.

6. Not shaving can clear up your schedule for more important things.

In 1972, Dr. Herbert Mescon, then professor and chairman of the Department of Dermatology at Boston University School of Medicine, told The Spartanburg Herald that the average man will spend an estimated 3,350 hours of his life shaving. That's 139 days! Nearly five months! Growing a beard can save you so. much. time.

7. Most men feel more attractive with a beard.

German consumer-goods company Braun asked 1,000 New York men this past year about their grooming practices. 67 percent of the men surveyed said they sport facial hair -- a beard or a mustache -- and over half said they feel more attractive with a beard. 55 percent said they have received compliments about their facial hair, while 41 percent said a beard makes them feel more confident.

8. A beard can improve your sex life.

Consider this your classic case of the chicken and the egg.

An anonymous 1970s study, quoted in the bookThe Dependent Gene, found a correlation between beard growth and the potential for sex. "The stimulus for increased beard growth is related to the resumption of sexual activity," the author of the experiment found, after spending extensive periods in isolation. When the likelihood of a sexual encounter increases so does testosterone secretion, which may impact beard growth, the book analyzes.

So, more sex, more beard? Or more beard, more sex?! Well, both.

According to a 2008 study carried out by psychologists at Northumbria University, "women ... rated men with stubble as tough, mature, aggressive, dominant and masculine -- and as the best romantic partners, either for a fling or a long-term relationships," per the Telegraph.

Further quoting from the researchers in the Journal of Personality and Individual Differences, the Telegraph notes: "Facial hair, or beardedness, is a powerful sociosexual signal, and an obvious biological marker of sexual maturity."

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If you’ve been looking for the perfect back-to-school or fall-themed manicure to add a little fun to your fingertips, this one is an easy-to-follow but adorable design for anyone.

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It's not every day that we meet a 3-year-old who is a dead wringer for Harry Styles. So when we do, we feel the need to tell the world. 

So meet Michael, a Russia-based toddler who has an Instagram account that shows off his incredible style and his uncanny resemblance to a certain British pop star. The feed, run by his mother, features the tot in skinny jeans, wide-brimmed hats and even man buns. Man buns!!! 

We have a feeling that in a few years, this kid is going to be a serious heartbreaker. But until then, enjoy a few of our favorite snaps of the tyke below. 

Do you have a stylish kid with an Instagram account? Tell us about him/her at style@huffingtonpost.com for a chance to be featured. 

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This week, two celebrities were on fire in the style department: Elle Fanning and Diane Kruger. 

These ladies are quite possibly the most fashionable women in Hollywood, so it comes as no surprise that they hit it out of the park with their outfits. 

Fanning teaches us how to wear flared denim and roomy black jumpsuits, while Kruger proves that all heroes do in fact wear capes. 

Check out the best-dressed stars from the past couple of days and let us know which look is your favorite. 

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The Limited made its customers' dreams of dressing like Olivia Pope come true with its  'Scandal' collection. Now, the mass retailer is making waves for doing something a little bit more ... realistic.  

The brand called upon 60 diverse female leaders in business, education, government, healthcare, technology and entertainment to star in its "The New Look Of Leadership" campaign.

In an effort to redefine what it means to be a leader today, Diane Ellis, chief executive officer of The Limited, said the idea sparked from conversations with clients. "We discovered there are so many great female leaders among them. We wanted to recognize these outstanding women and launch a movement to inspire others to lean in their own communities," she said in a release.

 Gabrielle Bernstein, a New York Times best-selling author and one of the 60 powerful women included in the spread, explained to The Huffington Post why being included was so meaningful to her. "I am deeply passionate about inspiring women to own their leadership power and rise up. I'm grateful that The Limited is bringing the empowering message of women and leadership to the forefront. Fashion and leadership go hand-in-hand when it comes to making an impact, leading with confidence and owning your power," she said. 

Along with the campaign, The Limited will release two new collections aimed at professional women. The Luxe Collection, which will include sophisticated office wear and accessories, will be available in select stores and online starting Sept 23. The more relaxed Lounge Collection is set to launch in stores and online September 9. 

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Joan Rivers left this world one year ago today, but it still feels like we'll see her next resurgence any day now. Surely she's about to make another return to "The Tonight Show," where she'll unleash barbs about Donald Trump's campaign and North West's soon-to-be baby brother. Obviously Stephen Colbert will invite her onto "The Late Show" in lieu of her frequent quips with David Letterman. It's about time for new episodes of "In Bed with Joan" and another tour, right? And, of course, any day now I'll glimpse her fur coat prancing through the halls of HuffPost Live, where she was a regular guest.  

For anyone else who pretended Rivers would spring back to life after last August's botched throat surgery, her absence is just now setting in. As much as I'd like to think she's on an extended vacation, anyone familiar with Rivers' career knows that she takes no breaks. (After all, she was still winning Grammys after her death.) But things are happening in the world that demand commentary from the first female comic to headline Carnegie Hall. This is the first presidential election she won't commentate in who knows how long. Instead of lambasting the Emmy red carpet's fashion choices in a few weeks, she'll presumably be part of the show's In Memoriam segment. And who will tell us what to think when Oscar season boots up and there are umpteen award-show faux pas to parse through? 

When beloved actors or musicians die unexpectedly, we find a shred of consolation in whatever fresh material will be released posthumously. Many argued that Paul Walker's death, for example, is part of what made "Furious 7" the most lucrative installment in that behemoth franchise. Twenty-one years after Kurt Cobain's suicide, fans still eat up any of his lost music that surfaces. But the ever-transparent Rivers, whose insightful 2010 documentary showcases the elaborate filing system she used to catalog every joke she wrote, isn't someone who'd keep a secret comedy album buried within her Marie Antoinette-inspired Manhattan penthouse. There is nothing to keep Rivers alive but the remains of her cultural impact. That leaves the rest of us to endure 17 Republican nominees sparring about anchor babies without the respite of Rivers' quick-witted scorn. 

What's suffered the most without Rivers is undoubtably "Fashion Police," the E! snark-fest that Rivers was the face of since its launch in 2010. The show underwent a brief hiatus until Kathy Griffin -- long considered Rivers' comedic heir thanks to her likeminded infatuation with celebrity culture -- took over hosting duties. The show saw one implosion after the next: Griffin, who reportedly angled for the job while Rivers was on her death bed, lasted a mere seven episodes before calling it quits. Kelly Osbourne, one of the program's original moderators, dropped out shortly thereafter. Rumors of feuds swirled. "This never would have happened if my mother was alive," Melissa Rivers, the show's executive producer and new co-host, said in June.

This is all a distended way of saying that life is no fun without Joan Rivers' biting, business-savvy persona around to hand us things to argue about. For better or worse, I wonder whether she'd land in hot water over Caitlyn Jenner zingers, having called Michelle Obama a "tranny" last year. Would she ease up on her pal Trump, having won "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2009, or would she go all in on, say, his recent interview with Sarah Palin, whom she called "stupid" in 2011? And oh, the things she could have said about Miley Cyrus' wardrobe at Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards. ("Every time this girl twerks in public, an angel gets knocked up," Rivers scoffed after the singer's VMA performance with Robin Thicke.)

I read a great deal about Rivers in the wake of her death, but one sentence that Phillip Maciak wrote for Slate struck me in particular: "The central irony of Rivers’ face, as it’s evolved over the years, is that the more artificial and mask-like her appearance became, the fewer and fewer shits she seemed to give about what anybody thought of her." She lived to the ripe age of 81, but she deserved another decade to bathe in the heyday she hadn't experienced since before Johnny Carson blacklisted her in 1986. She deserved to let her already sparse boundaries lend her even more brashness and more relevance. In a way, Amy Schumer is carrying some of Rivers' torch. Either way, it won't burn out. She is our dearly departed guardian angel of truth.

"That's what's so wonderful about life -- you must always have something else you want to do," Rivers said on HuffPost Live in 2013. Her list included a return to Broadway, her own late-night show (again) and getting laid. Whether those things were feasible doesn't matter. Rivers was always one of our most aspirational celebrities, constantly seeking a new trail to blaze. If only we could see what the next one had looked like. 

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"Fashion is a very strong means of expression, and it can inspire others to act. You become your own promotional tool for your beliefs and the way you want to change the world."  

That's what Celine Semaan Vernon, designer and founder of Slow Factory, told The Huffington Post when explaining her newest collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund. And we couldn't agree more. 

Slow Factory, a mission-driven design studio, created a limited-edition collection of eco-friendly silk scarves called "Petit Atlas," ranging from pocket squares ($55) to large sarong-like scarves ($200). Each one is emblazoned with eye-catching NASA satellite and telescope images, and 10 percent of every sale will go directly to WWF to help their efforts to preserve our oceans, forests, fresh water, and the Arctic. In addition, Vernon pledged to donate at least $15,000 by the end of the year, no matter how many scarves are sold. 

"The whole project took less then a month, which is amazing for a large organization like the World Wildlife to move so fast," Vernon said. The majority of the time was actually spent curating the collection of scarves and editing NASA's stunning satellite images down to the four that were used. 

The images that made the cut are of Coppename Point, an island in Suriname; Costa Rica's Turrialba Volcano; Ellesmere Island in Canada; and phytoplankton bloom, a population swell of aquatic microorganisms that can be visible from space. 

Vernon believes that society is too connected with technology and not enough with the planet. And her hope for the collaboration is simple.  

"I want people to feel a little bit closer to the earth," she said. "By wrapping themselves with pieces of the earth, I really think that it creates something in our minds that make us feel engaged, connected and present."

Here's a look at the Slow Factory x WWF collaboration, on sale now, modeled by two of our favorite style stars: twin sisters Cipriana Quann and TK Quann.   

Celine Semaan Vernon, Designer & Founder of Slow Factory 

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In August, The New York Times published a piece called "Beyoncé Is Seen But Not Heard." The singer had raised eyebrows with her September Vogue cover -- for the first time in at least the past five years, a Vogue cover girl had not submitted to an interview along with her photo shoot. The cover story, then, contained no fresh or revelatory details about its subject's life or career. It was simply an eloquent think piece by Pulitzer Prize winner Margo Jefferson.

"At some imperceptible point around 2013 to 2014," the Times' Matthew Schneier complained, "she appears to have stopped giving face-to-face interviews." 

But why should Beyoncé change? Her silence may frustrate journalists hungry for a juicy quote, sure. But at 34 -- after 18 years in the biz -- Beyonce has reached a level of pop stardom akin to Prince, one of her musical idols and another notorious interview-dodger. Yet it's hard to recall journalists accusing Prince (or many other male celebrities) of avoiding interviews for fear of appearing "daffy," as Schneier did Beyoncé.

Beyoncé is well known for her obsessive control of her product, which is, of course, herself. A 2011 Dazed And Confused profile dubbed the singer "a self-confessed 'control freak.'" Her creative director told OUT magazine last year that Beyoncé is "completely relentless in her pursuit of perfectionism." 

Perhaps the strangest outcome of her involvement in what's come to be known as Beyoncé, Inc. is what the singer calls her "crazy archive." Touring her Manhattan office for a 2013 GQ profile, Amy Wallace got a peek at a room that serves as "a temperature-controlled digital-storage facility that contains virtually every existing photograph of [Beyoncé], starting with the very first frames taken of Destiny’s Child, the ’90s girl group she once fronted; every interview she’s ever done; every video of every show she’s ever performed; every diary entry she’s ever recorded while looking into the unblinking eye of her laptop."

Since 2005, Wallace wrote, the singer has also been recording her every (or nearly every) waking moment. (An earlier Vogue piece notes the camera propped in Beyoncé's dressing room after a rehearsal.) Those video files are also stored in the crazy archive.  

"Anything that you see posted to the public has gone through her approval. Every single item," Beyoncé's digital strategist, Lauren Wirtzer-Seawood, told Musically. Beyoncé will let fans into her world -- but only through carefully edited writing or videos. (The Beyoncé documentary "Life Is But A Dream" was produced and directed by the singer, and her 2013 album's surprise release was hailed as a masterful feat of PR engineering.)

Her team maintains a website, updated with tour dates, press coverage and the like, and a Facebook page updates similarly. She doesn't use Twitter -- the last of her eight tweets appeared on August 19, 2013. The closest she comes to being another one of her generation's prolific sharers -- a la Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj or the Kardashians -- is a curated Instagram feed, highlighting snapshots of her glamorous life.

All of that can and seemingly does irritate journalists.

Jason Gay wrote in his 2013 profile of the singer that "an audience with Beyoncé can be as challenging to schedule as a tennis match with the pope." OUT only scored an email interview. Former Vogue U.K. features editor Jo Ellison told The Huffington Post in an email that she spent a year pursuing a Beyoncé cover shoot and profile. Another New York Times writer, Courtney Rubin, struggled to secure a comment from the singer for a piece on 22 Days Nutrition, the vegan food company she runs with husband Jay Z. Having been "promised for more than a month" a phone interview, Rubin was miffed when she had to settle for an email response. 

But Beyoncé has little obligation to the media anymore; her self-image control has been well-earned. It's a mark of her power and the celebrity status she's achieved by being one of the hardest-working people in music. She enjoys photo shoots, so she agrees to photo shoots. She enjoys the freedom to edit her direct responses to questions, so she does that, too. 

It's natural to want a peaceful, private life, even if you've chosen to live yours in a global spotlight. That's how people are. Why wouldn't Beyoncé want to buy her own semblance of privacy -- by controlling her voice, her photos, interviews and diary entries -- especially when that is increasingly valuable?

And, as former tennis star Andy Roddick recently did for Serena Williams, we need to wonder whether we would treat Beyoncé differently if her name wasn't Beyoncé, but Prince. Or George Clooney. Or Jay Z. 

Maybe it is difficult to imagine that famous people should be able to control their image, should they also be willing to put in the effort. In the end, no one can explain that better than Beyoncé.

"I worked so hard during my childhood to meet this goal," she told Wallace. "By the time I was 30 years old, I could do what I want."

Happy birthday, Bey.  

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Leon Gorman, a grandson of L.L. Bean who led a modernization and expansion of the outdoors retailer after the founder's death, died Thursday. He was 80.

Gorman, who died in his Yarmouth, Massachusetts, home surrounded by family after battling cancer, led the Maine-based company as CEO or chairman for 46 years before retiring as chairman of the board in 2013. He retained the title of chairman emeritus.

He transformed L.L. Bean from a catalog company with a single retail store and 100 employees into a multichannel retailer with more than 5,000 employees and sales topping $1.5 billion.

All the while, he stayed true to Bean's sense of value and customer service and gave back to the state as a community volunteer and philanthropist.

"He was a boss, mentor, coach, community leader, dear friend and inspiration. Most importantly, he was the most decent human being you would ever want to meet. We will miss him greatly," said Chris McCormick, the company's current president and CEO.

Leon Gorman sits outside one of the company's stores in Freeport, Maine, in May 1999. He was the grandson of the company's founder, Leon Leonwood Bean.

Gorman, an outdoorsman like his grandfather, was a key figure in the state's conservation movement, helping preserve the Appalachian Trail's 100-mile wilderness, a 4,000-acre addition to Baxter State Park and 185,000 acres along the St. John River. Last year, he donated Lanes Island, an old L.L. Bean hunting preserve in Casco Bay, to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust.

He wasn't afraid to roll up his sleeves when it came to volunteering. He quietly served for 12 years as a volunteer at a soup kitchen in Portland, making scrambled eggs and French toast for the homeless every Wednesday morning.

"Values are fine but it's what you do with them that counts, to borrow from Robert Frost," Gorman wrote in his book, "L.L. Bean: The Making of an American Icon."

Founded in 1912, L.L. Bean got off to an inauspicious start after Leon Leonwood Bean obtained the state's list of out-of-staters with hunting licenses and sent mailings touting his rubber-soled hunting boot.

Ninety of the first 100 pairs sold were returned after the leather separated from the rubber. L.L. won loyalty and goodwill when he returned the customers' money, a satisfaction guarantee that endured.

Bean opened his store five years later in Freeport.

Gorman outside the L.L. Bean store in Freeport in 2006, shortly after publishing a memoir about his L.L. Bean experience. 

Gorman, born in Nashua, New Hampshire, and raised in Yarmouth, was reserved and soft-spoken compared to his famous grandfather, and he had the difficult task of keeping the company on an even footing after Bean's death in 1967.

Gorman said there were concerns at the time about the company's survival, but the retailer's annual sales, then $5 million, grew under his leadership. Gorman, a Navy veteran, is credited with modernizing the company, formalizing its "customer first" policies, creating the first computerized customer database, expanding stores outside of Maine and pushing into online retailing.

Twenty-five years ago, Gorman said he hoped the company would be remembered for, among other things, its "values and integrity," for fulfilling responsibilities to stakeholders and for treating customers and employees as "human beings."

"In the end, that may be Leon's greatest legacy, that he treats everyone, in business and in life, as a human being. The power and importance of that belief — of doing well by doing good — has proved its value over and over again," former Gov. John McKernan, the husband of former U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, said when Gorman was honored in 2010 by his alma mater, Bowdoin College, with its highest honor.

For more on L.L. Bean and its 24-hour flagship store, check out the video below. 

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Of all the colors in the rainbow, I can’t think of one that holds more captivating baby name possibilities than the royal color purple. From the soft Lavender and Lilac to the vivid Violet and Plum, many baby names show a real passion for the various shades of purple. 

Violet

By far the most popular of the purple names, the sweet and lovely Violet is now in the Top 75 on the U.S. Social Security list -- rising from a low of 996 in 1981 -- and Number 7 on Nameberry! Some credit must go to Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck for choosing the name in 2005. It’s a favorite of kidlit authors and other celebrity parents.

Mauve

The gentle, sentimentally nostalgic Mauve, similar in sound to the growing-in-popularity Maude and Maeve, gave its name to a whole decade: the 1890’s was known as the Mauve Decade. Its Spanish translation is Malva -- offering another purple family possibility.

Magenta

The strong purplish-red Magenta was seen in Harry Potter as Magenta Comstock, an experimental artist whose portraits’ eyes could follow a viewer all the way home and who was ‘Wizard of the Month’ in 2007. The color was named for the town of Magenta, Italy, and would fit in well with other Mag-starting names.

Lilac

The fabulously fragrant Lilac could be in line to be come the next Lila or Lily or Violet. Actor Stephen Moyer has already chosen it for his daughter. The floral lilac has ties to Greek mythology, is considered a harbinger of spring, and in the language of flowers symbolizes first love.

Fuchsia

With its tricky spelling, Fuchsia has not found many takers as a baby name, though singer Sting did use it for his now grown daughter -- who currently goes by Kate -- inspired by a character in the Gormenghast trilogy. The name Fuchsia is derived from a plant named for early German botanist Leonhart Fuchs, becoming an official color name in 1892.

Amethyst

Gem names like Pearl and Ruby are beginning to be joined by more exotic ones like Topaz, Sapphire and Amethyst. The purple birthstone for February could make a unique choice for a girl born in that month. Never in the Top 1000, it is now Number 798 on Nameberry. Trivia tidbit: It’s the real first name of Australian rapper Iggy Azalea.

Lavender

A lacy vintage name that has the Nameberry stamp of approval, it’s now at Number 527 on on the site.  This is one of the many nostalgic names we can thank J. K. Rowling for reviving, via the Harry Potter witch Lavender Brown. Lavender is also a best friend to Roald Dahl’s Matilda and a character in Anne of Green Gables.

Indigo

The appealing and evocative Indigo, which is a deep blue-purple dye from plants native to India, is a particularly striking choice for both boys and girls. Lou Diamond Phillips used it for his daughter. It’s especially popular for girls in England at the moment, where it ranks at Number 577.

Orchid

One of the most exotic of blooms, Orchid is a shade of purple, even though the flower itself appears in different colors. With many parents seeking O names, some might consider this striking choice. In the Language of Flowers, the Orchid symbolizes love, beauty, refinement, thoughtfulness, mature charm and having many children.

Plum

Pretty plum is showing up more and more frequently as a middle name choice.  It was first noticed on Brit-born novelist Plum Sykes, who was born Victoria and given that nickname via the variety of fruit called the Victoria Plum.  Also the nickname of novelist P. G. Wodehouse, it wasn’t identified as a color name until 1805.

Iolanthe

The romantic Iolanthe is derived from the Greek words for violet flower, as is Ianthe, which was used by the poet Shelley for one of his daughters. Iolanthe is a comic opera by Gilbert & Sullivan and also a character in the X-Men universe. The Spanish version Yolanda is yet another dramatic twist on Violet.

Aubergine

No, we neither expect nor advise you to name your child Eggplant, but the French version of the word does have a nice ring to it, a la the food-related Amandine and Clementine.  But since it’s used as the vegetable word in England as well as France, we don’t recommend it for use in those countries.

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Pinterest is a great resource for homemade beauty recipes, but we sometimes stumble across pins boasting "miracle" natural remedies that don't actually pan out. Like the one that suggests using lemon juice to get rid of dark underarms. 

Despite seemingly convincing before and after photos of underarms lightened by rubbing lemon or lime juice directly onto dark armpits, two board-certified dermatologist told The Huffington Post they caution against trying it -- it can actually makes things worse. But fortunately, there are working solutions to uneven underarm skin tone and discoloration.

According to dermatologic surgeon and RealSelf.com advisor Jennifer Reichel, underarms tend to darken with age as a result of inflammation in the area (usually irritation from rubbing or from topical treatments), or because of genetics. New York City-based dermatologist Michele Green adds that dark armpits often stem from hormonal problems, diabetes or as a result of an allergic reaction to deodorants.

"Certainly you will be more prone to having darker pigmentation if you are of a darker skin type," says Reichel. "A medical condition associated with darkened/thickened skin in the [armpit] is Acanthosis Nigricans. This disorder is associated with insulin resistance most often and can be seen in all skin types ... Other rare skin disorders such as reticulate pigmented flexural anomaly can be seen."

When it comes to lightening up dark underarms, Green believes homemade methods that call for cleansing with honey are fine. Lemon juice, however, is not, as it may cause phytophotodermatitis, a skin condition that occurs when an individual develops a painful or unsightly burn in the sun from the acids found in fruits. It can hyperpigment the skin. 

Instead, both dermatologists recommend exfoliating underarms with a gentle cleanser and wash cloth. Just be sure not to apply too much pressure or rubbing as it may exacerbate the situation. Hydrating oils and moisturizing deodorants will help to maintain smooth and healthy armpits. But if discoloration persists and you need something stronger, Reichel says to consult your doctor for prescription strength skin brighteners like Retin-A to lighten up dark underarms.  

Know of any other beauty myths that we should check out? Send 'em over to beautytips@huffingtonpost.com.

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