Often times, when we come across an advertisement for a product, we immediately become skeptical and scoff at all of the claims that are made for that product. However, once in a blue moon, we come across a 'miracle' item that actually lives up to its promises. An even rarer occurrence is an item that goes above and beyond everyone's expectations—so much so that it might even cause new problems to surface. Consumers from all over the world took to the internet to share what products they think work a little too well. From magic erasers to over-the-counter medications, you can count on these products to do exactly what they promise... and more.
Don't forget to check the comment section below the article for more interesting stories!
#1 A Little Too Clean
Mr. Clean magic erasers. This was the very first product that came to mind. It will take the paint off walls, the finish off tables, the coatings off metals... So great for so many things, except be wary of the surface types. My cousin discovered that scrubbing his car down with one made it shinier than anything else he's tried. Unfortunately, he didn't realize they're actually fine sandpaper. He now has huge spots in his car with no paint on them.
#2 The Wikipedia Wormhole
Wikipedia. Want to look up what an IPA is? I ended up learning about 7 different kinds of hops, the entire brewing process, the history of sterilization, the British colonization of India, Gandhi, Ben Kingsley, Schindler's List, Germany, the Japanese Empire, human experimentation, ninjas, martial arts, Bruce Lee, and Enter the Dragon. I learned more from Wikipedia in one sitting than I did at school. Yet, my teacher keeps saying, "You can't use Wikipedia for your research. It's an unreliable source!"
#3 That's Hot
I have a really nice David's Tea thermos. There's an infuser in the cap and everything. It has a nice color and it's insulated, so the tea doesn't burn your hands. Everything you'd want in a portable tea container. Only one problem. If you put hot tea in it, it stays too hot for about four hours (with the lid open, longer if it's closed). There were times when I made tea at noon and started drinking it at 9 p.m.
#4 Addicted To The Drip
Morphine. I had surgery a long time ago and was on one of those automated machines that lets you self-administer a dose every 30 minutes. It was amazing. It was only a medical dose of course but that first shot I got in the recovery ward was like having liquid heaven injected. I was on it for three days, then I was on Kapake Morphine tablets after that for two days.
The comedown, however, was horrendous. I now feel sympathy for people in rehab. My body hurt all over, and I was pleading for more from the doctors, saying that the surgery scar was still causing me pain. They had obviously heard it all before and just gave me paracetamol/codeine.
#5 The Dark Side
My Norton antivirus. It worked so well that I cannot install anything anymore. Man, lucky me—I could've gotten malware from that. My brother was recently employed by Symantec. He's an electrical engineer who used to rant for ages about how much he hated Norton. I keep telling him he's gone and joined the dark side.
#6 Epitome Of Laziness
Netflix. So much TV, so little life. I don't why, but I find Netflix to be the epitome of laziness. It encourages people to just waste their lives away, staring at a show they're only mildly interested in and will forget about in two months. Oh, but I'm a complete hypocrite—I have lost hours upon hours on YouTube and Reddit. I have seen nearly every single trending video there is.
#7 Shoes For Life
Crocs. They have trouble making money because they last for-freaking-ever. I have a friend who just graduated high school and he still has the same pair he's had since the 5th grade. There are zero treads on them but they still fit. I had the same thing happen to me, just not for as long. Those things literally grow with your feet.
#8 Approved By NASA
If what I heard is true, the original Pyrex glassware. They had to start selling similar products to NASA because their dishes never broke so nobody was buying replacements. This was specifically the original formula for Pyrex glass, which the same source mentioned as being discovered by accident. The original type was much stronger than is currently made and hasn't been widely made (in the U.S. at least) in decades.
If you shattered yours, it was probably either newer or had a defect. NASA also was not the only customer they had, but rather the high profile name that was put in with the blurb that I think came out of a high school textbook. People would get much more interested in a product also used in space than one also used in chemistry labs.
#9 For Those Big Messes
Dawn dish soap. This stuff is incredible and lasts forever. You can use a drop to clean a dish that's been caked on for days. My bottle has lasted two years so far. I don't know how they make any money. Dawn is owned by P&G, and P&G is located where I am from. Years ago, a big tanker full of oil spilled on the expressway and there were no industrial strength degreasers that would seem to work on it. The state called P&G and asked for anything stronger. I kid you not, they sent out a truck full of Dawn and it cleaned right up. A few months later the same thing happened with a truck carrying pizza dough, which started to rise on the road. 25 gallons of Dawn later it was cleaned up. I've been using Dawn ever since.
#10 The Nokia Of Calculators
The TI-83 How long have they been selling that same exact product? I've had mine for like, eight years now. My cousin got it from a friend and then passed it to me, and then, per a Facebook request, I dug it out and it went to my dad's best friend's daughter. Still works perfectly fine. Honestly, NOTHING has gone wrong with it. Except for my horrible friends ripping off the little gummy pieces.
#11 The Best Cookware
A cast-iron pan. Take care of it and it will last several lifetimes. My girlfriend is obsessed with cast iron. She goes to three or four swap meets a week, looking for 'new' stuff. She built an "e-tank" that uses a car battery charger to strip carbon and filth off of old pans. No exaggeration, she has 100+ pieces of cast iron cookware at any given moment.
#12 Creepy Faces
Facebook facial recognition. When you upload a picture and it already knows who your friends in the photo are, it creeps me out a little. Some time ago, I had a throwaway Facebook account where I would add all the foreign friends I had acquired throughout video games and chat sites. Facebook recognized my face as soon as I uploaded the FIRST picture with my face in it and immediately banned the account.
#13 All The Music You Need
Spotify. I have found bands with less than 1,000 plays on their most popular song, yet Spotify still has them. I have a pretty weird music taste, and Spotify has never once disappointed. My only issue with Spotify so far since getting a premium subscription in January is that some songs get randomly removed, like movies on Netflix. I'm sure it's a licensing issue, but it sure sucks.
#14 Cut, Cut, Cut
An angle grinder with a cut off wheel. These things are so versatile and amazing. My mother-in-law works for a tool manufacturer and got me one as a gift. It is hard to resist cutting things with it. I use to own a bed frame, weight bench, and a cast-iron kettlebell. I now own scraps and a new understanding of why I don't allow myself personal power.
#15 So Shiny
We use Barkeeper's friend at my work to clean the pipes. It makes them look brand new, but I'm pretty sure it's slowly eating away the pipe itself. I use it on my steel sink and while it makes it look lovely, when I wipe out the excess water at the end, the paper towel has a gray color to it. I'm sure I'm wearing down the steel. But it is so shiny!!!
#16 Cool Down
Zojirushi thermoses. I love mine, don't get me wrong, but I need to cool my beverages to 140° F before putting them in or an hour or two later I'll burn myself by drinking them. Twelve hours plus later they're still noticeably warm. Zojirushi rice cookers, on the other hand, are perfect. I love my neuro-fuzzy.
#17 An Extreme Muscle Relaxant
Extra strength Pamprin. I took it one day for cramps and I couldn't lift my head. All of my muscles just went limp. It was ridiculous. Another time, I popped one for a headache. I ended up falling asleep standing up. That stuff really doesn't mess around. How do women take this and function? I prefer red vino and peanut M&Ms.
#18 Too Smooth
WD40. The door to my bathroom was squeaky so I sprayed a bit on the hinges to make it swing a bit smoother. Now it's too darn smooth and if I even lightly push the door while I rush to the bathroom it slams like I'm super angry every time I go do my business. Then I realized WD40 is not really a lubricant. It has lubricating properties but is primarily a solvent meant to unstick, remove gunk, and displace moisture. It can even lead to corrosion if not cleaned and followed up with further proper lubrication.
#19 The Ultimate Stain Remover
Bleach. You always have to water it down to use it for anything. There once was a weird stain on our linoleum floor in the kitchen and no matter how hard I scrubbed, it wouldn't go away. I poured some bleach on it and let it sit for five minutes. That spot is now so clean that the rest of the clean floor looks dirty compared to that spot.
#20 A Two-Sided Sword
Catnip. On one hand, your cat gets entertainment and is pretty funny, on the other hand, you have to deal with a lunatic who suddenly believes specks of dust are worthy of an epic battle to the end.
#21 No Side Effects
Vicodin. I've taken Vicodin a few times for severe back pain and I never felt any side effects at all. However, it WORKS really well. As in it knocks out the pain really well. I wonder: do people get addicted to it because of a side effect feeling, or do they just get dependent on it giving relief from chronic pain?
#22 The Dangers Of Nair
Nair. One of the most interesting cases I've had as a nurse was a patient who decided to put Nair all around his bum and then promptly fell asleep. He had these insane burns that turned into tunneling wounds. He had no family or close friends, so he had his neighbor come to help him pack the wounds for two weeks while he was at home. His neighbor came to his room so we could teach him how to properly pack the wounds. The look on this guy's face... I don't think he was told exactly what kinds of wounds he'd have to help with.
#23 Avoid The Burn
Listerine mouth wash. If you keep it in your mouth for much longer than the recommended time, you'll give yourself a chemical burn. No joke. It's 27% ethanol. If you do a breathalyzer within five minutes, it thinks you're about to pass away from a condition related to drinking too much booze all in a short time. My dentist asked me to dilute it before use. About 1:1 proportion Listerine to Water. Avoids the burn.
#24 It's Dry In Here
My mom and I put a dehumidifier in our bathroom. After about a week, we noted that it was still filling up, even though the bathroom was dry. We later discovered that it was dehumidifying the toilet. We'd have to empty it about twice a day, even though it was an Iowa summer, which can get really, really dry. It was a pretty big tank too. It was filling up way too fast to be natural humidity.
#25 Creepy Connections
Facebook's "People you may know" feature. It's creepily accurate at finding even the most obscure acquaintances. I had crashed a party with a friend of mine last summer. Neither of us knew anyone there, but no one cared. I hit it off with a girl and had a one night stand. All I knew about her before I left the party was her name. A few days later, I was using that feature on Facebook and she was the first person to pop up. Metadata is freaking creepy.
#26 An Unlikely Cure
Bidets. They're amazing, I just installed a luxe bidet and it was life-changing. My hemorrhoids which I had for the past six years went away after a month of using the bidet. I travel a lot for work and I miss my bidet more than I miss my bed. I'm so glad my wife had me look into them—there are cheap and easy ones on Amazon that attach right to your toilet.
#27 Nokia Longevity
The Nokia 3390. I used my 3390 a few weeks ago—I needed an unlocked phone to put a roaming SIM into. I opened my desk drawer and found the old 3390 in there. It charged and worked perfectly. It even still lasted two solid days on its original 2001-ish battery. I also dropped mine off a second-story balcony. Pieces flew everywhere, but I put it back together and it still worked.
#28 Scentless Febreeze
Febreeze. When it was first put on the market as an odor remover, people weren't happy with it because it would remove odors but it was scentless itself, so their stuff no longer smelled like garbage but they still wanted a fragrance. People wanted a "clean" smell. So later versions of Febreeze had scents like "lavender" and it became hugely popular, and now you can no longer find scentless Febreeze, which sucks.
#29 Honey.
Honey. For real. Honey is almost magical in its properties. It doesn't spoil and won't grow bacteria. I had a veinous leg wound that would not heal and the wound care specialist suggested medical-grade honey. I laughed because it sounded like something a freaking Pharaoh would be prescribed. But after months of no improvement, my wound was completely healed. Also, it's super good on biscuits. Honey.
#30 I Feel Good
Percocets. My mom had some intense oral surgery once and they told her to take her percocets. Well, as soon as it kicked in, she felt better than she ever had in her life. With her cheeks the size of freaking grapefruits, she went outside and watered the garden by hand for like four hours straight. She didn't get out of bed at all the next day and I could hear her moaning from the muscle ache.
#31 The Perfect Model
The Technics 1210 Turntable. You can find a pair in pretty much every night club over the world, but yet, the company has gone bankrupt. Why? It was simply built too well. Nobody bought new ones, simply because the players were indestructible. A lot of Technics from the '80s are still spinning in clubs these days and there is a huge aftermarket with cheap spare parts.
#32 Energy Boost
Provigil. It's a prescription pill you take that just takes any form of sleepiness away. I had a night shift job and suffer from sleep apnea, so I easily qualified for it. It worked like magic; in fact, I felt like I had never experienced what awakeness felt like until using this. I've tried 5-Hour Energy (extra strength) as well as energy drinks and other things that can even be dangerous, but this pill was way more effective, with no downsides (none that I could tell), no crash afterward, and no addictive properties. I don't use it anymore though.
#33 A Note For Anti-Vaxxers
Vaccines. They work so well that people are now so disconnected from the real dangers of the world. They think that having a vaccine is more dangerous than the diseases themselves, which have plagued humans for our entire history.
#34 Tylenol
Tylenol. While it has a reputation for safety because it won't mess up your stomach, it takes only small overdoses to destroy your liver and end you. It is put in everything so you can easily take double or triple the recommended amount if you take more than one medication. Doubling up on ibuprofen isn't the best idea since long term use can mess up your stomach, but we are talking weeks of taking higher doses. Doubling up on Tylenol can end you.
#35 Boredom Slayer
Smartphones. They start by providing little doses of dopamine and can "end" boredom by making everything accessible from your fingertips. Until your face is always looking at a screen and your phone is basically an extension of your arm. And you're bored all the freaking time because your brain wants more dopamine. Because your phone has conditioned you to expect it all the dang time. I am much happier when I leave my phone in another room and focus on one thing at a time in my actual, physical life.
#36 A Pleasurable Feeling
Cotton swabs for cleaning your ears. They'll remove your wax and feel good while doing it, and you'll keep going until you realize you've pierced your eardrum and are scrambling inside your brain. Still, it feels kind of good.
#37 Showroom Ready
Floor wax. I waxed my kitchen floor—it was all shiny and left my kitchen looking like a showroom. The floor was so shiny, it was like a mirror. Later on, I walked barefoot into the kitchen for dinner. I slipped backward and nearly cracked my head open. Secondly, when my two-year-old walked in there, he also slipped... Whilst wearing shoes. The plate he was holding smashed to pieces, and there was blood everywhere. Don't buy floor wax!
#38 Solution Gone Overboard
Immodium AD. On two occasions in my life, I had a serious case of the rumble tummies. I mean, horrible attack of diarrhea. Tired of running to the bathroom seemingly every hour, I took some Immodium AD. I couldn't go for three days. When I could finally go, it was the hardest, most painful experience ever. So yeah, it works a little too well.
#39 Knock You Out
Xanax. It's the only thing that does anything to my anxiety, but then it knocks me the heck out. And then your body gets used to it, and if you take it regularly and then stop, your body forgets how to quell anxiety and you go through horrible anxious withdrawal. I'd rather just have my normal anxiety, so I never touch the stuff anymore.
#40 A Bigger Mistake
When I was 15, a girl wrote her number on my arm in Sharpie. A few days later, the mark was still on my arm after showering and I figured it was time for it to come off. My mom had just cleaned the shower with a Mr. Clean magic eraser and it was just sitting there. I knew that magic eraser got rid of everything, so I picked it up and scrubbed the heck out of my arm for about a minute. Low and behold, the magic marker was magically erased! The next day, I woke up with severe burns on my arm. I went to school and had to go to the nurse to relieve the burn. My mom was not happy when she got a call saying that she had to be reported to the authorities.
#41 Super Chillax
Celexa. I got prescribed it several years back for anxiety during a big change in careers and it chillaxed me to a dangerous degree. I was driving home from work in a snowstorm after taking it for a couple of days, and I was driving a 2001 Ford Mustang (not my best decision, I live in a snowy state). As I was coming to an intersection, the light turned red so I began to stop. My car decided it was too rebellious for brakes and steering, and I started to spin out of control.
I did enough spins to make me slightly dizzy and I came to a stop facing oncoming traffic. I slowly inched my way out of harm's reach and drove sideways to safety while the cars behind me collided... and calmly finished my commute with nothing more than a shrug. I don't want to block out all emotions to that extent, but if you do, that's the anxiety medicine for you. I'll stick with breathing exercises, Hulu, and cats.
#42 Reliable Science
Vaccines. Since the introduction of polio, MMR and smallpox vaccines, their respective diseases had nearly or have been completely eradicated. Now, some people simply just can't remember a world where these diseases ran rampant and chose not to vaccinate due to lies and misinformation. It's due to the overwhelming success of vaccines that we can even have the anti-vaccination "debate."
#43 Simple Math
Wolfram Alpha: Information on virtually any topic. Shows you everything to do with whatever you typed in down to the wire. It is on like four or five platforms. Basically carried me through all of Calculus 1 and 2.
#44 Add To Cart
Amazon recommendations. I always seem to add way more stuff than I intended to my cart whenever I buy stuff there. I feel like they may know my spending habits a bit too well. Also, they know I'm too lazy to drive somewhere to buy this stuff.
#45 No More Phlegm
Mucinex. I had a horrible cough and was incredibly congested. A few hours after taking the pill I coughed up all the mucus in my lungs in one cough. Completely covering my cupped hands and arm. To this day, my two friends that were in the room recount it as the grossest thing they've ever seen. I felt amazing though.
