Shopping for jeans can be frustrating, especially when there’s a long queue for the fitting room (hello, Zara) or you’ve tried on four pairs without luck.
But now, TikTok has served up a major trick that supposedly allows you to select the perfect pair of jeans or trousers off the rack, without even trying them on.
Content creators are calling this hack the “neck trick,” which sounds like a magic trick, but believe me, it’s not. And like all the best TikTok hacks, it’s now made its way over to Twitter and Instagram, too.
To perform the trick, you simply select a pair of jeans off the shelf and pull the waistline of the jeans around your neck. If the ends of the waist reach around your neck, then it’s allegedly a perfect fit. If they don’t touch at all, then the jeans are supposedly too small. And if the edges cross over completely, the jeans will be too tight.
The phrase “jeans hack” has a staggering 275.9 million views on TikTok alone, with some users expressing their thanks to the trend while others are debunking it and calling it a lie.
While one TikTok user commented: “I’ve not had this work. EVER.” Another responded saying: “It works for me if they’re stretchy’’ and a third chimed in: “Works for me every time.”
So, does TikTok’s neck trick actually work?
Personal stylist Sian Clarke tells HuffPost UK she is “dubious about this hack”.
“I can see from comments that it works for some but not others, so it seems like marmite – it it either works or doesn’t, which is confusing and unhelpful for everyone,” she says.
“My worry is that the hack might end up fitting the waist OK, but what about a perfect fit over the hips, on the lower back so you don’t show your underwear, the thighs, and length, which is the ultimate key to a perfect fitting jean.”
Really, the accuracy of this hack comes down to body type and in the below video, influencer Allison Clausen proves it does not work for everyone.
So there you have it. Try the hack once and see if it works for you. If it does, great, you can skip those fitting room queues. And if not, make sure you keep the receipt for those jeans.