About 4 years ago, actually just as I had met my current boyfriend, I decided to experiment a little more with my hair. I used to always dye my own hair you see, but this time I thought it might be fun to try the natural and supposedly more gentle hair dye with Henna, a natural vegetable derived substance that colors hair by naturally depositing concentrated color particles derived from an herbal plant into your hair.
Well, first off, I made a complete mess of my shower with this stuff. I know hair dye stains showers sometimes if you don’t wash it off right away, and many times it can look like someone bled to death in your shower when you’re done, but the Henna hair dye was just ridiculous.
It stained my entire shower black - not brown, but black, and it was really tough to get off. Not only that, but my hair turned out a black, if not almost horrible grey color - especially at the ends which started off lighter to begin with.
I had to go around with my hair up in a bun for about a month, and eventually decided to get the damaged grey-looking ends chopped off - about three inches of hair, down the drain for no reason. My experience with Henna hair dye was not good. Anyone else had terrible experiences with this natural dye?
We all know what sun damage can do both to the beauty and longevity of our skin, but there just seems to be more and more damaging evidence piling up against the sun’s harmful rays, as it relates to our overall health, and more and more reasons to use only self tanners to get that coveted tan!
It has been estimated recently that as many as 60,000 people die per year in direct relation to getting too much sun exposure. Most of these deaths are caused by malignant skin cancer, which is directly related to the damaging rays of the sun, and only worsened by the increasing radiation output due to a deteriorated ozone layer.
The World Health Organization also found that about 48,000 deaths are caused by malignant melanomas per year, and roughly 12,000 by other kinds of skin cancer. 90 percent of these cancers are caused by sun exposure.
Sun exposure can also cause eyesight problems, cataracts, blisters, cold sores and other unattractive developments in the skin. Not to mention, wrinkles and premature aging. Like I said, need I give you more evidence that self tanning is the way to go?
Ever wonder how some women always have really healthy, really shiny looking hair? Well, I can just about guarantee those women get their hair cut or trimmed once every 8-10 weeks, almost without fail. Any professionally trained hair stylist will tell you of the importance of regular hair cuts.
Hair cuts and trims will keep the dead ends to a minimum, and essentially allow your body to focus on nourishing newer, “baby” hair, rather than long-dead hair that is just beyond repair.
I’ve been guilty on more than one occasion for simply letting my hair go too long without a cut - say 4-6 months, and I can always tell a difference in the way my hair looks.
Not only that, my hair grows unevenly, as almost everyone elses does, so you lose a lot of the shape that makes your hair look great vs. dead and fried. Put it to the test, and you will find that it’s true. Ever notice how shiny and healthy your hair looks right after a hair cut?
So, even if you’re constrained on time or money, make sure you at least pop in to BestCuts for that quick trim - it’s better than nothing!
Well, last post I shared with you why I prefer to pluck my own eyebrows, and now I’ll tell you how I think you may want to shop for and pick out the best pair of eyebrow plucking and shaping tweezers.
All tweezers were defnitely not created alike, and going on the cheap when purchasing a pair of tweezers may not be the best idea, since a cheap pair that is not specifically made for eyebrow tweezing may not even pull the hairs out firmly like you need them to.
Many tweezers I’ve tried (and subsequently thrown in the trash), were too smooth on the ends, and I would dry desperately to grab one single hair unsuccesfully until giving up in dismay, that one tiny stray hair irritating me to no end.
Well, I finally found the right pair, and I might just have to fight anyone who dares try to take these things.
They grip even the tiniest of eyebrow hairs, and don’t let them slip away at all. The pair I use now I’ve actually had for several years, they are by Revlon, and I believe they still make them, although I will say that mine work better now that the years have worn away a little of the edges, making them a little rougher, so they grip a little better.
Just be sure when shopping for tweezers to pluck your eybrows that you really examine the grip tip of the tweezers - this is what is going to give you great brows vs. overgrown brows, waiting for the hairs to get long enough to pluck!
Some may find the task of plucking their own eyebrows somewhat daunting, especially if they haven’t been doing it themselves for the past 15 years, like I have.
I started plucking my eyebrows at the age of 16, when thinner, plucked and shaped eyebrows were just starting to come in. This was the time when very, very thin and very arched eyebrows were in.
Think early Pamela Anderson eyebrows, that’s what I was going for. Of course, now I look back at picture of myself with these super-thin eyebrows and think I look completely ridiculous, but that’s beside the point. Here’s why I prefer to pluck my own eybrows :
1.) Less time consuming than going and getting them professionally plucked or waxed.
2.) Instead of worrying about too many hairs coming out in one fell swoop with waxing, I have complete control over how my eyebrows will look.
3.) I can get any missed hairs in between major pluckings, and make for very light maintenance.
4.) Once you get good at it, you won’t believe how many compliments you’ll get on your eyebrows!
5.) With a good pair of tweezers, you’ll save yourself hundreds of dollars in professional appointment to get your brows done. Not only that, you’ll shape them how you think looks best on you, not how someone else thinks your brows would look best.
I tried the Banana Boat self tanner, which actually gave me pretty good color. Unfortunately, my legs broke out in tiny little bumps all over, which itched like crazy. I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I tried it again.
Same thing happened - nice color, but same allergic reaction. I read the ingredients label to see if I could figure it out, but I didn’t see any common allergens in it such as PABA or anything, so I’m at a loss. It’s a shame too, because it rubbed in nicely and gave a nice natural color.
Well, to my knowledge, and through my experience, I tend to shy away from the color extending shampoo and conditioners. The reason for me though, is not that I didn’t notice a difference in my hair color’s life, but that the ones I’ve tried have tended to dry my hair out. Like I said though, I may have been using the wrong products.
The only difference between color hair care products and regular hair care products, is primarily the fact that color extending hair care tends to be extra moisturizing, since hair that is more moisture intense tends to hold color.
Remember, I said that it actually dries my hair out though! The other difference may be that color hair care will have color pigment in it, so that it continually deposits new color and breathes new life into your hair color, tone and shine.
Most of them do not actually contain pigment, but rather rely on some sort of super-hydration technology to prevent drying and fading. So, next time you look for a hair care product, you know that color extenders really are just a moisture-pumped version of their non-color extending counterparts - most of the time.
We all want to take excellent care of our skin, since it’s no secret skin is key to looking young and fresh. Our skin says a lot about us : our diet, our habits, and our stress levels. Now scientists are saying the the poor age faster than the rich, as proven in studies undertaken to see how psychological stress affects the aging of the body and the skin at the cellular level.
What it all breaks down to, is your socioeconomic status can be the difference between a whole 7 years of aging. When you consider what dramatic changes your skin can undertake in just seven years, especially after a certain age, this is huge!
British scientists who have undertaken this groundbreaking study have found that people with lower socio-economic status tend to age faster than their financially more stable or well off counterparts.
What the whole accelerated aging process in the poor breaks down to is that the poor, due to more psychological stress (perhaps over money, comfort items, stress over bills etc.) have shortened “telomeres”, which are the caps on your chromosomes which prevent them from fraying, hence aging.
There are a lot of products that have claimed in the past to be alternatives for the popular Botox cosmetic injections that paralyze the muscles that cause wrinkles.
They’ve also been sued by Botox, because really there are no alternatives that work the same way as Botox, and a lot of products were saying that they topically paralyzed the muscles and relaxed the face just like Botox, which is impossible to do.
I’d like to take a look at some ingredients in these products over the next few posts and see why they claims to be an alternative to Botox.
I love Selsun Blue. I use this dandruff shampoo about once a month because my boyfriend has had the same bottle of Selsun Blue for at least a year now, and we both will use it only when we start to notice more dandruff flakes coming off our scalp. I don’t really care for the smell or the ridiculous blue color of the shampoo, but I’ll tell you what, if you have dandruff and itchy scalp, NOTHING remedies dandruff like Selsun Blue does.
I’ve tried other dandruff shampoos througout my life when I’ve had problems with an itchy, dry and flaky scalp, like Denorex and Head and Shoulders, but nothing does the trick like Selsun blue on my dandruff. Like I said, I’m not so sure it would be something I’d use more often than once a month, because it’s not really meant as a hair therapy, but more as a dandruff and scalp therapy, which may not be good when used long term for the actual hair on your head.
It’s got an ingredient in it called Selenium Sulfide Lotion at a 1% concentration, and I think this formula is what makes all the difference between Selsun and it’s dandruff shampoo competitors. It also contains Aloe and other moisturizing agents, and I do notice my hair has a bit of shine to it when I’ve used it.
It also boasts that it’s doctor recommended, whatever that means. It must just be that dermatologists recommend this to their patients with dry scalp or dandruff. You do have to be careful not to get Selsun Blue in your eyes, as it will irritate them badly, so rinse thoroughly and keep your eyes closed when doing so. Selsun Blue Dandruff Shampoo is made by a company called Chattem out of Chattanooga TN.
