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Health and Beauty - June 2007

#8 Snip those stray hairs away!

Braid Hair
What beautiful braid you have...

Ok, this little beauty faux pas was, thankfully, done when I was at a tender age of 11. You’re probably wondering why I hadn’t learnt from this mistake of concocting my own beauty tips through my teen years but then I wouldn’t have anything to write about on this post, will I?


While every other girl in my year had their hair in a plain, boring ponytail or wore one of those frilly headbands that were designed to make you look like a fairy princess but ended up making you look like a creative bird had just made a massive poop on your head, my own hair was swept back in graceful, interwoven strands – aka, a braid.

In a world of ponytails and bird poops, I got a lot of compliments on my braid. Having just arrived in Australia and with my limited understanding of English, I was still able to deduce that 1) they really liked my braid 2) they wanted to know who did my braid 3) they wanted to know how long it took to do my braid and 4) when I would stop merely nodding and smiling and answer their questions about the braid already.

To answer these questions belatedly, it was my older sister who did my braid which took her only ten minutes to do and which she could only do on Monday mornings. And when you only have one friend in the world who also couldn’t speak English and also couldn’t speak your own native tongue and the only way to display your friendship was through a series of nods, smiles and grunts, you’d want to keep these compliments coming.


So, on a quest to gain more English-speaking friends, I decided to retain my braid for one whole week. How, you ask? Simple. 1) I didn’t wash my hair for the week. 2) I slept with the braid. 3) When stray hairs would weave their way out as they’re wont to do when I woke up in the morning, I would take out the scissors and cut the stray hairs away, leaving the braid, you guessed it, intact. And when the stray hairs bunched up into thick strands or knots, I would snip them away too. By the end of the week, when I finally pulled that elastic band out and framed the remnants of my hair around my face, I looked like an 80s rocker with layers upon tufts upon layers of hair. Which made me consider going bald – for only a second.


*image taken from www.wikipedia.com
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#9 Detox your body - Drink 8 to 10 litres of water a day

Water
Water, water everywhere

Water cleanses out the toxins in your body, not to mention it helps clear skin of pimples and blemishes that are so much a part of the awkward, embarrassing adolescent years. At the time I had read about the benefits of water for the body and skin in a Dolly/Girlfriend/Cosmo article, big red pimples had started popping up all over my face that I had to turn my inexperienced hand at applying foundation. When you’d only ever dabbled in the art of make-up by applying loops of eyeliner to the outside of your lids, prompting your own dear father to remark, “You look like a prostitute”, it was no wonder when my attempt at applying foundation resulted in white, pock-like marks on my face. With a ‘dance party’ looming five days away and the anticipation that it was the event that would mark the beginning of a romance with a certain Polish dude, I was too impatient for just an 8-glasses-of-water-a-day. In a move that clearly showed I am my mother’s daughter, I decided to take this tip a step – make that, several glasses – too far. If I drank 8 to 10 litres of water a day, surely, my skin would clear up in a matter of days? Or, more precisely, in five days so I can dance the ‘Ice Ice Baby’ with my Polish crush? So I drank one litre of water per every waking hour per day. That’s approximately one glass of water every six minutes, one trip to the toilet every hour, and two trips from 11pm to 7am when I should be asleep. Finally, at 3am on the fourth morning, I was half-asleep when I needed to go to the toilet but my brain probably realised enough was enough, ignored the urging from my bowels and tugged me back to sleep where I promptly dreamt that I had gone to the toilet. When I woke up in the morning with the bed all soaked (gross!), I finally decided this 8 to 10 litres a day thing had to stop.

*image from www.wikipedia.com
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I was 14 when I started paying close attention to models in magazines like Dolly and Girlfriend. This was the time when the airbrushing of models and actors by paintstakingly meticulous graphic designers was still a secret and all teenage girls thought that what they saw of their favourite model and actor in their pictures was all natural.

On the quest to resemble any of the models in these magazines – clear skin, pouting lips, shiny hair – I spent many of my teen years trying to come up with some cheap home remedies. The results, as anyone can imagine, were disastrous and for which I can only blame Dolly and Girlfriend.

#10 How to get Longer Lashes

Eye Lashes
Old Wives' Tale : Cutting your eyelashes will make them longer

Alright, I am proud to say that I was not the creator of this little bright idea. That credit will have to go to my dear mother, who can probably spend the next ten years writing a blog about her million and one ideas and myths for beauty. I was never endowed with wide lids and I felt the only things that made my eyes stand out were the long curved lashes I had when I was a kid. My mum thought the same thing as well. But while I was satisfied with the current length of my lashes, my mum wanted them longer – to make up for the lack of eyelids, you see. I could just imagine my mum imagining the neighbours talking, “The girl may not have lids but she sure does have fine long lashes.” She truly believed in the myth that you have to cut something – ie, your hair, lashes, etc – to make them longer. So before I knew it, she had me sitting down on the bottom step of our staircase with a pair of stainless steel scissors in her hand. She told me to close my eyes and keep them closed until she was finished. I felt the cold steel of the scissors handle brushing across my cheekbone, my lashes being gripped firmly and the unmistakable sound of the scissors slowly snipping my lashes away. When I opened my eyes and narrowed them, I saw that I could no longer see the underside of the curve of my lashes. If I had known that was the last time I would see my lashes that long, I would have lovingly swept up the cut lashes and stored them somewhere safe – away from my mum. Contrary to my mum’s bright idea, my lashes never did grow as long as she planned. In my opinion, they never grew at all. So I’m stuck with these short lashes that stick out straight rather than curving up gracefully. All I can say is, thank goodness for those revolutionary mascaras!

Continued...

*image from www.wikipedia.com
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Say NO to Bleach

June 21st 2007 18:10

To those of you with long, jet-black hair, I know what you’re thinking. I’ve been through it too. I’ve also stood in front of my bathroom mirror in frustration with an empty bottle of dye in my hand and wailed, “Why, oh, why hasn’t my hair turned out French Roast?” I, too, have cursed the stubbornness of my hair colour and envied my friends traipsing around with their new blonde or reddish highlights. Several times, they would try to appease me and tell me that the dye did work – if the sun was directly behind me or if I was directly under bright lights. But unless I walked around with a torch in my hand and beamed it at my head, my hair remained black. Boring, basic black. I would flip through glossy magazine pages and stare wistfully at Beyonce and JLo with their beautiful, bountiful honey-coloured hair which seemed to light up their faces. And I wondered : to bleach or not to bleach?

Jennifer Lopez
If only I had an overpaid, stressed out hair stylist like JLO
All my life, I had had people telling me to never, ever bleach my hair and to stick to hair dyes you can buy from the supermarkets. Bleach dries your hair, that’s a fact. But surely, it couldn’t be that bad. After all, there are millions of products you can buy that promise to ‘restore your health to its natural shine’.

So, a year ago, I headed toward a hair salon and selected a dark honey colour from one of those artificial hair things shaped like a teardrop. When the hairdresser told me that she had to bleach my hair so the colour would go through, I nodded my head. An hour later, when she told me that she had to put more bleach in my hair because the colour still wouldn’t go through, I hesitated but told her to go on anyway.

Lighter hair colour does brighten up the face, I agree. But bleach IS a murder of lush, healthy strands of hair. It doesn’t matter how expensive the brand of shampoo and conditioner I use, my hair has lost its natural gloss. While serums help out, they only help out temporarily and I kind of get the feeling that they do damage to your hair in the long run.

Liv Tyler
Liv Tyler - oh, to have shiny jet-black hair again!


I miss those days when I would simply wash my hair with cheap products like Pantene, get out of the shower, leave my hair wet and uncombed then wake up the next day with people asking me what hair products I use to make my hair nice, shiny and oh-so-straight. Now, I have to fork out more money to buy salon products because hairdressers have instilled in me the fear that my hair would just get worse with products like Pantene. To get my hair nice and straight, I not only have to put smoothing serum in my hair, but I would have to blow dry it then follow it with hair straightener. Obviously, this whole session will only damage your hair in the long run but unfortunately, there’s nothing else to it without looking like I’ve lived in a cave my whole life.

My hair is so dry, that if you put a strand between two fingers, it’ll squeak like there’s a mouse nibbling in your ear; so coarse, you may as well use it to sweep the floor like a broom; so frizzy, I look like I’m constantly stressed and pulling my hair out; and filled with split ends that I now take scissors with me so during those times when I have nothing to do, I bury my nose in the ends of my hair and snip away.

My hair is probably looking at its most disgusting right now – with the top half jet-black and the bottom half dry, bleached and frizzy. If I leave it hanging over my shoulders, my hair actually resembles a bell.

With this in mind, I made a promise to myself. I am never bleaching my hair. If I find myself getting bored with it and wanting to dye it, I will buy those hair dyes from supermarkets and gladly accept compliments made only where the sun is shining brightly or when I’m standing directly under lights. But for the next six months, I would keep buying those elastic bands and stare in disgust at the pool of cut split ends on the table.
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5) Once a week, use an exfoliator and a hydrating masque
The exfoliator will remove the build up of dry, dull surface skin cells and helps diminish blackheads while the mask locks in much-needed moisture. But I don’t recommend exfoliating more than once a week as I find this eventually dries up my skin.

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It took me 20 years to figure out that, yes, I do have dry skin. This means that in the middle of winter, when my face is in direct exposure to the heater/airconditioner, if I skip the moisturiser for a single routine or I accidentally use alcohol-based products, my skin becomes taut and the small lines on my forehead, around my eyes and mouth are more visible. My skin also feels rough, due to the tiny bumps that are visible only under harsh lights but were enough at one point to alert my co-workers as I looked in the mirror and promptly screamed, certain that someone had cast a voodoo spell on me. In some severe cases, my skin develops red, itchy and flaky patches, especially the skin on the side of my nose where the pores are bigger and I get the tremendous urge to scratch away.

In these 20 years, through many trial and error runs, I managed to learn some tips on how to combat symptoms of a dry skin :

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Dermalogica’s Skin Brightening System consists of 3 products – Daily Microfoliant, Day Bright and Night Bright, each of which you can purchase individually. This system was recommended to me after I decided to get rid of the discolouration around my mouth and nose once and for all as the three products combined contain Dermalogica’s "brightening complex to restore the skin’s healthy glow while balancing pigmentation and protecting against future discolouration".

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Loreal Revitalift Eyes

June 13th 2007 18:49
Loreal Revitalift Eyes Anti-Firming & Firming Cream is the first eye cream with ‘Nanosomes of Pro-Retinol A and Par-Elastyl’. They contain firming ingredients to fight signs of ageing around the eye area, smoothing the delicate skin, lifting it to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and eye bags. Results are apparently visible from the very first application. By the end of the first week, there should be a 29% reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. By the end of the second week, an 81% visible firming effectiveness. Within four short weeks, the eye area should appear more vibrant, smoother and younger-looking. Sounds good to me…

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Loreal Hydrafresh Aqua Liquid

June 12th 2007 18:31
Loreal Plenitude Hydrafresh Aqua Fluid is marketed as a moisturiser with a very unique texture : the moisturiser is half cream/half gel which is supposed to literally melt into your skin. It is enriched with vitamins and ‘essential’ minerals – the box doesn’t quite say what these minerals are that make them so essential, but the moisturiser should leave your skin hydrated without the greasiness.

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It was at the age of 13 that I began my quest for a shiny, manageable, frizz-free, blue-black, smooth-as-silk hair. My hair has always been thick and coarse and, for some reason, the million and one baby hairs coiling out of my temples refuse to grow. But since I had my hair bleached and dyed to look like JLo in the latter part of my teens, my hair has become drier, coarser and it’s not just the baby hairs that are standing up and out. So on rainy days, I pretty much look like I just had an electric shock or I had put both my hands on one of those static balls.

I tried one of those teensy weensy little bottles you get from hair salons at AUD$20 each. One drop and it was guaranteed to smooth the frizz away and give your hair such a shine that you would have the confidence to traipse around the city, flicking your hair around like one of those women from the Sunsilk ads. I had that confidence for about seven hours before my hair deteriorated to something limp, stringy and oily.

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When you query beauty therapists about other beauty products besides the ones they’re selling and using on your face, it’s understandable for them to be ranting and raving about how these other products never live up to their promise. Then they go on to rant and rave about how good their own products are and how pleased you’ll be with the results after the facial.

Ask them what they think about Sothys and they’ll be silent for three seconds before grudgingly, pulling-their-teeth-out reluctantly mumbling, “Yeah, they’re ok.” And that’s as close as you’ll ever get to an approval before they manage to swallow the bitter pill in their mouth to brightly say, “But let me tell you about our products…”

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For a while, I had heard nothing but rave reviews about SK II. What apparently sets it apart from other beauty products, and probably the main reason for the high prices, is the main ingredient contained in all SK II products – Pitera – a clear, rich liquid naturally extracted during the sake fermentation process. It’s supposed to restore the ‘skin’s natural 28-day renewal cycle’ for a younger, more radiant-looking skin.

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Loreal REFINISH Microdermabrasion Kit is a home kit that promises visibly resurfaced, radiant-looking skin "in 2 steps, 2 minutes, twice a week".

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"A milky cleanser for drier skin conditions to gently lift impurities and remove make-up. Water-soluble, this soothing emulsion rinses off easily, leaving the skin refreshingly clean, soft and supple. Contains no artificial fragrance or color.” – www.dermalogica.com.au.

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Day Spa Review : Ding House

June 5th 2007 00:37
DING HOUSE BEAUTY & SLIMMING SALON
Lower Ground Floor, 410-420 Sussex Street, Sydney


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China Slim Tea

June 4th 2007 05:18
China Slim Tea (aka 'Pooh Tea')This has probably been the most effective way for me to lose weight in a matter of days – as well as the most disgusting and the most dangerous.

For around AUD$5, you can buy a box of these slim teas in any Asian shop. They look harmless enough – 18 bags of black tea sitting in the box, promising you weight loss in a matter of days.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Clinique 3-step Skincare System

June 3rd 2007 11:49

My mum recommended Clinique’s 3-step skincare in my late teens when I realised that using the cheaper products like Neutrogena, Ten-O-Six and Clearasil were giving me dark circles around my nose and mouth so that, sometimes, in certain light, it looked as if I had a five o’clock shadow.

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