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A nanny once told me that one surefire way to get rid of pimples is to rinse your face with your own periods. But before you scoff at this, check out some of the more bizarre beauty treatments that have piqued people’s curiosity enough to queue up outside certain day spas :

Woman Bathing


Nightingale Facial
Nothing like bird faeces slathered all over your face to make your skin look more translucent and flawless. This is Diamond Hawaii Resort & Spa’s signature facial and the geishas were the first to discover the benefits of nightingale excrement for the skin. Perhaps in ten years’ time, someone will discover the benefits of dog crap that will have us scurrying toward our pets with a plastic bag everytime they hunch over and we can say goodbye to swearing viciously everytime we step on one when we have a picnic…

Butt treatment
We get our faces scrubbed and exfoliated but someone had the bright idea that we should also look after our second set of cheeks down south. I call this the Buttial where your backside is cleansed, exfoliated, applied a mask to, waxed (if required), massaged and moisturised so your ass can look polished and feel oh-so smooth. Perfect for summer when you want to gallivant around on the beach with a g-string.

Cupping
Remember when sticking needles into your body drew some raised eyebrows and elicited the ‘WTF?’ Well, cupping is another form of acupuncture that’s supposed to encourage blood flow and ease muscle aches and pains. Small glass cups are lit and immediately applied to the skin. Even though clients will earn deep purple bruises that will last about a week, the process is painless. And if it’s good enough for Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s good enough for the rest of us.


Beer Spa
Here’s something that would encourage more men into day spas – in Czech Republic, Austria and Germany anyway. How’s soaking into a huge bubbling tub of warm beer sound? Landhotel Moorhof in Austria would have us believe that the yeast in beer contains vitamins that give you a better complexion while relieving the stress from your muscles. And don’t worry, before you can sit there and contemplate on whether you should dunk your head in the tub and gulp as much of beer as you can, you’re given a few pints of beer – to drink.

Ramen Noodle Spa
Immersing yourself in a tub of ramen noodles and pork broth, as you would in Yunessa Spa, Japan, supposedly boosts your overall metabolism while cleansing your skin. Just add a sprinkle of sliced green onions and a teaspoon of soy sauce and you can feel like the pork in a soup.

Snake massage
Would you pay $80 to have six snakes slithering all over your back? NO! A salon in Northern Israel now has a waiting list of clients who want the experience of having these reptiles writhing all over their bodies to soothe aching muscles and stiff joints. While Ada Barak who performs this treatment is always at hand to ensure the non-venomous snakes don’t go into certain…er…delicate areas, that’s hardly enough to convince me that this treatment is meant to be relaxing. What’s next? A crocodile rolling on your back as another form of remedial massage? No thanks.

*image from www.wikipedia.com
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The 5 Factor Diet

September 11th 2007 00:05
The 5 factor diet is the latest diet craze to hit Hollywood since Jessica Simpson attributed her 20-pound loss in a month to this program (for a B-grade personality, anything she endorses seems to turn to gold. What’s the deal with that???). Created by Harley Pasternak who has an educational background in Exercise Physiology and Nutritional Sciences, the diet is based on everything ‘five’. It’s a five-week plan of five small meals to be consumed daily, consisting of five ingredients of five elements (healthy carbs, healthy fats, protein, fibre and a sugar-free drink), to be prepared in five minutes and cooked in five – should I assume to be eaten in five minutes as well?

5 Factor Diet

The recipes are relatively simple and choices include lasagne, chicken chow mein, smoked salmon and cream cheese omelette and pizza. So no restricting yourself to gulping gallons of lemon drink, choking on endless bowls of boiled broccoli or ordering a Big Mac without the bread.

The plan also incorporates 25 minutes of exercise (5 different types of exercises for 5 minutes each) 5 days a week – which I’m sure is bad news to the thousands out there looking to lose weight without doing the work. Each 25-minute workout combines cardio and strength training and you don’t need a whole gym set, just dumbbells and a balance ball.

The workouts and recipes are all in Pasternak’s 5 Factor Diet book which has become a New York Bestseller and has no shortage of celebrity testimonials, from Alicia Keys to Kanye West.

Now, I’m one who scoffs at Hollywood diets but this is probably one of the better ones I’ve heard. Although I hate the whole gimmick of the ‘five’ factor, I understand that Pasternak needed something like it to set it apart from every other Hollywood diet. “There is no calorie counting, no carb-cutting, no pill-popping, no concoction shake thing, no reliance on special supplements,” Pasternak says. In short, you eat actual solid foods. What I like about this plan is that it shows exercising is an integral part of any weight loss program – even if it is only for 25 minutes a day. In Pasternak’s defense, he believes that exercising for shorter periods of time but more often during the week is much more effective than spending hours at a gym 1-3 times a week. Another good thing about this plan is that it incorporates something many dieticians and nutritionists have been harping on for years – eating several small meals throughout the day will help curb hunger cravings as opposed to 3 big meals daily. And I’m sure many people will be happy about this : this plan also allows you one ‘cheat day’ a week when you can practically eat whatever you want so you have something to look forward to if you feel like you’re in diet prison. But I am a little dubious about this one. While this is probably the most popular factor in this plan, I think it’s too much like waving a red flag in front of a bull. I remember a friend of mine who went on a diet for five straight days and spent most of the sixth day in a Sizzler Restaurant, downing as much of the all-you-can eat pastas and cheese toast as her stomach could allow her. But I suppose it’s all down to self-control.

Overall, I think this is a good program for those who are looking to ease into weight loss. The recipes are simple and easy to follow and setting aside 25 minutes per day to exercise shouldn’t be asking too much of anyone who’s serious about losing excess weight. It’s worth a shot.

Recipe Sample :
Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Omelet (Serves 1):
˝ cup egg whites, 2 tsp nonfat cream cheese, salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp canola oil, Ľ oz smoked salmon.
Whisk together egg whites, cream cheese, salt and pepper. Pour oil into a nonstick skillet, and turn to coat. Heat over medium-high flame. Add egg-white mixture to the skillet, gently pushing egg whites toward the center as they cook.
When eggs are almost set, place smoked salmon on top. Cover the pan, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove the lid, and add pepper. Slide omelet onto a cutting board, fold in half and serve.
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I read an article over the weekend that had me seriously contemplating the future of men and their masculinity. In the UK’s Sunday Telegraph, they conducted a survey on men and plastic surgery. The survey showed that one in four men who live their lives entrenched in a couch, gorging on junk food and slumbering their day away after a particularly big lunch, would rather go under the knife to improve their looks than to exercise. Apparently, the number of men opting for liposuction to remove their excess fat has grown in the past two years with more and more men looking for quick, albeit, expensive solutions to stay buff and trim. Sweating in the gym three to four hours a week is just too much hard work and cuts into the time they could be spending watching DVDs or playing computer games while snacking on a bucket of KFC.

Fat Man
While it worries me that men – and, of course, women – see plastic surgery as their beacon of hope to stay thin and look good while stuffing their faces with whatever junk food they can get their hands on without thinking about the consequences to their general health, it annoys me more to think that there are actually men out there who are so lazy, they are willing to have their body parts sliced open, become virtual invalids as they recover for weeks from surgery, instead of spending a measly twenty minutes in the gym every day.

I am not asking for chivalry to be back. I do not expect when I set foot to cross a street at a busy intersection for a man to suddenly charge out and announce, “I will protect you from these moving beasts!” Heck, ever since my hubby cowered on top of a table, leaving me to hunt and destroy a certain creature making ‘all those squeaky noises’, I don’t bat an eyelid when a man doesn’t offer me a seat on a crowded bus or lets the door swing to a shut when he knows I’m about to go through. I have accepted that my brother will take twice as long to fix his hair than me and my sisters and my heterosexual guy friend can lecture on the difference between a facial scrub and an exfoliator. But damn if I’m going to stand aside and accept it when my hubby or bro or dad suddenly stands in front of a mirror and asks me, “Seriously, do these stubbies make my bum look fat? Should I make an appointment with Dr Hauschke to suck the fats out of my thighs and put them into my lips?”

I guess the question is : Is it sexist of me to think of men who would shun exercise for a surgeon’s knife as ‘wusses’ and compel me to growl, “For God’s sake, be a man!”
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Coping with Stress

August 14th 2007 01:05
Some say a little bit of stress in your life is good for you, it gives an otherwise ho-hum life a much needed excitement. On the other hand, everyone knows prolonged stress is extremely bad for your mental and physical health. The negative effects are endless – migraines, insomnia, heart attack, lowering of the immune system, triggering unhealthy behaviour like smoking, overeating, drug-taking and can make you appear older than you actually are.

John McEnroe
McEnroe - famous stresshead
Unfortunately, stress is all too much a part of our daily routine but some people cope with their stress better than most. I, for one, was born a stresshead - high strung, impatient people usually are. I used to stress about everything, including stupid things like running out of milk in the midst of making coffee or merging into the next lane on a freeway. I imagined myself a steam train gathering full speed – I felt the heat rising from my shoulders, spreading through the back of my neck, covering my ears with a buzzing sound and filling the rest of my head that I think my eyes are going to pop out and I have the urge to lash out physically, by either yelling out a string of expletives or slamming my fist into something, or both. And having a human-sized dummy made up of bubble wrap in your room to punch every time I was stressed only fuelled my violent tendencies.

Then I started working for a boss who reminded me of a pitbull. He looked like one, walked like one and had a manner of barking at his employees with a trail of spittle dangling from the corner of his mouth. In my nine months there, he had probably yelled at me five times but the countless hours I spent at night tossing and turning, wondering how to escape his wrath the next day finally led to my nervous breakdown.

I’ll always be high-strung and impatient but in recent years, I came up with some techniques that have helped me cope with stressful situations much more effectively – and without losing dignity.

1. When I’m about to head into a stressful situation (ie work, confronting someone about something), I take a few minutes to stand, sit or walk out in the sun, soaking up the rays and taking in huge deep breaths. Everytime I do this, I feel recharged and think that all is right with the world.

2. Keeping my surroundings neat and tidy. When I’m stressed, seeing clutter in my surroundings usually make my blood pressure go up. This is definitely true everytime I stress over what to wear and I see a pile of wrinkled clothes on the floor in my wardrobe and I just want to scream.

Happy Dogs
3. Keeping a photo of my smiling dogs in my surroundings. This helped me when I accidentally deleted an entire database of records at work.

4.They say you should silently count to ten in a stressful situation. Unfortunately, this has not helped me at all, but I find drinking in gulps of cold water have swallowed the string of swear words bunching up at the back of my throat.

5. Looking for split ends in my hair and cutting them. Somehow, it gives me a feeling of accomplishment everytime I see a pile of small black Ys on a white piece of paper.

6. Listening to classical music and imagining myself standing in Michelangelo’s square in Florence.

7. Slipping into a hot bubble bath with scented candles all around, doing a crossword puzzle and sipping Riccadonna.

8. Getting Facials & Massages

9. Walking – especially just before the sun sets – and listening to 80s music on my ipod.

Crying baby
10. Having a good cry. Many people would probably argue against this but it works for me. I remember training this girl, the worst I had ever trained (when a person doesn’t know the difference between ‘save’ and ‘save as’ on a word document, you know you’re in trouble). One thing that helped me cope was shutting myself off in a toilet cubicle and having a good solid cry for ten minutes. But at work, I would recommend doing your crying in private and not letting them know what you’re crying about, otherwise you’ll be touted a whinger.

For more info on stress, check out this site.


So how do you cope with stress?
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I’ve heard of strapless bras, bra buddies, nipple covers, nudi-bras and even the new u-bras. But in search of better nipple covers as mine have turned my nipples from perky peekaboos to deformed lumps, I discovered some boobies accessories that had me going, “What the…?”

Faveo Freedom Bra

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#3 Hiding "Lady Lumps'


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#4 Annihilating Morning Breath

Chewing Gum

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I’m not a novice when it comes to having massages. As a matter of fact, I try to get a massage at least every 3 months - ever since my first experience where my therapist was this muscle-bound, dark-haired Greek Adonis. It didn't matter that he avoided going nowhere near my stinking feet, I was hooked. I regularly go to those Chinese massage places you find in the malls where the cubicles are small, the walls are thin (you can hear people next door asking if they should take off their underwear) and it’s not uncommon to find your massage therapist has switched halfway through.

Which is why I find it frustrating whenever I book a one-hour massage in a Day Spa and I’m asked if I want remedial, shiatsu, relaxation, Swedish or aromatherapy among other things. The first time I was asked, I replied with, “Oh you know, that massage where you lie in bed and someone massages your sore spots, makes you feel all nice and jelly-like, you fall asleep and you wake up, realising you’ve drooled.” After the woman cackled at me, I grudgingly just said, “Just give me that relaxation one then.” And since then, everytime I go to a Day Spa, I always get the relaxation massages – and I always end up regretting them afterwards. To me, relaxation massage is getting a massage from air – I can never feel a thing. So this year, before I book myself into a Day Spa with the girls, I thought I’d research the most common types of massages. I won’t go into much detail for each one but will only highlight the main differences between them.

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#5Slimming 'Pooh' Tea

Slimming Tea

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#7 Shaving….down under

Shaving Brazilian Wax
A Brazilian shave, anyone?

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#9 Detox your body - Drink 8 to 10 litres of water a day

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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.

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Massaging -Head to Toe

May 14th 2007 01:07
Massage is invigorating and you can do it for yourself. Just follow these easy techniques:

Head


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