Archive for June 20th, 2006
– Diana Kohnle
(HealthDay News) — It’s common for both men and women to lose hair or experience thinning hair as they near middle age. But sometimes hair loss — either temporary or permanent — can occur at younger ages.
According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, temporary hair
loss may be caused by stress triggered by serious illness, for example. Hair loss may also be attributed to hormonal changes or imbalances, such as an over- or under-active thyroid, or pregnancy. Correcting these hormonal imbalances can restore hair growth.
Hair loss also can be triggered by certain medicines like blood thinners, drugs that treat cancer, an excess of vitamin A, medicines for gout, some birth control pills, and antidepressants. These types of hair loss are usually temporary.
Damage to the hair, caused by styling that pulls or chemically treats the hair, may cause a type of hair loss called alopecia. In these cases, hair loss may be permanent if the hair follicles are damaged.
This is a story from HealthDay, a service of ScoutNews, LLC.
Copyright © 2004 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
June 20th, 2006
Make an herbal toner is a nice way to pamper yourself.
To make herbal toners, please use organically grown herbs.
You don’t want to be wearing pesticides! All of the ingredients used for this recipe can be bought from health and specialty stores.
Ingredients:
Equal parts each of:
Fresh rosemary
Fresh mint
dried cinnamon sticks
dried cloves
fresh lemon peel
witch hazel
Tincture of Benzoin
A few drops of essential oil
1. Place all the ingredients in a jar and pour enough witch hazel to cover the herbs.
2. Close the lid on the jar tightly and give it a few shakes. Set aside in a cool place for two weeks to let the herbs steep and shake the jar occasionally.
3. After two weeks, strain the herbs out of the liquid and add 10 drops of tincture of benzoin. For every cup of witch hazel used, add 4 drops of essential oil.
4. Pour into a nice clean bottle and cap. Your herbal toner is ready for use.
You can try using other combinations of herb like fresh mint, lemon balm, lavender and fresh rosemary. Tincture of benzoin helps preserve the toner. If the herbal toner smells strong enough for you, you can omit adding the drops of essential oil. When buying essential oils, read the label carefully and make sure that you are not getting the kind that is already diluted. You want pure essential oils. This herbal toner is a nice way to pamper yourself.
Pour the herbal toner into a nicely decorated bottle and it makes a perfect gift!
June 20th, 2006
by Lynn Grieger, RD, CDE
If dry, limp hair is weighing you down, then this diet is for you. Did you know that what you eat is reflected in the health of your hair?
All of the hair-revitalizing shampoos in the world won’t help if you aren’t nourishing your body.
Here’s how the Healthy Hair Diet can help:
• Just like your body, your hair needs a balanced, nutritious diet to stay healthy. That’s why this food plan contains a rainbow of fruits and vegetables that are loaded with vitamins and antioxidants, whole grains for minerals, nuts and seeds for minerals and vitamins, and lean protein for iron. A fortified breakfast cereal will help your body get all of the other good stuff it needs.
• Water not only hydrates your body, but helps keep your hair silky and shiny. This diet includes eight to 10 glasses of water and juices a day for maximum hydration.
• The fiber from fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes is good for your body and your hair. This meal plan features lots of fiber-containing food as an option at each meal.
June 20th, 2006
By Emine Ali
Make a big impact this season with an daring yet undeniably sexy, glossy bun…
Buns were everywhere on the red carpet at this year’s Golden Globes
Depending on the way in which your mind works, the words ’slicked-back bun’, will either conjure up an image of a sexy-senorita type or a harsh headmistress. This season the bun’s definitely well rooted in the former camp, and sleek styles have been spotted everywhere from Donna Karan and Chloe to Prada and YSL. The impact of the bun, especially when it’s flyaway-free, is incredibly strong. It makes a big statement because it’s simultaneously very simple and very brave – I only ever feel bold enough to attempt the slicked style after a weeks’ holiday, when the sun’s had time to even out my complexion and days spent eating fruit have banished circles and blemishes – because a glossy bun puts your facial features into sharp focus and does nothing to disguise flaws. Having said that, if your skin’s looking good, or you’re cool enough to pull off the Kate Moss bun + super-sized shades get-up, a bun will look undeniably sexy and sophisticated.
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You must start by choosing a parting. Combed back, parting-free buns will look better on smaller faces – they are not flattering for big foreheads or strong chins. If you have either you should opt for a side-parted style, which will slim the visage and narrow the jaw. Despite slicking back the hair, it’s best to work with day-old locks that are still clean – greasy roots are not a substitute for desirable shine. Comb the hair through to ensure it’s knot-free, then run Fructis Intense Anti-Frizz Treatment, £3.99 www.garnierbeautybar.co.uk, through the lengths and brush hair into the desired parting. If you can afford it, a Mason Pearson brush will cancel out any static and give hair a gloss-charged finish.
When you’re happy with the front of the hair (smooth out any ridges of bumps), secure the hair at the nape of the neck, or slightly to the side. Then take the loose ends of the ponytail and twist them until they coil round into a tight bun shape. You can then either pin the hair into place, or use a transparent hairband over the top of the bun, to tie it into shape. For a super-glossy finish smooth on a small amount of new L’Oreal Paris Nutri-Gloss Light Reflecting Crème, £4.99 www.lorealparis.co.uk.
Once hair’s perfect, it’s time to focus on your face. Flawless-looking skin is of prime importance, so invest in a base that evens out the skin and eradicates shine, but leaves it natural-looking too. L’Oreal True Match Foundation, £8.99,,will help you get a shade to suit your skin tone. Then take your cue from Prada, where hot pink lips were the perfect partner to the lustrous hair. Great shades in a wonderful, hydrating formula are Maybelline Moisture Extreme in Sweet Rouge and Fruit Punch, £4.99 www.maybeline.co.uk, and they’ll light up the entire complexion. Alternatively, a shot of L’Oreal Glam Shine Lip Gloss in Strawberry Sorbet, £6.99, will keep things looking sweet.
Copyright © 2006 handbag.com
June 20th, 2006
Is there a remedy?
Provided By: Berkeley Wellness
Q: What causes gray hair, and is there anything I can do about it–besides coloring it?
A: Graying occurs as specialized cells in hair follicles called melanocytes lose their ability to produce pigment (melanin) over time.
It’s not that hair actually turns gray, but that new hair with less melanin grows in. White hair has virtually no melanin.
Genes play a large role in graying, and there’s wide variation among ethnic groups. Men tend to turn gray earlier than women. Smoking is linked to premature graying. In rare cases, gray hair may be a sign of illness.
Unfortunately, there are no proven remedies for gray or white hair other than coloring it, despite the claims made for some dietary supplements. Melancor-NH, for example, allegedly boosts melanin (and stops male pattern baldness to boot) with its blend of bromelain, collagen, biotin, inositol, and other ingredients. Its maker says the supplement is “clinically proven,” but cites no evidence aside from testimonials and did not provide us with any data despite repeated requests. There’s no reason to think any of these substances would affect hair color. What’s more, Melancor is supposed to take 6 to 12 months to work, by which time you’ve spent hundreds of dollars for extremely unlikely results.
Words to the wise: No vitamin, mineral, or nutritional supplement is known to prevent or reverse age-related gray hair. The same goes for human growth hormone, yoga, removing mercury fillings, or any other touted therapy. In lab research white hair follicle cells have been stimulated to produce pigment again, and some scientists are hopeful that eventually a “cure” for graying will be possible. In the meantime, hair coloring–or learning to love your gray–is the only option.
Hot/cold blow-dry your hair at the roots: Blow-drying will give you a good lift if used with a fairly large, round brush. The trick is to situate the brush as close to your scalp as you can, essentially pulling the hair straight up from the base of your head, and using bursts of heat from the blow-dryer, aimed at the brush, followed by cool air which “sets” the style.
Set with Velcro rollers: A few strategically placed Velcro rollers will give your hair terrific volume. After hair is washed and blow-dried, curve one-inch sections of the hair you want lifted around the roller (small rollers for a slight lift and large for a higher lift). Three or four rollers should do the trick. Leave rollers in for about five minutes, remove and arrange newly lifted hair with your fingers. It’s recommended you don’t brush at this point, as brushing could “deflate” the set.
Use a curling iron… the right way: Because of the intense heat generated, a curling iron will give an instant lift. Starting at the crown of the head, take hold of one-inch sections of hair and lift vertically, wrapping hair around the iron, as close to your scalp as you can. Then spray with a holding product such as Alterna Caviar Working Hairspray for a firm but still flexible hold.
Try some rats! Popular in theatre and TV,Hair Rats are forms that actually stay in your hair, providing lift. They come in two shapes, donut or cylindrical, and are made of foam or nylon mesh so they’re soft and malleable. Rats are attached to the underside of hair with hairpins, after which hair is brushed up and over to obscure them. Okay, so it’s like hiding an Easter egg in your hair ‑- but it works!
Get a haircut with shorter layers: If your hair has a little wave or some curl, layers offer a ready-made lift. Nikki Flaming of the Beehive Salon likes layers just at the crown of the head. If they’re cut very short, you’ll get a punkish-pixie look; if they’re cut in longer layers, you’ll get more of a graduated, subtle lift.
Try Do Dads: Damien Miano, owner of Miano Viel Salon raved about these miniature hairpieces called Do Dads, which are, in fact, simple hair combs with hair extensions attached. You choose the color to match your own, or a contrasting color if you’re feeling funky. To get the lift, you fasten it on just as you would a traditional hair comb by combing it in against the grain of your hair.
Go for carefully concealed pin curls: Vu Nguyen, stylist at Frederic Fekkai Salon and Spa, always keeps a few basic hairpins handy, which he recommends using to create lift on curly or coarse tresses with four or five tiny pin-curls buried under the top layers of hair, which are secured with pins. He then flips over the top sections of hair, concealing the pin curls, resulting in a lift.
Rubber band it: Nguyen came up with this idea when he ran out of hair pins, and it’s become one of his trademarks ever since. He makes miniature bushels of hair by tying off small segments and securing with rubber bands, then flipping top sections of hair over the bushels.
UC Berkeley Wellness Letter, November 2005
June 20th, 2006