A truth about hair nobody ever tells you

Many, many women when they get past their "first youth" cut their hair and/or lighten its colour.

Why?

Well, the first procedure - cutting the hair - deserves (and shall get) a post of its own in a very near future, but it usually doesn't even get a clear-cut explanation, if you'll excuse the pun - only that it "takes yeeeeaaars off" the person. Which may be true - or not.

The second procedure - lightening one's hair - is what I want to discuss today.

The usual reason for lightening the hair is that it will make an ageing face look "softer", and that darker hair will make it look "harsher" (or some other adjective to that effect). 

Oddly enough, for the very same reason women are often advised not to adopt extremely light shades, either - like platinum blonde.

In other words, adopt BLAND light shades, is the usual - and usually - unspoken suggestion.

Lighter hair does make the facial features look "softer". This is, in great part, due to a purely optical phenomenon of dispersion. By catching more of the surrounding light it drives the eye - somewhat - away from the facial signs of ageing, like wrinkles or sagging skin.

But the wrinkles and/or the sagging skin will still be there, and they still will be visible. 

Nothing wrong with that. It certainly is MUCH preferable - that is, much more beautiful and appealing to the others (whether you believe it or not) than botoxing yourself and plumping your lips into a shape that any trout would die for.

The truth is that your wrinkles and sagging skin will be less visible under "soft"-coloured hair because YOU will be less visible in general.

The problem - the core of the problem that practically nobody, not even well-paid stylists - tells you about is that "softness" isn't necessarily synonymous with youthfulness. And it is youthfulness - the preservation or restoration of their own youthful image - that certainly most of my clients want, even though some do not dare even to dream of it, at first.

"Softness" as an overall image is associated with babies, with prepubescent girls and boys - and yes, with old people. It is associated with harmlessnes, with cuddliness, with "cuteness" - with everything that lacks an EDGE.

To project - and even to help yourself rekindle inside of you - that feeling of edginess that is tacitly synonymous with a pursuit of a FUTURE, do not be afraid to add an "edge" to your own physical image. 

Many women feel this instinctively but then commit a major style crime by dressing inappropriately, in clothes that reveal too much of what should better be covered up - not because of "decency", but simply because of aesthetics.

The "edge" you're looking for is most easily, inexpensively and effectively achieved by changing the cut and/or colour of your hair. Shorter hair really can be "edgier" - but not necessarily.

In general, I would advise against the so-called "pixie" crop, unless you look and FEEL really good in it. (If you do, by all means keep it!)

The immense majority of women look wonderful in chin- or shoulder-length haircts. Anything shorter than that will likely make you look matronly, unless it is an exceptionally daring crop, completed with equally streamlined outfits. 

Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with being or looking a "matron" - after all, it was the most respectable title in ancient Rome, after Caesar, that is :-) - but is that what you're looking for?

If you are not, consider growing your hair out, down to the chin, or even longer, to shoulder-length. Anything longer than that is, again, very tricky  - at any age - because it can make the hair look messy, and not in a good way.

But it's the colour that is going to make the greatest difference.

If your hair is - or was - naturally black consider going for, well, black.

It doesn't have to be jet black - very dark, almost black-brown will probably look wonderful on you - but try stay away from brown shades, unless you like them a lot, because they will indeed make you look "softer"... so "soft", in fact, that you'll be rendered almost invisible. And if you have always had black hair, I bet you won't FEEL like your old self, either.

Why lightening it, then? Don't.

Ligthten your EYEBROWS instead. Not too much, of course - just a tone or two lighter than your hair.

This double procedure will make you look "edgy" - i.e. somewhat more youthful - while softening a little the actual features of your face.

If, on the other hand, you your natural hair colour was lighter than black - perhaps brown or blond - try finding a shade that you like among rich chocolate, vibrant red or brilliant blond hues. Go for platinum, if that's what you like (just avoid wearing platinum hair long; it tends to look trashy, regardless of your age).

Whatever you do, avoid bland, "soft" tones - unless you like them, of course. Only, make sure that you really do like them, and for the right reasons: because they make you feel more like YOU - not because your neighbour, or your hairdresser, or your daughter thinks it looks "nice" on you.

Remember: soft does NOT equal youthful.

Having an edge does.

The edge that you always had in you, but perhaps never dared to express it.

Well, if not now - when?

More on this in the future.

Yours always,


Lynx

"Ninkles", and how to get rid of them

The Daily Mail published an article today - rather ridiculous, as their articles all too often are - calling attention to what they called "ninkles": that would be wrinkle-afflicted knees and unsightly knees in general.
 
The article may be ridiculous, but it is a very real aesthetic problem that in the opinion of many of the women I meet (and the odd man now and then) really does impact - negatively - the beauty of their legs, or at least their perception of it.
 
One thing is true. The knees are what often (if you'll forgive the pun) makes or breaks the beauty of legs. Very few people have truly beautiful knees, and there is not much anyone can do about that. You cannot - not yet, at any rate - reposition and reshape the knees.
 
However, there is a lot you can do against these "ninkles" (I promise, this is the last time I have used this ghastly neologism).
 
First of all, you wouldn't believe how effective simple leg exercises can be against those pouches above the knees. My favourite is to lift my legs - one at a time - in front of me, as high as I can, while sitting. It is a deceptively simple and "comfortable" exercise, but done correctly (extend your legs well and sit with your back straight) you can really feel - and even see - the upper leg muscles working. Best of all, you can do this exercise at any time, while watching TV - even in the toilet, if you wish. :)


You can also do this exercise while standing up, very straight. It is considerably more strenuous, and it engages other groups of leg and buttocks muscles. I also lift the the legs sideways and backwards. (When I started, years ago, I could not do this without some sort of support because my balance and muscular strength left much to be desired. Very soon, however, I could do these exercises without any support.)
 
These simple exercises are marvellous for muscle strength AND flexibility, but they also contribute greatly to the balance of the individual. And physical balance, in its turn, has a surprisingly profound effect on mental and emotional balance. (More on this some other time, I promise. It really is worth a separate posting.)


The trick is to incorporate these exercises into your daily routine so that they don't feel like a "chore". Which in many cases means doing just a few of them - perhaps one or two repetitions - at a time, possibly during other activities (such as watching TV, vacuuming, gardening... you name it). Or you can make them into a dance.
 
Whatever and whenever you choose to do, do it EVERY DAY. That is the trick, and that is why truly tiny "baby steps" really do work long-term, whereas "campaign" exercising does not. (It may work great, of course, but sooner or later the pouches will come crawling back if you don't keep it up.)
 

Now for the skin problems associated with knees, such as wrinkles and patches of rough skin.

This is even easier than the exercise part.
What you need to do is exfoliate and nourish.
 
Of course there are very many creams and lotions promising fabulous skin. And some of them do work, at least up to a point.  

My favourite - by far! -, however, is a simple procedure involving brown sugar and argan oil (a wonderful anti-sagging and anti-wrinkle substance).

Take a table spoon of unrefined sugar (the glucose in it works as a very good exfoliant) and mix it with a tablespoon of unrefined, cold-pressed argan oil. Massage your knees with this mixture and leave it on for about 15 minutes, then wash off with lukewarm water.
 

(You can also use corn meal instead of the sugar. It doesn't work as deeply as the brown sugar, but it does work well as a superficial abrasive.)
 

Do this once or twice a week.
 

You can also alternate the procedure above with rubbing your knees with a mixture of turmeric (a natural anti-wrinkle agent) and brown sugar. 
Make a paste with a few teaspoons of turmeric powder and an equal amount of brown sugar, adding just a few drops of water or argan oil (or any other oil, but argan is my favourite) and rub it well into your knees. Leave it on for 15 - 20 minutes, then wash well. You can follow with an application of argan oil, or the oil - or lotion - of your choice. (If so, apply it while the skin is still wet.)
 
BEWARE: Turmeric is a very potent natural pigment. Your knees will have the appearance of a yellow Easter egg if you don't wash them properly afterwards. It does NOT stain the skin permanently. It DOES stain everything else permanently, so be sure you do not get it onto your clothes or linen!

Rest assured: if you suffer from... what the Daily Mail said, the regime above will bring those pouches and wrinkles to their knees. :-)

What makes a femme fatale?

It may NOT be what you think.
 

I've been thinking about writing an article about this for a long time now (you wouldn't believe the silliness I hear coming from women's mouths, regarding parameters of "attractiveness" in women!), but I found the most extraordinary article today:

What makes a femme fatale?
(and what a femme fatale is NOT)

It is relatively short, but condensed there is real knowledge about the subject. And lucidity - one of the things that I admire the most... especially in a woman. 

The Dukan Diet... two years later

The Dukan Diet, named after dr. Pierre Dukan, a French physician, has been the diet ever since it was proclaimed as a wonder diet by the likes of royal-in-law Carole Middleton. (In fact, dr. Dukan himself has named Mrs. Middleton as the second single cause for his diet's recent boom.)

Considering that the wedding for which Mrs. Middleton supposedly thought she needed to shed weight was barely a month ago and only came into public awareness in November of last year (when the engagement was announced), it is fair to surmise that even Mrs. Middleton herself hasn't had the time thoroughly to evaluate the long-term effects - or efficacy - of the diet.

In France, where dr. Dukan hails from, the diet has been known for a few years now. And according to a survey conducted by CCM Benchmark and published in this article I read today, in the online magazine Journal des Femmes, 75 % of those who undertook the Dukan diet regained their weight within two years, with 36 % having regained it within a year. After four years, the percentage of those who regained their original weight is 80 %, according to this study. The same percentage, 80 %, is reported by Afssa (the French agency for health safety) among Dukan dieters after only two years on the diet. 11 % started regaining weight after three months, and another 11 % within 3 - 6 months after having started the regime. (Of those who reported mid- and long-term weight regain, 60 % said that they were "unable to complete the stabilisation phase".)
 

The same, of course, is true of most highly restrictive diets, leading the French health authorities to conclude that the Dukan diet is "the same as other diets".
 

What many people do not realise is that weight is all too often associated with hormones - which may also be the reason behind low energy levels and depression leading to so-called "emotional eating". (Here is a "long and pathetic list" of hypothyroid symptoms for you to enjoy.)

Is it possible to redress the hormonal balance with food? The jury is still out, but it stands to reason that, if food interferes with our hormones (as it does), then proper nutrition will help our hormonal balance. 
And there is a diet, called the Michael Aziz'sThe Perfect 10 Diet which claims to address just this. (The "perfect 10" referring to the ten essential hormones.)

Please, know that I am not endorsing this book or the diet as such. (And the writing style of the book is rather terrible, as is dr. Aziz's PR approach.) Anyway, here is a review of the book from the Los Angeles Times.
 

In a nutshell, the book recommends the following approach for both short-term and long-term weight loss and hormonal balance:


- Cut all artificial additives (but especially high-fructose corn syrup and sodium monoglutamate) as well as all processed soy proteins. (Soy in general is frowned upon by dr. Aziz - as well as many other nutrition experts.)

- Cut all "low fat" or "lite" products.

- Out with all baked goods or anything made with either white flour or white sugar (or both). 


- Out with fruit juices. (If you want fruit - which is highly commendable - eat whole fruits, not juices, says dr. Aziz.)

You will find a summary list of allowed foods in some of the Amazon reviews. It includes full fat milk and dairy (just not in excessive amounts), shellfish, poultry, eggs, oatmeal, grains, nuts, vegetables and whole fruits (i.e. not juices). It also allows the use of Stevia and, exceptionally, of agave syrup.

I haven't been on this diet, but it makes sense. And it's not a diet on which you're likely to starve - although it can be somewhat more difficult for vegetarians (of which I am one) to follow.

The best part of the book is that he actually explains how and why certain food substances interfere with specific hormones. I am not a nutrition expert, so it is difficult for me to assess the quality of research behind these statements, but at least it is reassuring to read about the actual causes of hormonal dysfunction. If Aziz's conclusions are valid, then it makes sense that eventual weight regain would be less likely on such a diet, and that the benefits include much more than just a slimmer figure.

If you've had any direct experiences with this diet let me know. I'd be glad to hear from you and publish your experience here.

White tea: beauty in a (tea) bag

Are you needlessly spending your money on commercial face tonics?

Don't. You don't need them.

Or rather, you can make your own for a few cents - and they'll work better than any store-bought concoction.

There are many ingredients you can use to make your own face tonic.

Vinegar, for example, is almost (but not quite) indispensable. It will optimise your skin's pH levels, soften it and keep infections away. (You'll learn all about it in a future post.)

There are, however, other, more "exotic" substances that are now readily available - yet remarkably few people use them for DIY skin care. 

White tea is one such marvellous substance.

In the past few years knowledge about the benefits of white tea has spread throughout the West. And clinical studies seem to prove that its purported benefits are more than the usual over-inflated fluff that inevitably comes with every fad. 

Here is a comprehensive list of the health (and cosmetic) benefits of white tea. As reported by Science Daily, it is even being studied as a possible "solution to the obesity epidemic".

It seems that white tea really does outperform even green tea when it comes to anti-ageing properties - and that's saying a lot! According to a 2009 study conducted by the Kingston University, in London, white tea extract outperformed all the other twenty "contestants", including green tea; and it did so by a landslide.

Have a look:

Anti-collagenase activities were exhibited by sixteen plants of which the highest activity was seen in:

white tea (~87%)
green tea (~47%)
rose tincture (~41%)
lavender (~31%).

N.B. Collagenase is the enzyme that breaks down collagen, which results in sagging, loose skin, and wrinkles.

Taken from this great website. 

You can read more about the cosmetic and health benefits of white tea on the following website which is a wonderful resource for information about the benefits of white tea (and all other types of tea, not to mention skin care in general):

"White tea may be even better for your skin than its green tea cousin"

If you are not drinking white tea yet, you may want to start now. At least give it a try. 

But when you do, do not throw the bag away, like a very beauty-conscious but utterly foolish friend of mine. Instead, wring it out, ever so slightly, and massage your face, neck and hands (and everything else you wish) with the bag.
(And if you take your tea at the queenly hour of five-six o'clock, so much the better! It has long been known that five-six o'clock is the time when the skin is more receptive to extraneous substances than at any other time of the day. This, however, is not writ in stone, so make sure you read our post about that in the near future.)

You can do this at any hour, with every tea bag you use. If, like many connoisseurs, you do not use tea in bags, then massage your skin with the leaves and finish the massage with a cotton dabbed in the liquid.

If you do this after your face has been cleansed, you may want to apply a moisturiser right away, before the skin dries. This is a time-honoured method for "locking" moisture in. It gives the skin a dewy look and multiplies the benefits of the preparation (cream or oil) you're using.

This is not exactly news - it was published more than a year ago - but I am sure many haven't heard about it.
Modern science has had to retract-  yet again! - one of its old premises: that only animals (including humans) produce the female sex hormone, progesterone.


Then, in 2009, a researcher Guido Pauli, conclusively identified progesterone in the leaves of the common walnut tree (Juglans regia) and in the Adonis plant (Adonis aleppica), a member of the buttercup family.
You can read the original paper here, and a Science Daily article here.


What has that got to do with self-made beauty, you ask?
Plenty.
As you well know, sex hormones determine the appearance of our secondary sexual signs (breasts, for example). They also play a vital role in the appearance and condition of the skin, hair and other body parts, not to mention our state of mind. And, as we all know, the levels of hormones decrease with age and change the dynamics of their interplay.


It is NOT wise to play Mother Nature and tinker around her lab, especially not when hormones are concerned.
But I am sure biochemists are hastily concocting "bio-identical" progesterone from walnut leaves as we speak. 
I am also sure there are many DIY "chemists" trying to do the same.


I am all for natural remedies - they really do work, fantastically in some cases - but in this case I would advise you to WAIT. Do not try to "extract" progesterone from walnut leaves or buttercups for the time being. Walnut leaves are full of juglone, which is a time-honoured natural dye (you may be wearing it on your hair right now). It is also a potent herbicide. And while you're not a herb, accidental ingestion of juglone is not likely to improve your looks or your health.


Instead, have a walnut or two. Every day. They'll help your skin and your hair (and your nails, and many other, less conspicuous parts) stay and look healthy, and make your brain act healthy.
The walnut, all of its parts, does have great curative powers for a number of complaints. You can read about it here.


And they were the food of the gods, in those good old days of the Golden Age.

Argan oil... Does it work?

Well, it depends on what you expect - and how quickly you expect it to happen.
But I can tell you this. For the past few months I've been giving my friends - male and female - argan oil as a gift. In fact, I don't think they'll ever receive any commercially concocted beauty products from me (except, maybe, some of the L'Occitane
 products - most of which, which, however, I can replicate myself and make them work just as well if not better).

As you can imagine, the reason why I am using it as a present is the efficacy of argan oil.
That darned oil just hasn't disappointed anyone yet!
(If it has disappointed you, please do let me know.)

My 79-year-old aunt's skin looks smooth and practically wrinkle-free again.
Although I must tell you, none of my relatives, except one, ever had very many wrinkles.
However the difference is visible, no question about that. It was visible after only a week or so of her using it. Not only did I notice it - she noticed it, which almost never happens.

Another relative of mine (in her early forties) who suffers from extremely dry skin has dumped all the other (expensive) creams and is now using only my home-made concoction of argan oils with a few drops of assorted essential oils.
And her brother (also in his early forties) now swears by argan oil. To him, I gave it pure, with no essential oils added, because he claims they give him headaches. (Not true - PURE essential oils can never give you hedaches - unless you're literally doused in them -, but they can make them disappear. However, I did not want to argue with him at that point.)

Other happy recipients include not only friends, but also elderly - yet still beauty conscious - neighbours.
I have yet to see a disappointed face.


But that's not the only reason why I like it so much.
Whenever I buy it, I feel good because I know my money will go to female cooperatives in Morocco, who now make a living off this tree and the oil of its kernels.
That thought literally makes me smile every time I fork out the money. :)
(In truth, I have been reading recently that things may not be as picture-perfect as they appeared to be. I'll keep you updated on this. But it surely beats paying handsomely to pharmaceutical companies!)