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Do not pick on your skin!!

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Ohk, so yes, I have been MIA for a very long time now and you have been seeing quite a few sporadic posts from me. The reason is I’m just being plain lazy. Give me a laptop and I will read all 24 hours but when it comes to writing for my own blog, it takes lot of diligence and patience. I do like to particular about my posts and make it as easy to read as possible so if I am not in mood, it kinda becomes difficult. So, yeah, life is not so good at the moment but then there is always a beacon of light shining at the end of the tunnel. I am just waiting to reach the end. And, before I run away with my philosophical perspicacity on my circumstances, I shall come to the topic of the day. If you remember, I had started a series of bad habits which we are not aware of consciously but are extremely harmful for our skin in December. So, continuing in that vein, today’s bad habit to be eradicated is – Picking or Poking or unnecessarily irritating your skin.
Yes, I suffer from this very very bad habit and I have my college to blame for it. In my college, I has 1 or 2 stray hairs on my chin which my friends made fun of 🙁 and I got into the habit of plucking them out with my nails. Very very Harmful habit as I have come to realize. It has many implications which I’ll discuss with you in a short while. I have also seen a few other people who are addicted to this habit. 
Effects on Skin
So, what happens to skin if you pick or pluck on it?? Well, for one, your skin sags at those areas. Yes, it will make you look old. Secondly, blemishes and dark spots are a direct consequence because of the blood clots under your skin and it really takes a long while to heal. Thirdly, when you pick at your skin using your nails, you are harming the nails in the process. They get brittle, drier and unattractive. So, another incentive to stay away from this  habit.
Worst of all the consequences is bad breakouts. Oh Yes, it has happened with me and I am currently dealing with the situation 🙁 It is not pretty at all, trust me. When you pick at your skin for whatever reason, the cells under the skin get irritated and if you are really insensitive with your skin, it can trigger and inflammation. This can easily happen when you are dealing with facial hairs or eyebrows and popping pimples. This inflammation can result in the worst form of acne – the bubbles filled with pus which you can’t treat using anything (trust me, I have been there and done that !!). So, stop this habit right now. Your skin will thank you. Either learn to live with your skin as it is or do something else but do not pick at your skin. Just stop touching your skin with your fingers coz its equally bad as we know that bacteria from the fingers get settled on the face.
Now, I would not discuss in detail how to get rid of this habit coz I have been trying since quite a long time but have not yet been able to. But, strict self-control seems to be the light of the day. Habits die hard but it is said that if you can carry a habit for 21 days to be precise, it becomes a habit. So, control yourself for 21 days and you will live!!  

Patanjali Divya Dant Manjan {Product Review}

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Ok, so this might be the most weirdest review you had ever read. I am feeling so embarrassed to write this 😀 I mean, come on, who uses dant manjan now a days. My guess would be very few people. But, I had to review this because it is such an effective product. So, this is my another purchase from Baba Ramdev’s collection!! I had got so bored of toothpastes doing nothing that I decided to give this a try. Wait till you see the ingredients and then you might also change you mind!!
Price: 40 INR for 100 gms
(expiry date for 2 years)
Ingredients
So, are you impressed?? Better than fluorides and sulfates, right?? Some of the ingredients are very common and used very often as extracts in the toothpastes like salt, neem, babool, pudina or mint and laung or cloves. I love Promise toothpaste coz of that reason. It has cloves taste in it. Some of the other well-known ingredients are also there like turmeric, camphor, black salt, peppermint and black pepper which are all renowned for their goodness. Another reason why I bought this was that it was a dry powder so free of any chemicals. I am trying to be more environment conscious now a days.
 
My Experience
One bottle of 100gms will last a very long time coz it takes only half a tea spoon for one person every day. It is more than enough, trust me. I have used more and wasted the powder. Even when using toothpaste, I tend to take only a small pearl size. It keeps my teeth healthy and unnecessarily I do not end up wasting the product on my sink. Let me make this clear here. I am not a miser. I am just trying to be conscious and do not like wasting products. I do enjoy taking even a last bit out of whatever I have bought. And, I am a spendthrift. Ask my mom!! Ok, so this bottle has a flip-top cap with a decent size hole which does not allow excessive amount of powder to come out of the bottle.
So, coming back to the tooth powder, it is greenish in color as you can see. And, accidentally, I got out more of the powder so had to end up using more. There is a big disadvantage in that which I will tell you shortly. Half a tea spoon is more than enough. And, brushing with this doesn’t even consume much time. I stick to the two minute schedule only and using this powder doesn’t make it inconvenient. It tastes very much like cloves with a hint of mint and black pepper. The taste is not unpleasant at all. It thoroughly cleanses the mouth and I am pretty sure that it fights the germs effectively coz my breath doesn’t smell bad :O even after an entire day. The powder does foam a little bit so that it doesn’t feel all powdery inside the mouth. And, it gives a very refreshing feeling after brushing. Ok, so coming to one of the most important considerations while buying a toothpaste, does it whiten the teeth? Well, actually, it does not whiten the teeth but the powder removes the stains on your teeth and brings back its natural color. Well, for me, it works fabulously. An added incentive is that it brings back the natural color of the lips too. The pigmentation my lips has considerably lightened since I have been using this and my lips have become pronouncedly pink.

Now, coming to one of its main or probably only disadvantage. It leaves the mouth feeling a little raw after brushing for probably 5 minutes. This feeling decreases with consistent usage but if you accidentally end up using more (which I was talking about in the last paragraph), your mouth would feel even more raw. To combat this feeling, I drink a lot of water which neutralizes the effect. The reason for such a feeling might be the ingredients list. All things used are natural so the mixture might be extremely potent. I cannot fathom any other reason for such a typical reaction.

Ok, so why am I showing you a yellow brush??? The result of using this dental powder. Remember it has turmeric as one of its ingredients so this is the result.If you find this too gross, then of course, you should definitely stay away from this product.

My Recommendation
If you do not like any toothpaste and do not mind going for a little out of the league and seeing your brush yellow, then this is a fabulous product.

Also Read
Patanjali Ojas Multani Mitti Soap {Product Review}

Patanjali Ojas Multani Mitti Soap {Product Review}

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I am not a big fan of soaps but then I do not care much for body washes too. I use whatever catches my eye and end up not picking it up again. But, this soap was undoubtedly one of the mentionable ones.I got this soap after reading its review by Anamika. Well, I had never used clay soaps and this intrigued me coz multani mitti is gentle enough to be used as a daily exfoliant.
Before starting on with the review, I would like to introduce Patanjali to all of you who are not aware. It is the brand started by Baba Ramdev and sells all the ayurvedic concoctions and products. They have also recently forayed into cosmetics where you can find a lot of interesting products. For a list of products, check out their website. Also, these products are available only at Patanjali shops which are opening at almost all places now a days so keep a lookout in your vicinity. They also have an online shopping point mentioned in their website.
Price – 35 INR
Ingredients
An impressive list of ingredients. I am not very sure if you can read all the ingredients so I will just recount the most important ones – turmeric, sandalwood, aloevera, brahmi, neem, manjishtha, tulsi, bhringraj, liquorice and reetha – the ones which I know from the list. The base material of the soap is supposedly has oil base, multani mitti, zinc oxide and jasmine scent or fragrance.
Zinc Oxide is an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory along with being a broad-spectrum sunblock agent. It is especially useful for people with inflamed skin.
Liquorice helps in skin lightening but is also useful for treating dry skin and eczema, psoriasis and such kinds of skin conditions.
Manjishtha is again an another inflammatory which cleanses the skin and soothes it.
My Experience
I loved the soap because it doesn’t dry the skin like others do. The multani mitti is actually there. The soap is long over otherwise I would have clicked it. It lathers a lot, is muddy in color (similar to that of multani mitti only) and has a very strong jasmine smell which rises a notch in the bath which I do not really like but can bear. The grittiness of multani mitti is exfoliating and very gentle on the skin. The soap gives a very clean feel after the shower and doesn’t leave any residue behind which some soaps do (I do not like the residue at all so that’s a plus for me!).
Once I accidentally dropped the soap in my bucket which was full of very hot water so the soap ended up staying for around 5-7 minutes in the water. When I finished my bath, I fetched out the soap. It was completely soft and there was nothing but multani mitti in my hand. My fingers indented the soap and its shape changed completely. Though, after a few hours, the soap again firmed up but obviously in a very weird shape which was apparently very ergonomic for me 🙂 So, according to me, this is a good soap to be bought.
A single bar lasted me around one to one and a half month so it just doesn’t dissolve in water.
My Recommendation
A good substitute for the commercial soaps, is far more inexpensive and does a better job if you compare it with high-end soaps like Dove and Olay.