acne skin care

How often do you change your bedsheets or pillow covers? {Your Opinion}

Swathy · January 1, 2013 · 32 Comments

My answer to the question is preferably once in a week at least. But, my mom changes the entire bed linen every three days diligently!! I make it a weekly excuse saying I live alone but I do pass on for a month or two sometimes as well.

This ensures hygiene for one. If you have oily and acne prone skin, using same pillow everyday might result in breakouts so changing the pillow covers once in two days might help with controlling the breakouts. And, also, for hair, clean bed covers help to control dandruff and keep oily hair clean.

Also, if you might have noticed, the day you spread freshly washed bed linen, you get a good night’s sleep. You feel fresh when you get into the bed. Also, the room looks dirty and unclean if the linen has not been changed for long.

Oh and if you are down, you have to for sure change them after you are UP 😀 So, its a good practice to get the bed clothes washed at least twice a week. That’s on my next to-do list 🙂

So, how often do you change the covers?

Shahnaz Husain Beauty Tips

Swathy · November 21, 2012 · 13 Comments

I was too lazy to write a new post today and found this ASK SHAHNAZ column in Metro Plus, The Hindu. So, I am sharing those tips here and the credit for this entire article goes to the newspaper. For those who are not aware, Shahnaz Husain is the propagator for beauty industry in India.

Pimple Marks

Mix rice powder with curd and scrub with this paste once or twice a week. Do not use this if you have active acne or pimples, though!! This is only for marks.
This is a regular tip. Mix honey and lemon juice and apply on face everyday for 15 minutes. But, I would suggest the sensitive skin people to stay away from lemon and instead go for tomato or cucumber juice.
Apply face mask of multani mitti (Indian clay), rose water and lemon juice which is again a regular tip for half hour.

Dandruff and Greasy Scalp

Use lemon water for last rinse. Mix juice of one lemon in half glass of water (around 200ml). And, let the hair air dry.
Massage two table spoons of vinegar on scalp half hour before shampooing. [My Tip: Rosemary Essential Oil is amazing for dandruff!]
Egg white helps control oily scalp so massage it twenty minutes before washing your hair.
Include fresh fruits, raw salads, sprouts and yogurt in your daily diet. Drink lot of water daily. Having lemon water first thing in the morning also helps.

Blister developed due to Mosquito bite

Never ever scratch the bump or blister.
Dip a tea bag in cold water and apply it on the blister to calm it down and soothe the swelling.
Honey, aloevera gel or apple cider vinegar can also be applied as a spot treatment. [My Tip: Light hand massage of Aloevera gel really helps!!]

Excess Sweat and Body Odor

Wear fresh clothes and bathe twice a day, if possible. [My tip: Make sure your clothes dry in good sun even if not direct sunlight!]
Add one tea spoon of alum and crushed mint leaves to your bath water.
Tea Tree essential oil also helps with body odor and controlling sweat. Mix two drops with rose water or normal water and apply on the sweaty areas of the body using cotton ball.

High Frequency Treatment for Hair {Hair Care}

Swathy · October 28, 2012 · 46 Comments

Some time back, I remember reading a reader’s query regarding what is high frequency treatment and where to get these treatments. So, I thought of doing a post on this. I have been planning it since long but I was too lazy. Thanks for the push, dear reader 🙂 And, I am sorry that I couldn’t reply to the query personally.

I had come to know about this treatment in 2009 when I went to Lakme for Vital Indulgence. The name might sound really fancy but the entire thing is very simple. Now, if you remember the color spectrum which we has studied in physics, red has least frequency and blue or rather violet has most, right?
Similar principle applies here as well. What they do in this treatment is use high frequency light on the scalp. No, it doesn’t hurt or anything. At max, if your scalp is very sensitive, you might feel a little spark shock for a moment. For that, you can get the strength of the frequency adjusted so that you are comfortable with it.

The instrument either in form of a comb or a single rod which is in fact a glass electrode which when placed in the holder creates the low current and lets it flow through it. You can see the blue light in the electrode. When the electrode touches the scalp, you feel a light tingling sensation and a very comfortable and soothing vibration on the scalp.

High-frequency treatment uses low-current high-frequency alternating currents, delivered via a glass electrode. Because the high frequency current converts some of the oxygen in the air into ozone, the treatment has a germicidal action, and is also drying and warming. Consequently the treatment is used to aid healing, and also to help desquamation (the skin’s natural exfoliation), and simulate sweat and sebaceous glands.

At up to 250,000 Hz frequency, the hollow glass electrode behaves like a glow discharge tube, and is sometime called a “violet ray” or “violent wand”, (though the colour depends on the gas in the glass). Two electrodes are not required, and sparking may occur when the electrode is close to the skin. Because the effect may be pleasurable, similar devices are used in erotic electrostimulation. [Source: Wikipedia]

This comb is moved on the entire scalp. The treatment generally last for 15 minutes. The advantages of doing this treatment is that the high frequency kills any bacteria or other foreign bodies on the scalp preventing any scalp infection. The scalp has to be healthy for a healthy hair growth, right?

Moreover, the tingling and the vibration improves the blood circulation in the scalp and helps revitalizing the dormant hair follicles. This leads to better hair growth, controls hair loss, helps with dandruff issues as well. Also, the treatment in done in the hair spas so as to ensure better absorption of the treatment serums like hair growth serum or dandruff serums.

In fact, Punam also told me that this treatment is available for skin as well. It helps with breakouts and acne. The electrode is touched on the breakout and the effect is almost immediate. The pimple/acne is gone by the end of day or two. But, she also said that once we stop taking this treatment, the acne does come back. So, its kind of a curable treatment rather than a preventive measure.

I did think that whether its the same case with the hair as well but I think its more of a helpful treatment for hair because it can revive the dormant hair follicles which once revived and taken care of are not likely to become dormant again. It also helps relieve itchy scalp.

That’s my theory and I might be wrong but one of my friend has attested that one entire sitting (which includes 4-8 treatments depending on the severity of the condition) of the dandruff treatment hair spa has really stopped her age-old problem of dandruff. So, guess, it might really work.

I do have a feeling that it does work. Yes, I would recommend this treatment especially for the brides who are interested in getting hair growth or preventing hair loss. Its not that expensive either. Do check out the rates across all salons. Have you taken the treatment? How did you like it?