Suryanamaskar - a step towards a beautiful you {Health}

Suryanamaskar is a yoga technique done in the morning as a worship of sun god. It is a collection of 12 postures which flow from one to another. It provides all the benefits which yoga provides to the body.  Practice 10 rounds of the exercise early morning everyday.
I have enumerated some of its benefits:

• improves memory and concetration
• increases self-confidence
• improves the spine flexibility
• strengthens immune and digestive system
• detoxifies the body
• improves the body posture
• removes the excess fat
• improves blood circulation
• improves the skin and hair health
• increases the oxygen flow to the body and lungs
• improves mental health by combating stress

The video describes the procedure of Suryanamaskar. Visit here for a detailed step by step explanation of the salutation.

READ MORE - Suryanamaskar - a step towards a beautiful you {Health}

Don't hit me!

Used to be if you claimed that you got cancer because you were hit there (wherever on the body there was), people would scoff. Now researchers are looking into the possibility that a blow or wound could lead to cancer, and paying special attention to the cells around tumors. If the cells are weak, they allow the cancer to spread. You can read about new respect for old ideas here in the New York Times.

READ MORE - Don't hit me!

Aloevera for Hair: a quickfix {DIY}

A quick fix to make your hair beautiful and style it in a short time is to apply Aloevera gel. Take a little of Aloevera according to your hair length in the palms and apply it to the hair. Massage some of it into the scalp and apply the rest on the hair. Pay special attention to the ends. Aloevera makes the hair sticky till it gets absorbed into the hair so you can style your hair in the mean time. It takes around 5-15 minutes for aloevera to get absorbed into the hair and does not weigh your hair down. After getting absorbed, Aloevera makes your hair shiny and bouncy.

Aloevera conditions your hair, makes hair smooth and soft and protects it from sun. It also stimulates hair growth if used on a regular basis. Aloevera can be used to moisturize hair. It is a natural humectant like honey and retains moisture. It can also be used on a daily basis. The gel from the plant can be applied directly on the hair. If bought from store, ensure that aloevera is pure and does not contain artificial additives.

READ MORE - Aloevera for Hair: a quickfix {DIY}

Routine Hair Care {Hair Care}

Hair is one of the first thing which gets noticed when you meet a person. It can create or destroy one's personality. It can make a plain person beautiful. But, one needs to take care of their beautiful locks if they want to keep it in good condition all their life. Hair undergoes major changes three times in a woman's life: puberty, child birth and menopause. Apart from that, it is said that our Hair undergoes texture change every seven years. So, to keep up with these changes, one needs to take care of their hair meticulously. Some of the tips followed as a routine can help in taking care of your hair:

Regular Care

• Love your locks as they are. Do not compare them with others. Every person's hair is different.
• Use only those products which suit your hair. Do not get diverted by nice campaigns or beautiful packaging. Price of the products does not determine its worthiness. 
• Do not tease your hair or put any pressure on it unnecessarily. Try not to use brush as much as possible. Use a wide-tooth comb. Brushing puts unnecessary strain on hair. If you want to use a brush, use a natural bristles brush.
• Use satin or silk pillows while sleeping. Do not sleep with open hair. Braid your hair loosely.  Or, tie your hair with a satin or silk scarf. It also helps preventing the wrinkles and drying of the skin at night.
  
• Drink water regularly. Hair comprises of 95% proteins and 5% water.
• Take beauty sleep of 7-8 hours regularly.
• Take proper nutrition. Do not let your body be deficient in any of the vitamins or minerals.
• Oil your hair regularly. It gives natural conditioning to your hair. Use cold-pressed oils. Heat destroys the benefits of the oils. Mix various oils to get as many benefits as possible. Hot oil treatments are very useful in improving the hair condition.
• Keep the scalp clean. Wash your hair whenever you feel your hair is dirty. Remember to use mild shampoo. Use a conditioner after shampooing your hair. It keeps your hair moisturized. 
• Use various home remedies for deep conditioning treatments. They take time to work but if used regularly, keep your hair free of chemicals and keep them in better condition naturally and for longer time.
• Exercise and massage your scalp regularly for beautiful hair.

These simple steps followed regularly in the routine can take care of your hair in any weather and you will never have a bad hair day.

READ MORE - Routine Hair Care {Hair Care}

Exercises for Healthy and Beautiful Eyes {Eye Care}

Hi all!!!

Hope you are all enjoying your vacation. Well, today I have something really useful to tell you all. Its about cleaning the eyes. We all know the importance of keeping our eyes dust-free and giving them time to relax. Morning eye exercises are most important to keep eyes in good condition. There are various exercises which you can do:

• Stare at a far away object without blinking your eyes till they begin to water. It will sting badly if you are a starter, but, you get used to it gradually. This is one of the best exercises to remove the toxins from eyes and also improves your self-confidence.

         Tip: Try holding the eyelids with your fingers if you are not able to stare without blinking.

• Close your eyes tightly and pull all your face muscles in a taut condition for 5 seconds. Relax. Rub your palms together to warm them and place them on your eyes for 5 seconds. Repeat the procedure 10 times. 
• Look towards extreme right and then extreme left without blinking and without moving the head. Just move the eye balls. Repeat 5 times. Blink several times. Look up and then down. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Look diagonally up on left and then, diagonally down on right. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Follow the same with diagonal right up and diagonal left down. Repeat 5 times. Blink. Finally, rotate your eyes, first, in clockwise and, then, in anti-clockwise direction. Blink several times. 

These exercises are enough to keep your eyes and the skin around it in good health. There are many others which you can try out. Do not forget to blink. Blinking keeps the eyes in watery condition and eliminates the toxins. The more you blink, better your eyes will look.

READ MORE - Exercises for Healthy and Beautiful Eyes {Eye Care}

Do we apply the face masks correctly? {DIY}

Hi All!!!!!

So, how are the preparation for festivities going on????? Hope you are all having a gala time........Today, I wanted to talk about the face masks. Every lady uses face masks to rejuvenate her skin but do we all apply it correctly? Are there any ways to apply it correctly? Well, it is no rocket science. But, you just have to be careful not give any grounds for bacteria to breed or get any breakouts due to its incorrect usage.

• While using any mask, one should always prepare a fresh batch. Otherwise, the fresh ingredients used will turn stale and not give you the benefits you are expecting it to. On the other hand, it might even cause in outbreaks on the skin or any unwanted allergy. Keeping the face mask for a day in fridge is acceptable but make sure you keep it covered.

• Before applying the mask, make sure you have washed your face thoroughly and patted it dry. Do not allow it to be damp. The moisture may not allow the mask to work effectively.

• You might want to open your pores before using the mask. For that, you can take a wash cloth soaked in tolerable hot water and cover your face with it till it cools down. You might repeat this cycle for 5 minutes. Make sure you do not burn your skin. Allow the water to be as much hot as you can tolerate. After 5 minutes, your skin is ready for the treatment. Make sure the skin is dry.

• Take a paint brush or any make up brush thick enough to be able to spread the mask on your face. Try not to use the hands as it is unhygienic. Keep the brush solely for this purpose and wash it after every use thoroughly. Sterilize it once a week to prevent bacteria.

• In case you have to use hands, wash your hands with a disinfectant well. Dry your hands well and only then apply the mask to your face. Or, best, try to follow the facial right after a manicure. Your nail beds are clean at that time.

• Let the mask air dry. Do not use the blowers to dry it forcefully. Keep ample of time on hand to begin with the treatment. Relax in the mean time. Use tea bags for your eyes and lie down. Stay still. Do not try to pass time by reading or doing any other work. Minute movements can cause the mask to break, especially clay.

• While mixing the mask, you can use green tea (or any herbal tea), floral water, honey, glycerin or any vegetable oil which suits your skin instead of distilled water. It gives undoubtedly better results. Same goes with dry scrubs.

• After the mask has dried, do not use water to remove it. Take a water saturated cotton ball and gently wipe off the mask from the face. Be very gentle. Take your time. Do not hurry. The clay masks are little difficult to remove with this method. Try not to use wash cloths as you have the work of washing them and drying them carefully. You can use disposable paper napkins instead. Anything which is disposable and which is gentle on your skin is a good idea.

• After removing the mask, wash your face with water several times. You can follow with a green tea toner. Make sure your face is squeaky clean. Apply little moisturizer or better, 2-3 drops of oil. It will trap the moisture and keep the skin supple.

Some tips to remember:  

• Skin care treatments should be performed, preferably, in the evenings followed by a bath and sleep.  Sleep always helps the skin to rejuvenate with the extra nourishment you have just provided. Do take care that you have no appointments that evening and make sure you are not disturbed, even, by phone calls. You can keep your mobile on silent mode and return the calls next morning. Always keep in mind the effects of skin care prove best when you are completely at leisure and take your own sweet time for the whole process. 
  
• Sometimes, the treatments may be followed after the Oil Cleansing Method which I have already talked about.
  
• Complete the skin care routine before 9 P.M as body starts its detoxification process after that. Check out Face Good to know more about what time is best suitable for taking care of the skin.
• You can read a book or listen to music before going to bed. Going to bed after watching television or browsing internet is not definitely a good idea as it does not calm your mind and the sleep you get is disturbed. 
• One important thing to remember is to apply the face masks only for the time advised on the back of the packs or wait until they dry. Remove them as soon as they dry. For fruit masks, wipe them off after 15 minutes. Keeping the masks for longer time than specified is not a good idea.
• Apply a thick layer of the mask. Do not save on the mask (money to buy it) by applying a thin coat. The mask works by creating a barrier between your skin and the environment and provides its goodness to the skin. If the layer is not thick enough, the mask will not give the results expected.  
  

Have a happy basking with the mask.

READ MORE - Do we apply the face masks correctly? {DIY}

Keeping skin flawless and beautiful for the festive times {Skin Care}

Everyone is busy in Christmas and New Year preparations. So, how to prepare to look good in the celebrations. Follow the following tips and enjoy the holidays:

• Drink adequate amount of water, no matter what. People tend to drink less water in winters but it affects the skin more adversely. The winter winds dehydrate the skin anyways. You have to hydrate yourself to keep in balance. If you fail to do it, your skin will look leathery with all the make up on and no suppleness.
• Sleep properly and adequately. Finish your beauty sleep for minimum 7 hours. Do not take any drinks two hours prior to sleep. 
• Cleanse your face every night, no matter what. Otherwise, your skin will look aged on next day. 
• Before the celebrations begin, get yourself an appointment at the saloon well in advance. Remember this is a rush hour season and be on time. Get yourself pampered and indulge in expenses. You would love the result. Get a hair cut and highlights if you wish. They will look great. 
  
• On the day of festivities, give yourself appropriate time to get ready. Do not rush through it.
  
• Include body scrub, bath oils, bath salts in your bath and soak for 15-20 minutes. Alternatively, you can pour 2-3cups of milk and 2-3 drops of any essential oil of your choice in your tub and soak. Scrub with wash cloth afterward gently.
  
• While soaking, you can also apply any fruit face mask if you want and tea bags on your eyes to relax them and make them look brighter. Banana, papaya, orange brings an instant glow on the face. Apple makes your skin look clean and bright. Any fruit will do the job because of the natural ingredients present in it. You can also include milk cream or vegetable oils suitable to your skin while mashing the fruits to moisturize. Prepare a fresh batch every time.
  
• Wash your hair before you go for a soak. Do not condition. While you soak, apply honey on your hair and cover with a shower cap. While you are showering, wash your hair well and use any tea or vinegar as last rinse. It gives instant shine to your hair. Let your hair air dry if not in hurry. 
• When you come out of the shower, apply some perfume on the skin. Dab perfume on warm areas of your body like armpits, cleavages, inner thighs. Moisturize your body. Apply perfume again on the same spots you applied earlier or as per your choice. You can apply talc and then again apply perfume. Last layer can be put on the clothes you wear. Ensure the floral smells and buy a natural perfume which is non-irritating to your skin. Applying perfume in layers and warm areas ensures it to stay longer.
• When your hair is damp, style your hair. You can use shine serums to increase the shine or other hair products of your choice. Use products in moderation so as to not let your hair weigh down. Less is good.
• Before applying make up, do not forget your sunscreen in case your are going out in day time.
• At night, a lip gloss and mascara is enough to give the effect.  
• For people who are not product junkies and like to go natural like me, 2-3 drops of any vegetable oil would be enough to bring shine to your hair. When your hair is damp, take oil into your palms and finger comb through your hair paying special attention to the ends. This will seal the moisturizer into your hair. While finger combing, gently untangle your hair so that you do not need to comb or brush it. Simple finger combing can give great style to your hair. Try it out. Definitely, it depends a lot on the hair texture too. Wavy hair is the best bet. Or, if you still prefer combing, use a wide tooth comb. Do not forget sunscreen in any case. To be ready for a night out, a lip gloss adds a smashing effect. Making up the eyes is no harm but the least you can do is to apply kohl. They give an instant lift to your eyes. Wash your eyes with lot of cold water before that to make them look brighter. Buy good products. Do not worry about expenses. Cheap products are often not good for the skin but, again, do not judge by the brands. Go for products which suit your skin.
  

Take care of your skin regularly and you do not need any special vanity case to prepare for a party. Proper nutrition is important in skin care. But, indulge during festivities. Do not starve yourself of the enjoyments.

Wish you all a Happy Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

READ MORE - Keeping skin flawless and beautiful for the festive times {Skin Care}

Living While Black/O, the Tribune

[Is this breast black or white?]

For a while, there's been the term DWB--Driving While Black--African-American drivers report being pulled over for this offense. Now we're finding out (again) that it's dangerous to be LWB, especially in Chicago. Today's Tribune reports on a study that showed that the African-American death rate from breast cancer in 2005 was 99 percent higher in Chicago than for white women, a fivefold increase since 1990.
This is not new. Chicago Magazine reported on this a couple of years ago, or a version of this--a previous study by the same researchers at the Sinai Urban Health Institute. The same bad news: Chicago is worse than other cities. The gap between black and white health here is widening. The Trib is careful to quote an African-American doctor who partly blames the victim--the problem is partly lifestyle, she says; partly it's poverty; and partly lack of knowledge about health.
Hmm, says Cancer Bitch to herself, why is it that this is the only person in the story who's identified by race? Could it be that everyone else quoted is "normal," i.e., white, and so doesn't have to be identified?
The health study was published online yesterday in the American Journal of Public Health, the Tribune avers. It identifies Steve Whitman (no race), director of the Sinai Urban Health Institute as the author of the study. The conclusion drawn from the study, according to the journal abstract: Overall, progress toward meeting the Healthy People 2010 goal of eliminating health disparities in the United States and in Chicago remains bleak. With more than 15 years of time and effort spent at the national and local level to reduce disparities, the impact remains negligible.
You can find the abstract of the piece here. You can get the article for 30 bucks from the AJPH site.
Along these same lines, but even more depressing: A Rush University Medical Center study published in November showed that Chicago's black and white breast cancer mortality rates were the same in 1980. This was also in the Chicago Magazine story. From that piece, by Shane Trisch:
We've arranged things in this country so that the darker your skin, the shorter your life will be--Steve Whitman.

READ MORE - Living While Black/O, the Tribune

Soyoyoy

Soy has been another one of those things--unclear whether it's bane or boon to women whose tumors feed on estrogen. The reason is that soy has estrogenic properties. Thus, Dr. Keith Block, who practices integrative medicine, advises women with estrogen-positive tumors to eat soy no more than two to three times a week. On the other hand, the very mainstream oncology bigwig from Fancy Hospital said that women with estrogen-positive tumors could have soy a couple of times a day. He said this at the Town Hall meeting this fall, but he didn't quote any studies that led to his recommendation.

Now comes a study from Vanderbilt and Shanghai. Researchers looked at 5,000 women with breast cancer. They found that those with the highest intake of soy protein had a 29 percent lower risk of death during the study period, and a 32 percent lower risk of breast cancer recurrence compared to patients with the lowest intake of soy protein. Women with both E-positive and E-negative tumors had positive results. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/302/22/2437?home=

“I would say that this study would indicate that women with breast cancer should (eat) soy products,” says Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, an epidemiologist at Nashville's Vanderbilt University Medical Centre who authored the study. “I think that it shows there is protection there.”

So bring out the edamame, which I'd been eschewing all this time, and let's cut up the tofu, which I've always maintained is the original manna.

READ MORE - Soyoyoy

Oil Cleansing Method {DIY}

Hey All!!!

Good to post again. A few days ago I had talked about OIL CLEANSING. Well, let me introduce to you something which I stumbled across a few days ago. I tried it and trust me, its amazing. I do not know how well it removes make up but it makes your skin squeaky clean without drying it. Rather, it leaves your skin smooth and supple. And, your skin glows the next day. You would love yourself.

Procedure:

• Start by keeping everything close to you. You would need a dry wash cloth (not too harsh for your skin), a bottle containing castor oil and olive oil mixed in a proportion suitable to your skin* and running hot water.
• Apply oil generously to your skin and massage the oil into your skin well using firm hands for around 5-10 minutes. It feels relaxing and is soothing for your face muscles. Exercise your cheek bone, jaw bone, nose, chin, forehead and eyes (use ring finger for eyes). The finger movements should be outwards and upwards towards the ear from the chin, cheeks, nose and upper lip area.
• After massaging to your heart's content, soak the wash cloth in hot running water and apply it on to your face. Keep the warmth of wash cloth to the point you can bear. Keep it on until it cools down and then wipe your face nicely with the same wash cloth. 
• Wash and soak the same wash cloth under hot running water for sometime to clean it and saturate it. Again apply it your face, keep till it cools and then, wipe away your face. Repeat this cycle till you feel your skin is clean. 3-4 times should be enough. 
• You can apply moisturizer according to the need of your skin. In place of moisturizer, you can apply a drop of the same oil used to cleanse your face. If it does not feel dry and tight, do not apply anything on to your face. Your face needs to breathe. Go and have a nice sleep.

Next morning, you need not cleanse your face. A wipe with a wash cloth is enough to clean it. Your skin would be glowing. Oil cleansing not only removes grime, dirt and make up from your face, but also, the blackheads and blemishes. This procedure should not be done too frequently. I think 2-3 times is fine in a week. Care should be taken not to scratch the skin.

Go and check it out for yourself. Have a happy cleansing.

* Remember, castor oil is quite thick and can be drying for the skin if used in large quantities. It has cleansing properties but is too strong on skin if used alone. That is why you need another light oil to dilute it. You can also use jojoba oil. For the mixture of oil, you can use 75-25 castor-olive oil combination for normal skin. You can experiment with different proportions till you find the one suiting your face.  The proportion of mixture should be such that for dry skin people, castor oil should be less in proportion like 50-50 or 60-50 and people with oily skin can have 80-20 as the proportion. But, since every skin is different in its needs, you should find out the right one for yourself. It would take trial and error but remember one rule, do not use too much of castor oil. It will dry your skin irrespective of its type.

READ MORE - Oil Cleansing Method {DIY}

How do you solve a problem like tamoxifen?

I take it and don't think about the side effects very often because I can't bear to. The oncologist said to take it so I take it. I know there's a chance of developing endometrial cancer, so I get checked out by the Smooth Gynecologist Who's Younger Than I Am But Acts Like She's Older. What tamoxifen does seems so direct: It cuts off the absorption of estrogen, which is what my tumor grew on. In August the New York Times told us that tamoxifen can cause the formation of a non-estrogen-sensitive and hard-to-treat tumor. And Tuesday's NYT tells of omission bias, a term for the phenomenon whereby a person worries more about a low risk of harm from something they do than about a higher risk of harm from doing nothing. In the story, the worry was about tamoxifen. The Times reported that women are afraid to take the drug. Out of 632 women in a study, 80 percent said they were worried about side effects, and most of the women said they wouldn't take tamoxifen.
At rowing practice (indoors) Monday night someone was complaining about tamoxifen's side effects, including weight gain. I feel like a fool to take it. But the good it can do is significant. Though now I read now that there's a chance of cataracts and blood clots. My polycythemia vera puts me at risk for clots, and I take hydroxyurea for the p. vera, even though the drug could cause leukemia, because the condition itself could cause leukemia, and my inhaled steroid for asthma could combine with my other drugs to make me even more liable to develop blood clots. But the hydroxyurea lowers my red blood cell count, which makes me less likely to have a clot. Red blood cells are those round red spheres in the image above.

It is a difficult, difficult thing to be alive.

The papers pile up and the news gets worse and there's another surge, the world is dangerous and the wind chill here at the moment is four below. The house is creaking from the cold. I'm wearing a flannel nightgown from Austria and L is asleep between flannel sheets with sketches of snowmen on them.

On the one hand, on the other hand, on the other other hand.

[shrug image from dreamstime.com]

READ MORE - How do you solve a problem like tamoxifen?

Green Tea Beauty Uses {DIY}

Hi

We all are, by now, aware of the benefits of drinking Green Tea everyday thanks to the marketing of its benefits done so aggressively by everyone from cosmetics to health care professionals.

It can provide you with abundant anti-oxidants to slow down your aging process. You can cut down your calories by not adding any sugar or honey to your tea but it depends on your taste, of course. Not everyone can drink it. Anyways, I am not here to tell you how to drink your cup of tea or tell you about its benefits. I know that you all are more than saturated with all that information.

You all must have heard about the growing use of green tea extracts in the cosmetic industry. Well, instead of spending large bucks on buying such products which contain less than 10% of the green tea extract as its ingredient and mixed with all sorts of chemicals, you can use your own freshly brewed green tea for the same effects at home and save your bucks simultaneously. You can use green tea as a rinse for your hair, wash your face with it, use it as a toner, in the body scrub and for those people who like making their own moisturizers and all, you can use green tea instead of simple distilled water to provide you with extra benefits. After drinking your cup of tea, you can use the left over tea leaves to brew another cup. You might want it to be a little concentrated so use less water and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. After straining, put the brew in the fridge for half hour. When chilled, you can use it the way you want to. You can also relax your eyes by placing cotton balls saturated with green tea on your eyes.

If you do not drink green tea then you can buy the supplements available at drug stores. Enjoy your cup of tea and the health and skin benefits that come with it.

READ MORE - Green Tea Beauty Uses {DIY}

Growing Long Eyelashes {DIY}

Hi

Well, growing long eyelashes seem to be too difficult. Everyone wants beautiful eyes framed with long and lush eyelashes. Such eyelashes are not a natural gift to everyone but you need not despair. Some patience and regularity in your routine can help you achieve that task. To be frank, I do not know whether you can grow that thick eyelashes as you watch on the screens when you look at your favorite actress but definitely, you can make them better than their present condition. Apply castor oil every night. Be patient. The results would not be seen over night. Your eyelashes cycle completes in about two months so by end of two months, you can definitely see your eyelashes in a better shape.

And, before leaving, vaseline does no good for the eyelashes so please do not waste time using that remedy. It just makes your eyelashes wet and sticky and when they are wet, the eyelashes look longer so basically, what you see after applying vaseline is just an illusion and I'm not even sure whether you should actually apply vaseline to the delicate skin around the eyes.

Bye for now.

Have a Good Night.

READ MORE - Growing Long Eyelashes {DIY}

Welcome to my blog!!!

Hey All!!!

I just wanted to post my first blog saying I hope I keep on my resolution to keep blogging. I find it interesting to read others posts and tried on blogging earlier but due to work pressure, discontinued in the middle and it has been a year since I have written anything. So, please keep up with my grammatical or spelling errors and give me time to get back into my mode of writing.

This time I wanted to write about something really different and exciting which I hope would be useful to all. That's why, I have picked up skin care as my topic. Seeing the boom in cosmetic industry and latest craze for organics and natural stuff (into which even I have also fallen!!), I thought I could share some interesting tips which might help you with your budget and give you some satisfaction which comes with doing stuff on your own. Even men have become too conscious of skin care. Bravo!!!!

There are a lot of blogs and sites on skin care and I personally like some, the links to which I'll be posting in my subsequent posts. I know you must be thinking why to spend time reading new and newer blogs which post the same things over and over again and also that, since I personally like some of the blogs and sites, why do I not be happy just reading them. Well, to answer the second part is that I wanted to do some thing constructive and feel involved in helping people out, not only by commenting on someone else blogs but also writing things in my own way and sharing my personal experiences with each and every remedy I have tried.

I just hope that my readers will like the blogs I post and will comment on how they liked it and if they did not like, I would want them to please tell me what they dislike. Send me comments for any topic which you think I should write about.

In due time, I would be writing about OIL CLEANSING as a method to remove make up and improving the texture of your skin. Watch OUT!!!

BByes for now. Take Care. God Bless You.

READ MORE - Welcome to my blog!!!