Beauty Talk

Sadia Moyeen, Beautian, La Belle

Q. In one issue, you gave a remedy for hair fall, which includes onion juice etc. As I am also facing hair loss problem I would kindly ask you to repeat this same natural remedy again, & please mention:
a) The amount of things, and
b) How long should I keep it on my hair?
Ans. Yoghurt 1 tbsp. Beaten egg 4 tbsp. Onion juice 1 tbsp. Oil 2 tsp. Mix together and keep on for ½ an hour.

Q. I am 14 years old and I have a problem. I am a dark girl and I wish to get fair. What should I do? I do not want to use 'Fair and Lovely' products as it creates problems for my skin. I am having skin problems, which never happened to me before. I am having pimples. How do I stop it? How do I get rid of the pimples that I already have? Many people advise to burst the pimples. Should I do that? Please help me out in both the cases. -Worried

Ans. At your age, pimples are part of the deal, but you can take care of your skin by keeping it clean, drinking plenty of water and following a healthy diet containing lots of fruits and vegetables. Never burst pimples, as they will leave scars that take forever to fade. When a pimple first appears, apply a paste of neem leaves and haldi on top of it and leave on overnight. Not all over the face, only on the required spot.

Make a fairness pack using yoghurt (1 tsp.) uptan (1 tsp.) haldi (pinch) lemon juice (½ tsp.) and apply every morning. Keep it on for 15 minutes then wash off. Whenever you leave the house make sure to use a sunscreen SPF 30 to protect you skin from sun damage.

Q. I am a 14-year-old girl. And I want you to give some advice. My face is oily and whenever I put any natural pack or something on my face I get rashes all over. Can you please suggest any cleanser that might suit me? I have my uncle's wedding coming up and I want to have my hair done at a parlour. Do you think it is right thing to do? As for my make up I want to put eye shadow, lipstick and some other such things. Do you think it is okay to use this stuff on my skin for those specific days only? -Nadee

Ans. You seem to have sensitive skin so avoid packs. Simply clean your skin regularly with a face wash and use mild lotions like Johnson's baby lotion or Oil of Ulay to moisturise.

If you wish to do your hair I see no reason why you shouldn't. As far as make up is concerned avoid foundation completely. Dab a little compact pad on your T-zone and apply a higher shadow on your eyes with a thin liner and mascara. A light glossy lip colour should suffice. Keep it very natural and minimal. Very young girls look terrible if they are too made up.

Q. I've got an almond-shaped face but unfortunately I have got a big forehead, less hair in the front and a thinning hairline in the middle of the starting line of my hair. Could you please suggest an appropriate haircut for me? -Worried

Ans. Bangs on your forehead would make it look smaller but your have to make sure the fringe does not look like the ones we give little schoolgirls. It should be a little spiky or uneven.

Q. I'm 22 years old, and have always had a very oily scalp. I shampoo everyday since it feels uncomfortable otherwise; besides, it looks like I've put on oil if I don't. Anyway, I don't like to use commercially made shampoos for oily hair, so I make my own. I boil 2 handful of mint in about 300ml water for 20 minutes, and add the cooled solution to the Neutrogena Clean normalising shampoo (which comes in a 300-ml bottle). I read this in a book. This helps a bit, but it still starts getting oily after 12 hours. Should I decrease the amount of water, or mint, or increase the boiling time? I also read that amla, shikakai and trifala are good for oily hair. Should I add those with the mint and boil them too? If so, how much of each? Please advice, and please state the exact quantity of everything. And please give your own suggestions too. Nazia

Ans. Hey Nazia,
Did it cross your mind that your mint recipe is not working? How about we scrap that for a while? Apply some lemon juice to your scalp for 15 min. before a shampoo, which is specifically meant only for hair, it should clearly say, so on the bottle. Amla and Shikakai are good for all types of hair and you can use them for hair and you can use them for hair packs. They will improve the quality of your hair and will curb hair fall.

Q. I am a 22 years old female. I have a combination skin type and fair complexion. I have been suffering from skin diseases like dermatophyte infections, bacteria, yeast and other fungal infections on my thighs and groin. I have taken treatment for this and now I am cured. The problem is the affected areas became very black! It is so much darker than any other part of my body that it seems unusual and embarrasses me. How can I get rid of these black marks? Is there any kind of patent medicine or cosmetic cream to remove the blackness and beautify my skin? Where can I get it and how much does it cost? Please, help me.

A. Yes, creams containing hydroquinine 2% will help lighten the dark patches but do ask your dermatologist to recommend the appropriate cream as I have noticed that these are not easily available. Perhaps he will suggest an alternative medicine, which is available in Bangladesh.

Q. My hair becomes oily just 2 days after shampooing. I have tried some home remedies like vinegar, lemon juice, and black tea after shampooing, but nothing had worked. Could you suggest me some good brand of shampoo for oily hair? Besides my underarm has become dark by using razor for last 7-8 years. Is there any product that I can use to get back the natural colour of skin -S.A

A. Use only lemon juice on your scalp for 15 min before a shampoo. L'Oreal shampoo for oily hair is good. To lighten the skin of your underarms apply uptan and yoghurt with a little scrub regularly. Fair polish works wonders as well.

Q. I am a 13-year-old girl. Recently I have been having pimples and I usually squeeze the white stuff out. I use Johnson's pH5.5 face wash. Then why do I have pimples? Is squeezing the white stuff out safe? I want a clear face without any pimples. I have a short hair cut, and though my hair is soft and shiny it is not silky. I put on Livon when I need to but could you suggest a natural way to make my hair silky? Please help. -Nayeema

A. Dear Nayeema
If you are going to squeeze out the white stuff, chances are you will scar your face. Apply neem and haldi paste on the spot overnight as and also when the need arises. If your hair is soft and shiny you've already got it all. Use conditioner after shampooing to make it more so.

Q. I am 18 and my skin is normal. But I have hair in my hands, which I want to remove and for that I do not want to use any cream. So please tell me how can I do waxing? I want to know herbal ways of doing that, which I can apply at home. Is it harmful for skin if I use any waxing machine?

At past my hair was thicker, straight and healthy but now it is thinning out, and appears lifeless . I cut my hair to shoulder length thinking that the falling might reduce. But it did not work. My hair is becoming curlier day by day and rough too. After use of conditioner the falling increases. I am in a great problem. Tell me what should I do now? -Sharmin

A. Dear Sharmin,
You can use cold wax to wax at home Apply wax in one direction with butter knife. Press a cotton square cloth on it yank off in the opposite direction of the hair growth. It would probably be easier to use a hair-removing machine for you. Parlours use warm wax, which is easier to use and more effective and efficient and not to mention less painful.

Make a pack with yoghurt (1tbsp) Egg (4-tbsp.) onion juice 1 tbsp. oil (2-tsp.) mix. Keep on for ½ an hour and shampoo off with cool water twice a week. It'll stink like hell but will stop hair fall.

Feed your face

Anything green (not the ones that cows feast on) is good for health especially during the summertime. This Baishakh chew down on at least three raw food items, three green foods, three non-sugary, non-carbohydrate snacks a day. Keeping this checklist in your head will guide you to food that builds health and tastes fresh. Keep whole, natural foods in your diet and cut down on empty calories. Poor diet contributes to PMS, lethargy, mood swings, depression and fat thighs.

 

UNDER A DIFFERENT SKY

My foreign lilt

I remember my first days of attending an all-American high school. I barely understood a word anyone said. It was not that I did not speak English, but I just was not down with the lingo, the 'cool' American way of speaking so swiftly, with that carefree accent. My stiff half-British half-Bengali accent was completely out of tune, a little exotic maybe, just like my tanned skin tone, like a misplaced brown chess piece walking around in confusion on a white and black chess board. Eventually I realised that carefree American accent was probably the easiest of all accents to pick up, and with accepting that accent, not only do you lose your originality but you also lose your status of being the 'exotic' foreign girl. I attended a high school in one of the smallest states of America, predominately Caucasian and with a crowd who are more into drama than football. Before I knew it, I was one of them. Did I really have a choice? There was only another brown (or shall I be politically correct?) South Asian person in the school, who was more Caucasian than the Caucasians themselves. So I had no option of hanging out with my "own kind". Instead I became "one of them." So after singing all kinds of show tunes in different high school musicals and couple of marching band trips here and there I graduated and moved on to college. This time I picked a university that was diverse in every sense. As I walked into the campus, I realised I had not felt that South Asian in a very long time. I guess I almost forgot I was so "ethnic." In high school, I was like the crow in a herd of peacocks imagining I had the shiny feathers too, but college quickly reminded me I was just a crow, and a lost crow at that. Here in college the crows hung out with mostly other crows and the peacocks with other peacocks, and every kind to themselves. It's not that these groups didn't mix, they did. However, an Indian guy in a group of Caucasian was immediately labelled as either a nerd (if he was with the studious Caucasian crowd), a fraternity boy wannabe (depending on how much beer he chucked down), or a plain old snob for rejecting his own kind. If he was hanging out with the African American crowd he was either into music (not heavy metal for sure), or into basketball or just plain old ghetto (a derogatory term used for individuals who do not necessary want to show class or care). During my orientation, I met my future roommate, a Gujrati girl, who handpicked me to be her roommate. I did not see anything wrong with that; I rather looked forward to being with someone who might have similar background as mine. We moved into our tiny dorm room, and within that semester I acquired a huge group of "desi" friends. My accent was changing again, to a trendier tune, a hint of desi dosage with a bit of ghetto street intonation and some leftover California valley girl enunciation from high school. I discovered the world of Desis, the desi dance parties, the desi cultural shows, the desi clubs and desi cliques. Most of this desi crowd was not born in India or Bangladesh. They were born and brought up here and in college they got together to bring back something they were mostly embarrassed of, their parent's culture. It is not that they fully accepted their parents' desi ways but they modified the essence of being desi by making the word something authentic and not uncool. So the cultural shows barely had any Bharat Nattayms. They were full of dance sequences with filmi music and samosa's for a dollar, and followed with a party at some overcrowded club. The clubs played remixed Indian music to make the party more authentic, and with this added approval, the desi crowd danced and drank away. This scene gets old for most people, however. Eventually you realise you are just faking it. The whole desi thing is just a front to keep you from feeling left out. It's a security blanket, you wrap it around and know that you are labelled, so that no one looks at your as the loner, the one that doesn't belong anywhere or belongs at the wrong place. I graduated a while back. None of my desi friends lasted more than a semester or two. With studies and re-defining myself from being Bengali, being American, being desi and after all the different beings, being me was a hard enough process. I realise that to deeply connect with yourself, you have to know how it feels not to relate. I do hope the generation next has something more to relate to, which will not concern skin colours, exotic accents and Hindi music. I hope living in this melting pot, which is now referred to as the 'tossed salad', we can all stand out and preserve our flavours without loosing our identities and lilts.

By Iffat Newaz