Beauty Talk



Dear Sadia,
I am 16 years old and I have several questions that I hope you will be able to answer. First of all I would like to know if waxing reduces the growth of hair. Second, I always have to tie my hair because it is very curly and fluffy. How can I reduce this fluffiness? And which shampoo and conditioner should I use to keep my hair smooth, shiny and silky? Lastly, is Lakme Hair Next suitable for my hair? If yes, then where can I get it?
Thank you, SR

Dear SR,
Yes, waxing does reduce hair growth over a period of time. Use Pantene shampoo/conditioner and spray leave-in conditioner as well. Sure, you can try Lakme and see if it works for you. Try Almas General Store.

Dear Sadia,
I would like to seek your help regarding a number of problems. I have thick, rough and very dry hair. I shampoo my hair every 2 days & condition it after that but it doesn't seem to work. How can I make my hair soft, silky & shiny? Although I use Lakme sunscreen lotion (with SPF15) whenever I go out during the day, it doesn't seem to prevent my skin from getting darker and darker. What can I do to have fair & glowing skin? Do the fairness creams available in the markets really work? Please give me some suggestions.
Thank you.

Use the Caring Treatment Cream brand instead of regular conditioner. Apply to clean shampooed hair, wrap a hot towel to the hair for ½ an hour and then rinse off. Have regular trims. Remember to re-apply your sunscreen during the course of the day. One application in the morning is not enough to see you through the day. Give fair polish a try on a monthly basis. Fairness creams help marginally but unfortunately not as drastically as shown in the advertisements.

Dear Sadia Moyeen,
I am a 17-year-old girl and I would like to know the best option for hair removal. I have been troubled by hair removal problems for three years. Is it safe to use hair removing equipments? If yes, then where can they be found? Do have any idea about their prices? I would be very grateful if you could let me know as soon as possible.
Worried (MT)

Dear MT,
Waxing is truly the best way to remove hair. Yes, it is safe to use epilating machines. As far as I know they are available at the Gulshan-1 market or even at some general stores. If possible buy it from abroad. It costs about $50 so the equivalent of that in Bangladeshi currency should be a fair price. However, they are apparently very painful to use.

Dear Sadia
I am a 15 year old girl and I have a few problems with my skin. Firstly, it is too dry and has no glow at all. Secondly, I have dark patches all over my face, especially under my nose, eyes and lips. And finally, even though I sleep more than 8 hours a day, I have terrible dark circles that make me look old and weak. Can you suggest a less time consuming remedy that I can follow to get rid of these problems? I am a student so I hardly get time for exhaustive skin care regimes. I would also like to know about fair polish in detail. A friend of mine tried it out and she told me it is helpful. Does it have side effects? If not, where can I get it done?
Thank You,
Tahsin

Dear Tahsin,
Nothing works as well as a healthy lifestyle consisting of exercise and a balanced diet for healthy hair and skin. Kids work so hard at studies that they forget how important it is to get enough exercise and rest and eat well.

Cleanse your skin once a day with:
1 tsp uptan
1 tsp powdered massoor daal
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp yoghurt
A pinch of turmeric

If you find it too drying then add 2-3 drops of baby oil to the pack as well. Let it become semi-dry, then massage off gently. Fair polish once a month is a good idea and it does work but over-use will dry your skin too much and might cause a red rash if it does not suit you. Both can be easily overcome however, and you're welcome to try it at La Belle.

Dear Sadia,
I am a 22 year old male with a lot of body hair. Can you please recommend an inexpensive method of hair removal? Do you recommend the use of Veet or Nair?

Sure, you can use Veet or Nair body hair removing cream. Waxing is also a possibility but it will be a bit painful.

Hey Sadia,
I am 17 years old and I have problems with my hair and skin. My hair reaches down to my collarbone. It was rough and dry before. But after using Sunsilk shampoo for dry hair & Garnier Fructis conditioner it has improved. I have never used any chemicals (dye, perm, hair-spray) on my hair. My biggest problem is that my hair lost half its volume when I had typhoid four months ago. How can I regain the volume of my hair? My hair is still rough on the surface although it is more manageable now. How can I get rid of this roughness? You once mentioned 'hair conditioning treatment.' Can it be done at home? If so, what is the procedure? Another problem is that I have lots of scratch marks on my legs. This is probably due to my bad habit of scratching. How can these marks be removed? I would really appreciate your answers. Thanks for your continuous help regarding beauty care.
Sam

Dear Sam
After a gentle oil massage, apply a paste of fresh amla, ½ tsp methi, 1 tbsp yoghurt, 1 tbsp onion juice on your hair. Repeat twice a week.

Cream conditioning treatment should be done professionally once a month for best results. At home, towel dry your hair and apply conditioner generously to the length of your hair. Wrap a hot towel around your head until the towel cools down. Then heat the towel again by immersing it in hot water and squeezing out the water. Wrap this around your head. Repeat 4-5 times. Rinse hair with cool water.

Always apply body lotion after your bath so that skin remains supple and does not become dry and itchy. That way you won't find it necessary to scratch yourself.

Massage your legs with uptan, rose water, cream (malai), & milk and 1 tbsp apricot scrub cream, 2-3 times a week. Wash off and apply body lotion or Johnson baby oil.

Dear Sadia,
I desperately need some help. I have always had a fairly flawless complexion but recently I am sprouting some really large pores. The problem has intensified after using the Garnier pimple pen. I am depressed and don't feel like going out. Please suggest some home remedy.
Dying

After cleaning your skin use L'Oreal's oil-control toner to help close pores and make them appear smaller. Keep cucumber juice in your fridge so that it is cool and apply with a cotton pad 2-3 times a day or freeze the juice in a tray and rub on pores as often as you like.

Beauty Dissected



Dear Doctor,
I am a 30-year-old male with baldness in the front of my head. I read about hair transplant but did not understand much about it. Could you please explain it? Can it be done in Bangladesh?

Hair transplant is a procedure by which hair is transplanted into bald areas. These hairs are usually your own hair taken from a donor area. The back of your head is usually the donor area. The hair in this area is known as permanent hair. The most advanced procedure for hair transplant is Follicular transplant which means the hair follicles are grafted and then transplanted one by one into the bald area. This is done under magnification, as the follicles are not easy to see with bare eyes. A strip of hair is taken from the back of the head (Donor area) and then the follicles are cut into single or double grafts. These are then transplanted to the bald areas by a different procedure.

The amount of grafts depends on the area of baldness. This is a very safe procedure. It's a day case done under local anaesthesia. It's a very long procedure and takes about 5 hours or more depending on the area but you can go home on the same day. The follicles start growing after 4 to 6 months, since that's a regular hair growth cycle. The hair grows like your other hair, as this is your own hair. You can cut and style it according to your choice. Hair transplant is regularly done at the Cosmetic Surgery Centre in Dhanmondi.

I am a 42-year-old female. Lately I have noticed that the pores on my face look more visible. What can be done about it?

Open pores do make a face look rough and older and it is a problem. First I will ask you to use a facewash at night, followed by a toner and then a moisturiser. Try this for a month. If it doesn't help then laser therapy can be used. To do this, you will have to consult an experienced cosmetic surgeon with the proper laser to do the procedure. I am sure it will help you.

Under A Different Sky
By Iffat Nawaz

Coping Afternoons

They died, one by one…young, old, all unfortunate deaths, because someone decided they should die; not because of the people they were but because someone's sick twisted-mentally-ill mind hated them; because he hated everything and everyone.

I am not anyone special to talk about the Virginia Tech shooting, I was not there. I live more than an hour and half from the campus, I was just another person reading news during the first hour at work and found something tragic happening in a corner not so near but not so far away either. Within hours the story developed into something bigger. That feeling, (you know that feeling) when you hear of something terrible happening to someone and you think back to that time trying to remember what you were doing then exactly- that feeling was consuming me…7 a.m. two students shot to death. I was still dreaming …9 a.m. 30 more. I had lipstick on my lips, kajol in my eyes. I was sipping my tea while others around me drank their coffee, while 32 met death…

As cruel as it sounds, I know in the bigger scheme of things considering all that's happening in the world these deaths might not seem so huge. There are hundreds dying every day in Iraq; war, suicide bombers blowing up bazaars. Seventy-percent of children are growing up with post-war related disorder, trauma, tragedy. I know…

But I also know we shouldn't compare one death to another. Each death, each one of them unpleasant, miserable, unneeded. And reading and thinking about those young girls and boys and the professors who walked in that day to teach German, French, Engineering, what were they thinking when they faced the mad man who was no longer human?

I was catching up on different blogs later that day, and read a joke on a friend's journal from Australia “What do Mt Everest and Virginia Tech have in common? They both have one killer slope and it's minus 32.” Of course everyone has their opinions and the right to laugh or cry about whatever fancies them, but I couldn't help but comment back on his post mentioning I really didn't find the humour in this. A few others wrote back to my comment criticising how people from USA don't know how to laugh. Apparently that's a better way of coping with such tragedies according to them. And I guess I never learnt of coping through laughter when it came to death, and didn't really want to fight back. People who can generalise and judge a whole country or community by one characteristic never really strike me as intelligent.

And of course there were many discussions. Discussions on gun control; how the killings took place in a gun free zone (what does that mean anyway?); how the killer was a loner (why does that matter?); how he was admitted to a mental home recently; his recording and last messages (aired all over the national television and internet); the incompetence of the campus police and the security; everything. We all had our opinions. Just like we do about everything and everyone.

And with that excuse I am still writing, like I have the right, or the understanding, of the situation, of the people, of their minds, the politics, the policies. I have got nothing. Yet I am still writing… because I am still alive, like you, between guns, policies, politics and tragic mornings and coping afternoons…

By The Way

Siesta fiesta

You stare at the computer screen. It stares back at you. The clock ticks, but try as you might, you just can't get your mind to focus on the work waiting to be completed. Sounds like a common enough scenario? The solution is simple: take a nap.

Your mind snaps into action and you can get more done in less time. Recent studies have shown that short power naps in the afternoon can increase productivity. Don't overdo it though; oversleeping can lead to lethargy and actually be counterproductive.