Lifestyle Choices

Hair Transplant, What needs to be done?

The most commonly and successfully used method for transplanting hair is the punch graft, which can be done under local anaesthetic and takes a couple of hours.

You will receive an injection of anaesthetic in the area of your scalp that the hair is to cover and the area from which the hair is to be taken. The instrument used for the operation is, as might be expected, a small punch. This is used to punch out about 20 to 50 small circular areas of bald skin, in a shape that will provide a relatively natural- looking hair line once hair-bearing skin is implanted in the holes. Then the same amount of hair-bearing skin is punched out, from whatever site has been chosen for their removal (usually the lower back or side of the head where thinner hair growth will be less noticeable). The hair- bearing skin is fitted into the holes that are waiting for them in the bald skin. But there will of course be small areas of bald skin between the holes, where hair still will not grow. (more…)

ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT A CONTINENTAL QUILT

Acontinental quilt almost eliminates bedmaking. A good continental quilt (or duvet) can be the equivalent of at least three blankets and can cost and weigh considerably less than conventional bed clothes.

You’re supposed to make the bed only using a bottom sheet and a quilt cover, but I use two sheets traditionally and keep the quilt in its special case until spring cleaning time comes round.

You may want to know the difference between an eiderdown and a continental quilt and whether you can use a double bed eiderdown as a single quilt? No, not efficiently, because the eiderdown is tightly packed and crushed down and there are no air pockets to trap the warm air round you, as does the quilt, on the same principle as a string vest. (more…)

Every good makeup begins with a water-in-oil moisturizer and a sunscreen lavishly applied over clean skin and then given a chance to settle in. It is rather like making a mayonnaise. You can’t rush things. You need to wait for your skin to take to the moisturizer before you put on your foundation; otherwise you will end up with a flawed finish and your makeup will not last. “Taking” time is usually about two minutes.

Many Moisturizers

In addition to the ordinary moisturizers, there are also tinted ones on the market. These products are halfway between moisturizers and foundations. They impart some color and also provide you with some measure of protection from water loss. In France they are often called creme sport, because they can be worn, by women who ordinarily would not want to cover their skin with a foundation, for instance during a tennis match. They give a very light cover but can be a nice way of simply adding a healthy glow to your skin. Some of them also contain sunscreens. (more…)

Restoring Lustre to Dull Hair

Dry hair

250 ml (1 cup) strong rosemary tea, 250 ml (1 cup) herb to 250 ml (1 cup) boiling water

12,5 ml (1 tbsp) sweet almond oil

few drops rosemary or lavender oil

Use as a setting lotion or brush a little into the hair after shampooing.

Oily hair

2 eggs

250 ml (1 cup) rum

250 ml (1 cup) freshly made rosewater (boil up 500 ml (2 cups) rose petals in 375 ml (11/2 cups) water for 5 minutes.

Stand, cool, strain)

Whisk eggs and rum into rosewater and massage through the hair. Leave on for 15 minutes. Rinse with a herbal rinse. (more…)

Herbal Conditioner for Oily Hair

Don’t think oily hair needs no conditioning; it needs it as much as dry hair, and a monthly treatment will ensure that your hair keeps its bounce and lustre.

75 ml (6 tbsp) rum

75 ml (6 tbsp) strong yarrow tea

3 egg yolks, well beaten

Liquidise all ingredients together. Wet the hair well. Section the hair and apply this mixture to each section, using cotton- wool pads. Rub into the scalp and hair. Meanwhile have a strong infusion of yarrow and rosemary tea warming on the stove. Dip a small towel into it and wring it out, as hot as you can bear. Wrap it around your head. Cover with a shower-cap to keep the heat in. Have another hot towel ready to replace the first one as it cools, the aim being to keep the hair warm to absorb the conditioner. Try to keep the treatment going for an hour. Finally, wash out with a good shampoo and rinse with yarrow tea. (more…)

`If I am ill, I keep working unless I’m dying (not literally). I have an excellent family who would help me if Charlotte was ill. The nursery has plenty of staff so I never have to worry. If any of them are ill, they have cover.’

Karen, 28, caterer

Feel as the company is paying me to work seven hours a day for so many days in the year, that it is up to me to be there, unless I am genuinely ill; I take any other time off as holidays, or possibly unpaid. It is not the company’s responsibility that I have a child, although I would expect them to show compassion in a real emergency, as I hope they would if it was a partner or parent who was ill.’

Audrey, 41, admin supervisor

I always have a back-up organized. I have never needed to take time off because of child illness.’

Sue, 35, training manager

`If I’m ill, I struggle to cook and look after Emma as usual I save annual leave for when Emma or my carer is ill, and use flexitime or other help.’

Maria, 33, accountant (more…)