Avoid the sun between eleven a.m. and three p.m. when it is at its strongest. If you can’t avoid the sun, wear a hat and make sure your skin is well protected.
When out in the sun, drink plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated. Dehydration makes your skin more vulnerable to the damaging and drying effects of the sun.
Alternatively, there are loads of great fake tan products on the market so why sweat it in the sun?
Fake Tans
For best results, don’t be heavy-handed with fake tan. Additional layers can always be added later.
Don’t moisturise before applying fake tan.
Exfoliate the area to be tanned before application.
Apply fake tan sparingly to elbows and knee joints.
Painted toenails look fantastic with tanned legs.
Reading while sunbathing makes you well red.
Hair Care
Nothing looks better than a head of really shiny hair, and yet some of the things we do - for example, blowdrying, colouring, bleaching and using cheap shampoos - can affect the condition of your hair, as can environmental factors (pollution and exposure to the sun and sea). However, there are ways to help your hair.
Oils for hair: As with the other areas of beauty, the essential oils can be added to your favourite brands of shampoo as this will boost their effectiveness and add that extra shine. Try rosemary, lavender, lemon, camomile, sandalwood, geranium or cedarwood. Remember you don’t have to use all of them. You can use one with your favourite scent or a combination of a couple, e.g. rosemary and lemon.)
Top Tips for Hair
Don’t brush your hair immediately after you’ve washed it. Wrap your hair in a towel to soak up excess moisture and then brush once the towel is removed.
Use shampoo and conditioner suitable for your hair type.
Use essential oils that are good for hair. Add a few drops to your shampoo or conditioner for a great shine whether your hair is dry or oily.
Dark hair: Rosemary and cedarwood.
Fair hair: Lemon and camomile.
Have your hair trimmed every six weeks to get rid of split ends and to keep it generally healthy.
For extra shine:
Dark hair: Add a tablespoon of vinegar to your rinse water.
Fair hair: Add the juice of half a lemon to your rinse water.
For Dandruff
Use a shampoo especially for dandruff.
Good essential oils to help prevent dandraff are rosemary, lemon, eucalyptus or tea tree (very effective, but pongs a bit!) You can add a few drops to your shampoo, conditioner or rinse water.
Sometimes cutting down on dairy products can help alleviate dandruff.
A Monthly Treatment
A lot of people ask Nesta how she keeps her hair looking like silk. This is her secret:
1. Add a drop of rosemary essential oil to a base oil (sunflower, olive, grape seed or almond).
2. Part the hair and apply the oil from the root of the hair to the ends.
3. Wrap your head in a warm towel and leave for fifteen minutes.
4. Shampoo thoroughly to remove all excess oil and you’ll find that your hair is silky and glossy.
Using Essential Oils in Your Monthly Treatment
For greasy hair: Use 50ml base oil and add ten drops of lemon, rosemary or bergamot.
For dry hair: Use 50ml of base oil and add ten drops of sandalwood, camomile or lavender.
For normal hair: Use 50ml of base oil and ten drops of rosewood, lavender or rosemary.
Nails
Looking after your nails is simple. We all do manicures on each other when we do our DIY pampering sessions. Just follow these instructions and your hands will look fab.
Keep nails clean.
File them regularly. Follow the natural shape of the nail - if oval-shaped, file the nails like that, if a square shape, follow that.
Push the cuticles back regularly. In the bath is a good time as the cuticles are soft and you don’t have to force them.
If you’re going to paint your nails, keep the colour fresh as nothing looks worse than chipped nails, especially if they’re a dark colour.
Use hand cream regularly to keep the skin on your hands soft. Keep a tube or jar somewhere accessible so you remember.
Stay away from false nails or nail extensions. The beautician at our local salon says that false nails can ruin the nail underneath and are very high maintenance.
If you bite your nails, paint them in clear or in a pretty colour and have regular manicures (or pedicures if you bite your toenails!). When they look nice, it will discourage you from biting them. Alternatively, ask at your local chemist for varnish to discourage nail biting. It tastes bitter and will soon put you off.
Hairy Bits
by Lucy
This is my area of personal expertise ever since I tried to wax my underarms at home. Big mistake, I can tell you, as it is the most painful thing I have ever, ever lived through. Trouble was, I gaily applied the wax to both underarms and when I realised how agonising it was to rip the wax off, I had to walk round with my arms up in the air until Mum got home and came to my rescue (and also had a good laugh along with the whole family). Anyway, some things are best left to the experts at the beauty salon. Others you can do painlessly and cheaply at home.
On the Face (Upper Lip and Chin)
It can feel really embarrassing to find that you’re growing a fine moustache or have stray dark hairs on your upper lip and chin, but it is so common both with blondes and brunettes. Like a lot of darker skinned girls, Nesta found a few hairs on her chin and being the drama queen that she is, totally panicked as she thought she might be turning into a boy. As if.
At first she made the mistake of plucking the hairs out, but then our local beautician told her that if anyone has any facial hair, plucking is not the answer as it strengthens the hair follicle. And don’t shave it as it will grow back like stubble. Not a great look and certainly not a great sensation if up close and snogging a boy, as it’s him who’s supposed to give the snog rash, not the girl. Anyway, after Nesta came out about her hairy chin, TJ also admitted to being worried as she thought she was growing a moustache! She was so relieved to know she wasn’t alone. There are several treatments available at beauty salons that are worth checking out for the removal of facial hair.
• If the hair on the upper lip is fine, but slightly dark and noticeable, a simple solution is to have the hair bleached.
(Note from TJ: I had my ‘moustache’ bleached and now no one notices it.)
Use a hair removing cream. This will dissolve the hair away and it will grow back softly (as opposed to stubbly).
Electrolysis involves a course of treatment, but eventually, the removal of hair is permanent. A fine needle is injected into the hair root and zaps it with an electric current which destroys the hair follicle.
(Note from Nesta: Arghhh. Whoever said you have to suffer to be beautiful was dead right in this case!)
Epil Pro also involves a course of treatment over a few years, but can also have permanent results. It is a lot less painful than electrolysis and works by using high-pitched sound waves to eliminate hair growth.
(Note from Nesta: It feels like having the hairs tweezed out really quickly and is absolutely bearable, even for a wimp like me.)
Laser. A wavelength of light is used to destroy the hair follicles. It can be expensive, but hair removal is permanent and pain is minimal. Although, some places claim that only one treatment is needed, while others say that most people need between two to six sessions so check your finances and what your local clinic charges before committing.
(Note from Nesta: I couldn’t afford this one, but will have it done when I am rich and famous.)
On the Eyebrows
Don’t go mad and pluck them into a thin line.
Do pluck in the middle if you have one eyebrow instead of two.
Never shave them.
Follow the natural curve of your brow. Never try t
o change the shape of your eyebrows. Just clean up any hairs between and below your two brows
Carefully brush eyebrows upward, then trim off excess hair above the natural arch of your eyebrow.
Avoid pain during eyebrow plucking by placing an ice cube on the area for fifteen seconds before plucking.
Pluck your eyebrows before bedtime so any redness will disappear overnight.
Pull the stray hairs out in the direction of the ears.
If uncertain, have it done initially in a salon by a beautician and follow the lines she does when you do it at home.
On the Legs
Go hairy. Wahey. But we don’t think this is a great look - especially in the summer when you’ve got a short dress on.
Shaving: Cheap and fast, but the hair grows back quickly and can get stubbly. It’s OK for underarms, though.
Waxing: this is the method we all use for our legs. With regular waxing, the hair takes between four to six weeks to reappear so you don’t have to think about it for ages and the regrowth is soft. If you can’t afford to have it done at a salon, there are lots of home kits on sale at most chemist’s and you can make it part of your beautifying session. Offer to do it for one of your mates if she’s annoyed you! For underarms, get it done at a salon as it is way to painful to attempt at home (see my note at the beginning of this section).
(Note: Waxing or hair removal, such as electrolysis, always feels more painful when you have your period so try to schedule hair removal sessions for other times of the month.)
Braces
Nesta has a brace in and although she hates it, we all think she still looks fab. So here’s what we think:
It’s going to be well worth it in the long run when you have picture-perfect pegs.
Just about everyone wears one at some point or other these days. It’s no biggie any more. Don’t hide behind your hands. Take the ‘love me, love my brace’ attitude and wear it with pride! Think of it as a fashion accessory. Some people wear metal in their ears, you wear it on your teeth. Cool.
(Note from Nesta: When snuggling into a boy’s neck or shoulder, if he’s wearing anything made of wool, keep your mouth shut or you might - like I did once - get caught up in his sweater.)
Health
Dieting
We thought we’d also hand this section over to TJ’s mum as she’s a doctor and knows a lot about dieting sensibly, as opposed to all Izzie’s mad methods of starvation that don’t work because she always puts the weight back on immediately when she can’t keep it up!
To Diet or Not to Diet
by Dr Watts
It can seem really unfair to be a person who’s prone to putting on weight. Some girls can eat what they like and never put on an ounce, whereas others feel that they have only to look at food and it goes to their hips, legs or tummy. A lot of teens who feel that they are overweight are actually completely normal, but sadly telling them that doesn’t help - especially if their best friend is a skinny thing with a flat abdomen permanently on show. Before you embark on a weight loss program, first you have to ask yourself, are you really overweight or are you striving to look like some model in a magazine? If you really feel that you do need to shift some weight, here’s the best way to go about it:
Forget fad diets. Any diet that promises that you’ll drop a stone in a few weeks won’t work in the long run and you’ll put the weight back on. Sorry, but it’s true and in the case of a lot of diets that do cause you to drop five pounds quickly - it’s usually only water you lose. If you’re serious about losing weight and keeping it off, more often than not it has to be a lifestyle change and you have to completely rethink how and what you eat. You probably didn’t put the weight you want to lose on in two weeks - it was the culmination of years of your eating habits. In the same way, you’re not going to lose the weight in two weeks. You have to look at permanent weight loss as a long-term thing. A loss of between one to two pounds a week is a sensible rate of loss that should be easier to maintain.
Up your activity. Look at your lifestyle. If you sit at school most of the day, get a lift home, then blob in front of a computer or the TV, it’s no wonder that you are gaining weight. Try to do some activity for at least thirty minutes, three to four times a week, that makes you sweat a little and breathe hard. Walk to the shops. Walk home from school with a friend. Take the stairs instead of the escalator. Start small - first week ten minutes, second fifteen and so on. Plan for this and do it at a regular time. If you choose an activity that you enjoy, then you’re more likely to keep it up. If you love dancing, join a dance class. If you like walking, join a walking group. If you like competitive sport, play tennis or squash and so on. The positive side to regular exercise is that you can still have the occasional treat as you’ll burn it off, if you get off your behind.
Be realistic. How much do you need to lose? For realistic body shapes, look around you at the mall and at school. Don’t look at models on TV or in magazines. It’s amazing what airbrushing, lighting and camera tricks can do to lengthen legs and reduce hips.
Don’t panic and stop eating. You really don’t have to suffer or deny yourself to look good. Starvation will make you look and feel ill which goes against why you’re trying to lose weight - to look better. You will look your best if you eat a sensible, healthy diet and are active.
Change your eating habits. Losing weight doesn’t mean deprivation. Doctors have found that cutting down what you eat isn’t always the answer, but changing what you eat can be. Replace fatty foods, refined foods and fast foods with fresh food, fruit, vegetables and eat wholemeal bread instead of white and you’ll soon see results. (Also, many refined foods have added flavour that makes you want to eat more of them.)
Let your family know that you’re serious about losing some weight so that you have their support and won’t feel like you have to do it in secret. Hopefully, they’ll make dietary changes that will help the whole family and if your parents buy plenty of foods that you can eat, you won’t be tempted to hit the biscuit tin.
Forget diet pills that offer to burn the fat off or speed up your metabolism. The only way to lose weight and keep it off is to combine a healthy diet with exercise. If your metabolism has become sluggish from sitting around, regular exercise will help it pick up.
Don’t skip breakfast. Have something healthy like fruit, grains, wholemeal bread or yogurt. Overnight, your metabolism slows down and eating something gets it going again and will prevent you from feeling starving mid-morning.
Get into the habit of drinking water or sugar-free drinks instead of fizzy drinks that are loaded with sugar and calories. Switch from full fat milk to skimmed milk.
Don’t be hard on yourself if you overeat one day. Get back on track the next day.
If out and there’s nothing you can eat but fattening food, have a little and load up on vegetables if there are any.
Join a slimming club. There are local clubs everywhere and they usually advocate a sensible diet where you won’t feel deprived and will lose weight gradually, rather than a mad fad quick fix that offers unrealistic losses and ultimately doesn’t work. At the clubs, you can get the support of other members who are trying to lose weight, get loads of brilliant advice and recipes, plus the weekly weigh-in means that you can’t kid yourself if you’re not sticking to it.
If you’re really worried that nothing is working, see your doctor. He or she will be able to size up your body shape in relation to your height, weight and age and tell you what weight you should be for you.
(Note from Izzie: And it sometimes helps to stick a photo of yourself at your fattest on the fridge door to remind yourself of how you got that way! Make sure you remove it, when a cool boy is coming round though.)
And so, your hair is looking great, your skin is glowing, your brace is sparkling, your acne has taken a hike. Here are a few more tips to help you look your best.
Eating to Survive and Thrive
by Mr Lovering (Lucy’s dad)
Of c
ourse eating is essential for survival, but what you eat can make the difference between merely surviving or thriving. You can eat badly and feel crapola or eat healthily and feel great. The choice is yours and this part is over to Lucy’s dad, Mr Lovering, for some good guidelines as he runs the local health food shop and knows what’s what and what’s not.
Practise safe eating - always use condiments!
You are what you eat may be a cliché, but the fact is that your basic diet has a tremendous effect on not only how you look, but how you feel. If you have been experiencing fatigue, sluggishness or stress, it might be remedied by changing your dietary habits. If you eat rubbish, you can often end up feeling that way. If you’re not getting the proper nutrients from your food, you’re not going to have the energy to function to your maximum potential and can feel like you’re ‘running on empty’. If you eat the right foods, you’ll feel more vibrant, look better and have more energy.
Just bear in mind the following principles and you’ll be on your way to better health and energy levels:
Eat plenty of fresh produce, at least five portions a day of fruit and vegetables (organic if you can get it).
Drink a litre of water a day, two if you can manage it.
Cut out or reduce all refined foods, e.g.white flour products such as pasta, bread, biscuits and cake. Replace with whole grains, wholemeal bread and pasta, brown rice and pulses. If you want biscuits and cakes, either bake them at home with wholemeal flour and unrefined sugar or buy produce with natural ingredients.
Mates, Dates Guide to Life Page 7
