Manscaping

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What’s with men and armpit hair?

Seriously.

The hair is cut, the mustache is trimmed, the beard is shaved or ‘lined‘ in all different forms and fashions. So why does grooming of armpit hair seem so unnatural?

‘Manscaping’ my friends. A word derived from the magnificent combination of ‘man’ and ‘landscaping’.

I’m not asking for a daily commitment, just one day – every six weeks or so, when you are taking care of that beard in the bathroom maybe you can take that Phillips/ Andis/ Remington/ Wahl/ Braun (your choice, I’m not picky) beard trimmer on a little adventure into the armpit zone. 3 minutes max. Voila! A whole new person, 10 lbs lighter.

Once you get comfortable with dealing with that pesky armpit hair, then we can have a little chat about taking care of… the nether regions.

Women will love you for who you are don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying. It’s 2009 guys, don’t let your hedges take over your house and land.

It doesn’t necessarily improve your health or take care of that personality flaw, but trust me, when your gal sees that you take the time to manscape, she will know that you mean business. Grrrrrrrr

 Lets keep ourselves nice and tidy, shall we?

Go on ahead and organize your sexy self.

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Not-your-eighties Leggings

“I love leggings. How can I wear them without looking like I’m stuck in the eighties?”

Leggings are great. They are very versatile, can be worn with almost anything, and can easily update something that you already own (smart fashion is key!). Worn correctly, they can appear to slim and elongate the gams and to appear taller and/ or slimmer is usually not a bad thing!

My response to this question/comment was longer than the comment box permitted so I decided to upload it as a post instead.

If you are having any difficultly with rocking your leggings, and want to dodge looking like you are stuck in the eighties, here are some of my tips:

DO:

1. Pair plain dark/neutral coloured leggings (black/ navy/ green/ wine/ brown/ grey…) with summer frocks and chick smart heels to transition a day look into a night one. This also applies to tunics and long jackets.

Related: As a twist on the classic monotone office look, do wear opaque stockings in the same colours mentioned above with traditional office suits/ attire to give a subtle update to your look. These need not match perfectly with the suits, however do match complementary colours. For example pair dark green opaque opaque tights with a camel coloured suit, and dark brown heels, or perhaps a wine one with a navy skirt and dark grey pumps if your personality will allow it.

2. Rock brightly coloured (including Fall ’09 neons for the more adventurous among us, though this is really better suited as a club look) or subtly patterned (read small grey/black herringbone print) with an otherwise simple and classic look, like all black everything, to shake things up a bit.

Understand that here your legs are the focal point so if you aren’t quite there yet with accepting your legs as they are, you can opt to wear leggings in more a more neutral tone, like black. (See ‘D’o #1)

Also, because you don’t want to look like you are competing with yourself, do keep accessories minimal, makeup natural, and cleavage under wraps.

3. Pair leggings with whole shoes like dressy flats, peep toe pumps, stiletto pumps, booties, boots etc, rather than with delicate strappy evening shoes. If you are going with a strappy look, do opt for shoes with thicker straps.

4. Understand that lighter coloured leggings (white/ yellow/ neon etc) do draw attention to your legs/ lower half and, much like lighter coloured (and skinny) pants, will accentuate any potential ‘flaws’ you may have in this area… like cellulite.  They will also make your butt look larger. Unless this is the look that you are going for, cease and desist. Darker coloured leggings allow for a sleeker more slimming effect.

5. Do ensure that leggings fit properly, especially in the knee area (no bagginess) and, for those rocking the leggings with the long jacket and long-ish tee, the crotch area (no camel toe!).

AVOID:
~ Pairing leggings with:

~ White trainers, unless of course you are exercising in them
~ Short tops/ navel breakers. Cover your rear.
~ Delicate evening shoes
~ Any throwback eighties trend including, but not limited to, balloon sleeves or hems, scrunchie leg warmers, strong shoulder pads, neon anything  (unless it’s the leggings themselves), acid-wash anything, one-shouldered oversized sweaters, teased hair.

~ Combining patterned leggings with patterned clothing. Way too much can go wrong.

~ Wearing ‘capri’ leggings/ tights – those that cut at the knee, or just below them, especially with flats. They abruptly cut off a streamlined look, making you look shorter than you really are.

~ Two toned leggings – stripes, polka dots for example, as this makes it very difficult for people to take you seriously.

~ Color block leggings (one leg a different colour than the next). Too clownish.
I have seen colour block leggings where the front half of the legs are one colour and the back half of the legs are a different colour. This is a little tricky but if one colour is the color of your skirt, for example a black pencil skirt with a two-toned black and wine tights/ leggings with black pumps it can work, so long as the blacks match. The idea is if you are walking the line of the clown look on the leggings keep the rest of your look tailored/sophisticated to balance it. If you are unsure of what I am talking about just skip this look altogether.

Thanks for the question!

I hope this helps.

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Health Tip: Germ pool

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A teaspoon of unchlorinated whirlpool water has about 2.17 million bacteria (Eeeeewwww!!!) scientists from Texax A&M University in College Station note. After testing home and hotel spa tubs, they found microbial growth in all, including signs of feces, fungi and staphylococcus. These bugs can cause skin, blood, lung and urinary tract infections.

How about relaxing in a bubble bath instead?

Happy unwinding!

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Infection control

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Let us imagine that it’s Thursday evening, shall we? You are on your way to get your nails did, because after all, the weekend begins today. HOLLA!!!.

It’s your routine way to destress and catch up with your nail tec on the latest happenings of all the clients, most of whom you know, of course. Safe, Simple, Easy right? Not so much.

Nail salons can be a breeding ground for bacteria – warm water, exfoliated dead skin cells, possible nail conditions unknown to clients, blood exposure incidents involving nipped cuticles… Yummy!!! A grand old infection party just waiting to happen.

Where do I sign up!

As a result it is important that nail professionals know what to do to keep clients safe. 

An infection occurs when body tissues are invaded by disease-causing bacteria. There are three types of potentially infectious migroorganisms that are important considerations in a nail salon:
~ bacteria
~ fungi and 
~ viruses

Milady’s Standard Nail Technology states that bacteria can live almost anywhere; skin, water, air, decayed matter, body secretions, clothing or under the free edge of finger nails. One of the most common human bacteria is staphylococi (‘staph’), which is normally carried about a third of the population. Staph are more frequently spread through skin-to-skin contact, such as shaking hands or using unclean implements. It is responsible for food poisoning and a wide range of diseases, like toxic shock syndrome. Staph infections occur most frequently among persons who have weakened immune systems, but can occur in otherwise healthy people. The symptoms usually appear as skin infections, such as pimples and boils that can be very difficult to cure and have resulted in death. Some bacteria are resistant to certain antibiotics.

The most common viruses cause the common cold. Other viruses found in humans cause  chicken pox, yellow fever, hepatitis, influenza and HIV, which causes AIDS.

Bacteria, viruses or fungi can enter the body in many ways including through broken skin, such as a cut or a scratch. It is not uncommon for accidental cuts to happen when an esthetician is in the process of trimming cuticles. 

Here are some of the things to look for to keep you and your nail tec in check!

1. Surroundings
Take a good look around when you walk into the nail salon. Does it LOOK clean?
~ Are the garbages covered/ concealed? 
~ Are the surfaces clean? 

If the surfaces that are visible to you aren’t clean, chances are the ones that aren’t, aren’t. 

2. Clean hands
The first step of any manicure ought to be clean hands – both those of the client and the nail tech. 

An alcohol-free hand sanitizer will do just fine. This should be offered to you by the nail tech, after which s/he should do the same. This is a great way to significantly decrease the number of bacteria that will be up for grabs. 

3. Furniture
We are exhausted. Just the thought of the fancy, comfy, cushy pedicure chair gives us a mental high. *Ahhhhhhhhh…. Yes*. The warm water jet stream massaging the feet. Noooice! Right?
Wrong. Well not absolutely, but it can be.

Correct practice dictates that all surfaces that come into contact with a client need to be sanitized/ disinfected after each client. Proper cleaning of these types of foot basins require that the basins to be stripped down and the water tubes that recycle the water are disinfected after each pedicure. This virtually never happens at a salon/ spa because, well lets face an hour downtime between pedicure clients does not a profitable salon make. At best these tubes are cleaned once a week, but normally they aren’t ever cleaned until the tubes require changing. *side eye*.

Sometimes simple is best – a stainless steel basin that is fitted with a disposable cap, much like a ‘shower cap‘. The disposable cap is discarded after each use and the stainless steel basin is washed clean  with a detergent, wiped dry and done. Easy peasy.

4. Implements
 These are all the stainless steel tools used by the nail tech. The cuticle pushers & nippers and nail clippers are the tools that are most commonly used.

These tools are disinfectable and need to be completely immersed in an appropriate disinfectant for 15 minutes after each client, as dirty nail implements may spread infections from client to client. Especially the use of cuticle nippers, as it is not uncommon for the cuticle to be cut, resulting in a small but open wound(s). Disinfectant solutions should be changed at least once a day, more often if the solution becomes soiled or contaminated. So the next time you are waiting in the lobby for your nail tec to finish a client, and your service is started right as the last client leaves, using the same unclean implements, run.

At the very least ask that the implements be disinfected. It is your right to protect your health.

5. Non-disinfectable items
These are other items used in the service that are not disinfectable, for example nail files, nail buffers, foot files and orange sticks. Because these items can neither be sanitized nor disinfected they need to be discarded after every client, or given to the client after each service. This usually isn’t done as they are often re-used. If this is not done at your salon you can opt to walk with your own. You will not have to replace them after every service because your germs present no danger to you. 

For general health reasons, nail technicians are usually not allowed to work on nails that are infected with fungus. It is usually left up to the nail tech to examine nails before starting the manicure/ pedicure to detect any signs of fungus. 

If you suspect that the yellow/ green spot under your nail bed is NOT because your nails are stained from red nailpolish, please consult your doctor to see to that that situation is dealt with STAT for the benefit of everyone, including yourself

Lets get sexy and protect our health.

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Toodles!

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Random music quote of the day

“… Like the clouds you drift me away, far away, and like the sun you brighten my day…”

~ Beautiful, Akon 

Wishing you a super Sunday!

Toodles

Supernova