Stain Removal

Coffee (Or Soda) Stains On Your Teeth
For fast results, dip a wet toothbrush in baking soda; brush and rinse well.

Yellowed Nails from Polish
Soak nails for ten minutes in a capful of hydrogen peroxide mixed with a cup of warm water. Scrub with a wet nailbrush dipped in baking soda.

Some Smart Ways to Blast off Those Flabs!!!

1. Run errands. We mean this literally. Walking briskly while lugging dry cleaning burns about 120 calories in 30 minutes twice as much as driving does.
2. Blast your biggest muscles. The more muscle you have, the more calories you'll burn, even just sitting around. A study has proved that women who pumped iron upped their burn-off by 300 calories a day. If fat burning is your goal, focus on building the muscles that consume the most calories, like you butt, thighs and chest - don't bother with smaller muscles, like triceps or calves that have less impact.
3. Fidget frequently. Research has shown that "Spontaneous physical activity" like tapping toes and fussing with hands blasts off up to 800 calories a day!
4. Rock out: Music is a great motivator. Studies show that exercisers who tune in to music work out 25 percent longer.
5. Trek to the toilet. Instead of going to the closest bathroom at work, take the stairs to another floor. Every minute you climb kills seven calories.
6. Much more often. You need calories to burn calories. When you go hours without food, your body goes on starvation alert and slows its metabolism to conserve energy so you use fewer calories. Feel free to eat between meals. Opt for small "packages of calories" like banana, yoghurt or hard boiled egg.
7. Squat before you shower. Stand in front of the toilet, rest one foot on the lid, and grab a towel rack or sink for balance. Squat 15 times, switch legs and repeat.
8. Pace periodically. Always on the move, pacers continually tap their fat reserves. If you're not a natural pacer, schedule a five minute walk break every hour. You could burn about 100 extra calories if you work a full eight hour day.
9. Two Step it. Obviously, forgoing elevators in favor of stairs bumps up your calorie expenditure, but did you know that taking the stairs two at a time burns 55 percent more calories than single stepping?
10. Be a babe maid. Vacuuming, mopping, dusting, sweeping, scrubbing floors, making beds - they don't just eliminate dirt, they kick out calories. In fact housework melts away 200 calories an hour.
11. Perfect your posture. Never lie down when you can sit, sit when you can stand, or slouch when you can stand up straight with your abdomen pulled in. "These are all muscular activities that burn calories and they add up.

Stop Social Stress

You walk into the cafeteria on the first day of school, and there isn't a friendly face in sight. Or you're at a party and your friend leaves to go to the bathroom. You're left to fend for yourself and the only people you know are a group of girls who seem to be talking about you.

Band Aid
Braid your hair. The repetitive motion will calm your fidgety hands and help pass the time. If you're entering a crowded place all by yourself, hold your head high and pretend to look for someone, occasionally glancing at your watch. You'll get so wrapped up in the act that your few minutes alone will fly by.

Damage Control
Before you go to bed, write down all the day's horror stories in your diary. But here's the key: check in with your old entries every once in a while. If you do, you'll see that the stuff that seemed like a huge trauma was really just a blip in the big picture. You might even be able to laugh about it.

Stop Family Stress

You get home twenty minutes past curfew and as you turn your key on the door you can see your parents through the window waiting up. They're going to be really mad, then you'll get in a huge, raging fight about your wild friends, and they'll finish up by asking you exactly how much money you spent on those boots. You know your parents love you, but they're stressing you out!

Band Aid
Before you reach for the doorknob, or have to deal with your parents about anything really stressful, sing the first song that pops into your head. Singing stimulates the brain and helps you relax. Plus, holding out long notes will help you control your breathing.

Damage Control
Here's your secret weapon: Agree with them. Instead of spewing a bunch of "But dad..", look him in the eye and say "I really blew it, I'm sorry." It's tough to argue with someone who takes your side, so continue to agree with your parents, even if they call you irresponsible (if you really think they're wrong, talk to them about it later after they've calmed down). In far less time than it would take to have a two way argument, you'll likely be dismissed with a stern warning. If you can't ward off a screaming match and you end up fuming in your room, write your parents a note of apology. Holding a grudge, or being too proud to say you're sorry is actually a lot more upsetting and stressful than just making up and moving on.

Stress Busters

Between your science projects, the massive pile of homework your math teacher assigned and extra curricular activities, sometimes it seems like you don't have time to think about everything else. If you don't make up for the C you got on that quiz, you'll never raise your grades, and then how are you going to get into your first choice college?

Band Aid
Your mind is racing... and now your eye is twitching too! Try this yoga eye stretch, designed to tone eye muscles and reduce tension. While breathing normally, move only your eyes and look to the far left and then to the far right for four breaths each. Repeat three times, and then blink your eyes a few times.

Damage Control
Make a list of all the things you have to do and keep it on hand. Once you've put it all down on paper, you won't have to waste any more energy worrying that you're forgetting something. Now get to work! Studies show that procrastinators have more stress than people who tackle projects immediately. After you finish each assignment, cross it off with a thick marker-it's a visual cue that you're really making headway, which helps you feel more in control. More control equals less stress.

Read My Lipstick

The way you wear down your lipstick can say a lot about your personality. Find out your personality profile:

Round top
You twirl the tube to mold it that way, which hints at an inner playfulness that you don't usually let many people see.

Deep Curve
Passionate. You press harder than most and are willing to work for what you want. You thrive on challenge and change.

Smooth Slant
A clean edge reveals your desire to appear honest and straightforward to others. You like everything to be simple.

Center Point
You maintain a balanced tip, reflecting a focused, goal-oriented mind.

My hair is thin. I heard that if I cut it, it will grow back thicker. Is this true?

If only life were that simple. Sorry, you can't change your hair type with a snip of the scissors. But frequent trims can keep your locks looking thicker and even fuller, since they cut down on split ends. You can also pump up your hair's volume with special shampoos and conditioners for thin hair. Check out styling products that say "volumizing" or "thickening" on the label. But don't overdo it with globs of gel too much of a good thing could leave your hair weighed down and hanging limp.

My hair is oily - should I avoid conditioners?

Every hair type, even oily, needs conditioning to keep it healthy and shiny. But if you're prone to greasy roots towel-dry hair after shampooing, Then work a dime size amount of conditioner from ends to halfway up the length of locks to make your mane soft and manageable.

The Myth and Truth on Shampoo

1.
MYTH: You must shampoo your hair twice a day if you work out.
TRUTH: Once is plenty. A rinse and a bit of conditioner will remove sweat.

2.
MYTH: More shampoo is good.
TRUTH: A dab will do you (and save yourmoney). Use a dime sized dollop for short hair,quarter sized for long.

How can you do away with stretch marks?

Vitamin E- Break open a capsule and apply it directly to the scar or stretch mark. Be careful though, it will stain clothing.

Vicks Vaporub is used by many women with successful results.

Oils, it seems, are used often with almond oil being named in a lot of cases.

Exfoliating and Shaving Tips

1. For razor bumps including bikini area

Some of these tips will burn, but, it really does the trick: rubbing alcohol, men's after shave, first morning's urine (no kidding), stick deodorant, Neosporin. Apply these immediately after shaving. Some have said to exfoliate before shaving, soak in warm water before shaving, and shave underwater. Soap isn’t recommended because it doesn't cushion the shave as well.

2. Shaving

The key here is a clean fresh razor. Razor bumps are usually caused by bacteria and having a razor that isn't clean will aggravate the situation. Wipe the blade off with alcohol after use to be safe when re­using the razor. Try shaving in the direction of hair growth to also prevent razor bumps. Do not use soap to shave. Use a shaving cream or better still buy a cheap hair conditioner and use that. Soaking in a warm tub first will soften the hair and make shaving easier.

3. Avoiding razor bumps

A major problem for many would be the razor bumps. You could try by applying baby oil, olive oil or Aloe Vera immediately after shaving. They also help soothe the area.

Here are some essential beauty tips you might want to remember

• A Face Mask
  Mix an egg white with a teaspoon of lemon juice and use as a face mask (good for closing large pores and making skin soft)
• For Silky Smooth Skin
  Mix a teaspoon of baby oil with a tsp of sugar and rub into hands for at least one minute then wash hands as usual. Your hands will be silky and smooth.
• Lipstick That Lasts
  To keep your lipstick 'on' for many more hours than usual, put on your lip liner, filling in your lips with the color as well. Then put on a light coat of your favorite lipstick, blot with a tissue. Now here's the trick, put on a light dusting of loose powder right over your freshly applied lipstick, then put on a new coat of lipstick and you can blot or not blot, whichever you choose. It will hold that color on for ages!
• Avoid Lipstick on Your Wine Glass
  If you hate looking at your lipstick marks all over your wine glass at the dinner table, and can't stand those 'stay-put, but have no moisture' lipsticks, try this: right before you take your sip, just lick the edge of the glass. The moisture that you left there works as a deferent for your lipstick sticking to the glass. Just make sure that you do this grace­fully- you don't want to have your tongue hanging out, slobbering on your glass when your date looks over at you. It really works though!

Treat Your Blackheads the Right Way

Since blackheads are caused by an oil build-up in pores that are exposed to air, you must steam the face, with summer being the most important time to do it. Steaming provides the best way to cleanse and help prevent more blackheads.

• Add 3 drops of an astringent essential oil such as lemon or peppermint to 4 cups of boiling water. Pour into a bowl and tent a towel over your head about 8 inches away. Let the steam penetrate 5 minutes.


• For Oily SkinIf your skin is excessively oily, cut a lemon in half, take a clean make-up brush and wipe it over the lemon until wet, brush it over your face, concentrating on oily areas. Leave on for 5 minutes and rinse off. Do this at night because the citrus acid may leave your skin a little red.


• The Perfect MoisturizerTo help moisturize skin you should mix one egg (to firm skin), 1 teaspoon of honey, (locks in moisture), 2 teaspoons of olive oil, (to soften). Apply to the face as a mask and leave on face for 10 minutes. Remove with a warm wash cloth. Do this once or twice a week.

Do you need to lose weight?

Here's what I've got to say to all of you folks who have been feeling miserable because you believe you cannot fit into one of those haute couture. No need to burden that intelligent brain of yours to understand a simple message - "you are what you eat".

Earlier I too was obsessed with my figure but today, as a nutritionist and dietetics student, my perspective of the "obese image" has undergone a sea change.

I salute my professors for their help and all those absorbing lectures about food, its essence, its impact and the ways on how to reduce our extra mass of flesh that makes us look little bit more "full". Obesity is not a problem but a condition where you have to make the right choice. Making the right choice, which I made after so many years, is difficult but worth it. I realized that our daily meals were delicious but high in calories. I had asked my professor about why some people looked healthy, like my pal Jaya, in spite of consuming those extra smiling calories. The professor told me that weight also depended upon the body metabolism. As it turned out Jaya had a quicker metabolism. Lucky for her.

Our diets are high in sodium, fats and calories. Everyone loves to cook but if you want to maintain a healthy body, you may have to modify your way of cooking. Like my aunt says, cooking is an art. It is easy to cook but to understand the nutritious value of the food, one needs a thorough knowledge of the food value. Whenever I cook I try to make sure that I prepare a balanced meal. It consists of rice (carbohydrates), pulses (protein), vegetables (vitamins, minerals) and the delicious pickle (let us add it in an insignificant amount so we can forget about its calories unless it is a low calorie one). So, a balanced diet contains sufficient amount of carbohydrates, proteins and the extra supplement of magnesium and minerals.

There are no rules as to what is healthy for an individual but there are some general guidelines to see if your weight puts you at high risk of future health problems like hypertension, diabetes, arthritis and cardiovascular problems.

According to dieticians one should never skip meals or leave in the morning without a proper breakfast as it is our main source of energy for the entire day. Instead of three big meals a day you should consume food more frequently in small amounts. You can combine food at meals with essential nutrients if necessary in order to reduce fatigue. You can break a meal into several smaller snacks.

My sister tried to indulge herself in a crash diet that worked for sometime but later proved to be a mistake. She had to put up with those extra body mass that she had tried so hard to lose. This is primarily due to what is known as the YOYO syndrome.

In the beginning, you tend to eat less and sometimes people don't eat at all. This condition is known as anorexia. Some people tend to throw up or vomit whatever they have eaten. It is called bulimia. Although this formula appears to work for a brief period, it does not really work in the long run. Initially it makes us happy since we are shedding extra weight but there comes a time when we become so hungry that we tend to indulge ourselves with high calorie content food. Before we know it we find that we have unknowingly put on that extra weight. It all happens when our intake of carbohydrates lessens and our body building substance, protein, breaks down. This leads to muscle wasting and we become more hungry and that extra weight that we had tried to shed off, in fact gets augmented (it happened to me).

To maintain a healthy diet it is important

• that you don't skip meals
• consume 3 meals a day or preferably portion them into 5 meals
• drink 6-8 glasses of water; food like vegetables, fruits, beverages, fruit juice and milk can contribute towards water intake
• but be cautious of the calorie content fruit juice

Being a slow eater means

• you are less likely to overeat
• you consume more time to eat the meal
• you cause less stress to your digestive tract
• you are allowing your body to signal fullness

To quickly find out if you are a part of this increasing majority, calculate your BODY MASS INDEX (BMI).

BMI stands for "Body Mass Index", a ratio between your weight and height that correlates with the amount of body fat you possess. BMI is the preferred professional method of evaluating whether you are overweight and thus at risk of related health problems. However, there are certain people for whom the BMI cannot properly predict the health risk such as competitive athletes and body builders, whose BMI is high due to a relatively large amount of muscle, and women who are pregnant or lactating. Nor is the BMI intended for growing children or for frail and sedentary elderly people.

According to federal guidelines, a score in excess of 25 means you are carrying too much weight. Serious obesity is defined as a BMI of over 40. A body mass index of 40 translates into a weight of about 200 pounds for a person 5 feet tall or 300 lbs. for someone 6 feet tall.

For example, Cynthia is 18, she weighs 50kg and measures 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 meters). Now to find out her BMI, I divide her weight by height square (in meters). Her BMI is 19.56. So, if you refer to the chart given down, she shows signs of healthy weight.

Here are the standard levels for men and women.

Level	Men	Women
Underweight	<20.7	<19.1
Healthy weight	20.7 - 27	19.1 - 26
Overweight	27.1-31	26.1-29.9
Obese	>31	>30.0

If your BMI is high, you may have an increased risk of developing certain diseases, including

• hypertension
• cardiovascular disease
• sleep nausea
• osteoarthritis
• female infertility

Women typically collect fat on their hips and buttocks, giving their figures a "pear" shape. Men, on the other hand, usually build up fat around their bellies, giving them more of an "apple figure". This is not a hard and fast rule, though. Some men are pear- shaped and some women become apple-shaped after menopause.

Hair Styles

For a chic, modern ensemble like a pant-suit or a simply cut dress, can slick the hair back or customize the "do" with barrettes with flowers or pearls. Peasant dresses, high-waist frocks, or any other period-influenced cut — either wear your hair au naturel — sprinkles of small flowers take well to curly hair — or tie it back loosely, in a romantic style.

Shine On

The number one most important aspect of hair is shine. Straight hair by nature tends to have more sparkle, but flyaway problems will automatically ruin the effect. To combat this common dilemma - especially prevalent in the winter or in colder climates you can use a good hair spray or even a leave-in conditioner. For wavy and curly hair, both prone to brittleness and dullness, slather on a moisturizing product before you begin styling, and then use a shining serum to gloss your hair.

Length Matters

Obviously you're limited by the length of your hair, but then again, biology is there to be conquered.

Short
There are some seriously sexy and glam looks for short-haired gals. Short hair adds a note of sophistication to your look. There are numerous options for a cropped top just as versatile as long hair, but a lot less hassle. The fabulous twenty-something mini barrette look is super-fine; use gel to slick the front of your hair down, fastening one or two barrettes in strategic places (slick down two strands on your cheekbones for that Flapper look). Tousle the hair on the back of your head for a wild contrast. What about those elasticized, fine-toothed headbands? Another simple-but-chic look. Just pull one through your hair and - voila - the pixie look. Let's not forget, you can also use a wig.

Long
If you decide to wear your hair up — a wise choice in the summer or if your wavy/curly hair is prone to frizz or go through mood swings — there are many wonderful 'dos you can do. Scour fashion magazines, consult with your hairdresser, and ask friends for help with trying styles out.

Some essential terms you'll need to know are:

Chignon
A tight knot at the base of the head, the Evita look. Can be a wound braid or plain, ungathered ponytail. Perfect for any type of hair.

French Braid/Pleat
Three-stranded braid woven close to the head, gymnast-style. Good for out-of-control locks.

French Twist
The twist-and-fasten look, like a hot dog bun on the back of your head. Despite that unappealing description, it's actually all the rage right now — and it's pretty timeless, too.

Bun
A ponytail wrapped around itself, usually at the top of the head. The ballerina look is very flattering if you have a long neck.

Updo
A generic term for any upswept look. Usually with loose tendrils of hair framing the face. Think supermodel.

Petal Curls
An elaborate, cutting-edge style that involves constructing many smooth folds of hair on top or at the back of the head. Stunning, like a flower made of hair.

Glam It!
Fresh flowers, yet another option for beautiful detail, add dimension and texture. Flowers may be pinned into the hair, placed around the head. Then, people won't notice that your hair is short or long, they'll just focus on the flowers. Remember that when your hair is short, the details say a lot. The bonus of shorter hair is that with less to work with (and to hide the pretty hair piece), the accessory will appear more visible and more dramatic. Earrings, barrettes, or unique accessories (like a beaded tiara) can create a whole look.

Ask around for handcrafted pins, combs, headbands or hats. Hair pins, "baby" barrettes and handmade clips are popular and fairly easy to find these days. Many salons now sell them, sometimes made by local artists. Be sure to ask when you book your appointment.

Try the humble headband for a final touch of sparkle. You can glue sequins, flowers, ribbon and bits and ends to them.