Selfcare is NOT selfish

     

   Today - being Friday - is one of only two days ruled by a female Deity.

   Lucky to get two, really, weren't we?

   So, let’s not moan, because at 28.5%, it’s a better percentage than many parliaments around the world.

   Anyway, who has time to complain? Most of the women I meet and treat hardly have time to sleep, what with a job, trying to run a household, juggling animals and children (not necessarily in that order) and attempting to fit in cooking healthy meals and a spot of exercise.

     But finding time for you is important.

     Let something drop, and step off the treadmill, before you fall off it, drooping with exhaustion.

     Sometimes stopping everything for a little time out can be so energising that you get more done after the break. And selfcare is not selfish, it’s a necessity.

     As most women don’t have sheds, they need to escape to salons for a little P&Q. If you really can’t find time even for that, then carve out some time at home and do your own pamper session.

     Too tired to think of what to do? Maybe you need a little nudge?

     Every Friday I send out a Pamper Mission with suggestions on how you can treat yourself at home.

     Want to get those? Sign up HERE

Marilyn Monroe, who was a lot cleverer than she was given credit for once said 

“I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.”

But she died in her 30s, well before Botox was anything other than a life-threatening disease carried by over-ripe sausages, and fillers were something you chose to put in a sandwich, so didn’t have the chance to try either. 

Would she have done? Who knows?

And should we take beauty advice from film stars anyway? So, what’s the best thing to do? That's what I'm regularly asked.

Make your own decision, I think. 

After some detailed research, of course.

If you want to try something like Botox, and feel it will improve your life, that’s up to you. It’s doubtful that it will improve your life, but it’s your face, after all. 

Never have been one to follow the herd, and really having a severe antipathy to needles, I’m going to stick to the old fashioned route of ageing, but as Dylan Thomas said I will

“…not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” 

(Or the incipient wrinkles, if you're a hit shallower - that would be me, then.) 

Not that I’m into rage, really, sensible action is more my preference. Which is why I’ll be eschewing needles and practicing Facial exercises. 

Want to know more? Message me and we can chat. 

 

Parched limbs?

 So, a week of lovely weather, and suddenly the earth in the garden is looking parched.

From wearing wellies on my daily walk, it's suddenly sandal weather. And are my limbs ready for the sudden exposure?

That would be a 'no' from me.

I look like 'Nausicaa of the white arms', but considerably less glamorous. (Or Ancient Greek.)  
Way back when, Nausicaa and her maidens went down to the riverbank to bathe and do the washing, there being a dearth of domestic white goods in Greece at that point. They met Odysseus and kindly gave him clean clothes, and some oil to rub on his sea-drenched limbs.

He eventually repaid them with the Odyssey.

Which in those days was the equivalent of binge-watching Game of Thrones, presumably.

(Never watched it myself, as my son-in law lent me book 1, and that was sufficiently blood-drenched to put me off)

Anyway, the point of this massive tragic digression was the oil.

Because now is a jolly good time to start treating your arms and legs with some oil or body lotion.

Oiled legs

Your choice, but the best time to do this is when you emerge, like Aphrodite from the waves.

Failing that, the shower will do just fine.

By applying oil or lotion while the skin is damp, you trap moisture, which helps keep skin hydrated. Natty eh?

So that's your pamper mission. Lavish some love (and oil) on your limbs.

If you want to do something luscious for your face, however, you could take a peep at THIS. I have just two spaces left for the next few weeks, so delaying might cost you.

Want more info? Text the Pamper line on 07961224560

Recently I've been getting quite a few questions about ingredients, especially when they sound "chemical". 

So here is the answer to one...

"Why are there added essential oils in the Dr Hauschka products? I thought they used whole plant ingredients?"

Fair point, and you're right in that assumption - they DO use whole plants, but there's rules and regulations that govern these things even more strictly than a Government minister's Dominatrix.

Generally speaking, it can be safer to use whole plants, and often more beneficial, because although loads of things have been analysed to the nth atom, there may still be other - as yet unfound - ingredients.

And there's this thing called synergy, which is what happens when ingredients work together as a whole.

The whole is frequently greater than the broken up constituent parts.

For instance, take willow bark: one of the main ingredient in that is salicylic acid.

Which is commonly found in aspirin.

Yep, one of the commonest drugs on this planet was originally synthesised from Willow bark. In fact the name salicylic comes from its Latin name: Salix (meaning willow)

Willow bark contains salicin, a compound that can be metabolised in the body to create salicylic acid, and is a precursor to aspirin.

It's been used in Folk medicine for yonks, to relieve pain, calm inflammation, and reduce fever. However, because it was used in its whole (or wholistic) form, all of the other constituents probably played a part in the healing properties.

Once you extract one ingredient, things can get out of balance, and the body doesn't always recognise it.

The same thing with essential oils. You can buy 'fragrance' oils which are lab synthesised, so don't contain all the complexity of a natural oil. (And they can be toxic...)

Rose oil, for instance, is unbelievably complex, and contains more than 300 known compounds. However, you can list some of them separately and get things like

• citronellol
  
• phenyl ethanol
  
• geraniol
  
• nerol
  
• farnesol
  
• nonanol
  
• linalool,
  
• nonanal
  
• phenyl acetaldehyde
  
• citral
  
• carvone
  
• 2-phenylmenthyl acetate
  
• methyl eugenol
  
• eugenol 
  
  

Some of which sound well dodgy, don't they?

I mean, if you saw 2-phenylmenthyl acetate on a bottle you'd be sensible to assume it was created in a lab, wouldn't you?

Can you imagine Juliet going round saying -
 
"2-phenylmenthyl acetate, 2-phenylmenthyl acetate,
Wherefore art thou 2-phenylmenthyl acetate?"

No. No poetry in that. A rose really might not smell as sweet, if that's what it was called.

However, poetry is not for chemistry lessons, although if you ask nicely I'll tell you one we used to sing at school.* 

Now, as I mentioned yesterday, there's this thing called INCI which stands for International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient. (Isn't nomenclature a fab word? Back to Latin again, you see, can't escape - well, it is Hallowe'en)

You can see why they shorten it to INCI, can't you?

This deals with the systematic names which are "internationally recognised to identify cosmetic ingredients (i.e, plant extracts, oils, chemicals)." 

These names are developed by the International Nomenclature Committee (INC) and published in the International Cosmetic Ingredient Dictionary and Handbook.

Sounds like a helluva read, that.

The regulations go further - like Tax legislation - and certain ingredients must be listed separately, even if they are present as a whole plant ingredient.

So that, in an enormously gargantuan nutshell, is why you'll see things like Citral, Farnesol, Benzyl Alcohol and Eugenol listed on your Rose Day Cream.

Not because they're added in to make it smell nice, although they do contribute to that, but because they are integral parts of the ingredients used to give you radiant skin. 

Have a Radiant day! 

And if you want a daily Beauty Bulletin, sign up HERE

*It was a ditty set to music and went like this:
Poor old Brown is dead and gone,
His face you'll see no more,
For what he thought was H2O
Was H2SO4...

The Daddy of Handwashing

Okay, you've seen the loo roll wars, and now know what panic looks like, but imagine going into hospital and knowing that you had roughly a 13% chance of surviving if you turned left, not right?

That puts the loo roll wars into perspective doesn't it?

But that is precisely what pregnant women faced in 19th century Vienna.

In 1847, a chap named Ignaz Semmelweis was an obstetrician working in Vienna, looking after two separate maternity wards, and he noticed - as you would - that the women in one ward died in droves, while in the other, the majority survived. 

Ignaz Semmelwiess portrait
from Britannica.com

How could that be? He wondered and investigated, to find that in one ward, the women in labour were looked after by midwives, while in the other one - just across the corridor - they were in the care of (male) doctors.

Now, at that point, the medical profession assumed the people died from “miasmas” which were poisonous, invisible, airborne gases. But Professor Semmelweiss thought that this couldn't be the case, because air moves, and would certainly blow from room to room.

Then he then noted the difference in staff: midwives in one room, and, in the other, doctors, who were also performing post mortems and autopsies. (If not at the same time…)

Obviously, the women were not allowed anywhere near the autopsy room, whereas the doctors would go straight from performing an autopsy to assist a woman in labour. Yep. Really.

History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine.
Courtesy of Pan American Health Organization,
circa 1960s, Bolivia. Photographer: Dana Downie

You can see where this went, can’t you?

Yes. The doctors (like many modern visitors to the men’s room) were not washing their hands! 

The Midwives never went into the post-mortem room and never handled dead bodies, while doctors would perform an autopsy and then go straight to the maternity ward next door to deliver a baby. Nice.

Anyhow, clever old Semmelweiss assumed there was a correlation between this, which was confirmed when one of his colleagues got septicaemia: Dr Kolletschka cut himself while doing an autopsy, developed blood poisoning, and died.

When he attended his chum’s autopsy (as you do?) Dr Semmelweis noticed that lesions on his colleague's body matched the lesions on the body of the autopsy patient. This - he thought - meant that the SCALPEL had transferred the miasma, not the air!

Scrupulous and vigorous hand-washing was instigated at his command, and the death rate on both wards subsequently dropped dramatically.

Which was great for all concerned, except poor old Semmelweiss. 

Because, you’d have thought that the medical profession would have lauded him as a hero, but no.

When he presented his findings, even though he could show that a simple hygiene measure - hand washing - was saving the lives of neonates and their mothers, he was utterly mocked and ridiculed.

It took many years and many more deaths before the medical profession got to grips with this. Which is one reason why surgeons wear bow ties – they can’t drip into things they shouldn’t (and I don’t mean their soup!)

Semmelweiss was sacked and ended his life in an asylum. Poor chap. Because, he was a hygiene hero.

How do I know all this? I heard a play on the radio many years ago and was horrified by this tale. So, I then went and read all about him. Recently the Google doodle was commemorating him quite rightly, as we all know about hand washing now, so credit where it’s due.

So wash your hands scrupulously and frequently, but if all that hand washing is taking its toll, you know where you can get hand cream don’t you?

That’s right. Text the Pamper line and I’ll post you some. 07961224560 will do the trick. You can sanitise the screen afterwards.  

Stay well and have a radiant day!

Love, x Jane x

Okay, you've seen the loo roll wars, and now know what panic looks like, but imagine going into hospital and knowing that you had roughly a 13% chance of surviving if you turned left, not right?

That puts the loo roll wars into perspective doesn't it?

But that is precisely what pregnant 

Ignaz Semmelweiss - from Britannica.com

women faced in 19th century Vienna.
In 1847, a chap named Ignaz Semmelweis was an obstetrician working in Vienna, looking after two separate maternity wards, and he noticed - as you would - that the women in one ward died in droves, while in the other, the majority survived. 

How could that be? He wondered and investigated, to find that in one ward, the women in labour were looked after by midwives, while in the other one - just across the corridor - they were in the care of (male) doctors.

Now, at that point, the medical profession assumed the people died from “miasmas” which were poisonous, invisible, airborne gases. But Professor Semmelweiss thought that this couldn't be the case, because air moves, and would certainly blow from room to room.

Then he then noted the difference in staff: midwives in one room, and, in the other, doctors, who were also performing post mortems and autopsies. (If not at the same time…)

Obviously, the women were not allowed anywhere near the autopsy room, whereas the doctors would go straight from performing an autopsy to assist a woman in labour. Yep. Really.

You can see where this went, can’t you?

Yes. The doctors (like many modern visitors to the men’s room) were not washing their hands! 

The Midwives never went into the post-mortem room and never handled dead bodies, while doctors would perform an autopsy and then go straight to the maternity ward next door to deliver a baby. Nice.

Anyhow, clever old Semmelweiss assumed there was a correlation between this, which was confirmed when one of his colleagues got septicaemia: Dr Kolletschka cut himself while doing an autopsy, developed blood poisoning, and died.

When he attended his chum’s autopsy (as you do?) Dr Semmelweis noticed that lesions on his colleague's body matched the lesions on the body of the autopsy patient. This - he thought - meant that the SCALPEL had transferred the miasma, not the air!

Scrupulous and vigorous hand-washing was instigated at his command, and the death rate on both wards subsequently dropped dramatically.

Which was great for all concerned, except poor old Semmelweiss. 

Because, you’d have thought that the medical profession would have lauded him as a hero, but no.

When he presented his findings, even though he could show that a simple hygiene measure - hand washing - was saving the lives of neonates and their mothers, he was utterly mocked and ridiculed.

It took many years and many more deaths before the medical profession got to grips with this. Which is one reason why surgeons wear bow ties – they can’t drip into things they shouldn’t (and I don’t mean their soup!)

Semmelweiss was sacked and ended his life in an asylum. Poor chap. Because, he was a hygiene hero.

How do I know all this? I heard a play on the radio many years ago and was horrified by this tale. So, I then went and read all about him. Recently the Google doodle was commemorating him quite rightly, as we all know about hand washing now, so credit where it’s due.

So wash your hands scrupulously and frequently, but if all that hand washing is taking its toll, you know where you can get hand cream don’t you?

That’s right. Text the Pamper line and I’ll post you some. 07961224560 will do the trick. You can sanitise the screen afterwards.  

Stay well and have a radiant day!

Love, x Jane x

Into the Arms of Morpheus - How to Sleep Better (Part 1)

In Greek mythology, Morpheus was the god of dreams

The Greeks believed that he shaped and formed their dreams. 

Because he could appear to mere mortals in any shape or form (hence - morph, meaning form, or shape) he functioned as a messenger of the gods, communicating divine messages to sleeping mortals. Or brain-washing them, if you prefer...

Although he could take a human form, Morpheus’s true shape was rather more nightmarish - a winged demon. He was the son of Hypnos, the rather nattily named God of sleep and his mama was Pasithea, the Goddess of relaxation and rest. He had a few brothers, collectively known as the Oneiroi (dreams), but we won't bother with them or his parents much.

Morpheus seems to have outlasted his parents and brethren as an expression to embody peaceful sleep and rest.

(Which is unlikely where the Greeks and their gods were concerned, but let us refrain from picking nits.)

How can we get back to being pals with Morpheus?

Maybe by switching off a bit more and a bit sooner...

Screens are a sleep-killer

Screens are a disaster for sleep. The blue light they emit suppress your body’s release of melatonin. 

Never mind Glamis having murdered sleep. Nothing in Macbeth is a patch on the damage blue light does to sleepy time and your body-clock.

What's Melatonin?

If you've seen packets of it at the chemist, you'll know that some people use melatonin as a sleep aid. Our bodies make it naturally but suppressing it - not such good move.

Melanin is a hormone that helps regulate sleep, so we want to encourage it not suppress it. This means things like reading a proper paper book, rather than a machiney e-one at night prior to sleeping.

In fact, research from Harvard Medical School has found that people who read traditional paper books fall asleep faster and feel more alert the next morning than those who go to bed with an e-reader.

Plus how on earth do you turn over a corner of an ebook?

Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of iGen, a book examining the relationship between adolescents and technology recommends not using devices at night.

She says social media and other smartphone activities tend to keep you thinking about what you've read in a way that is not conducive to switching off and sleeping. She says:

“It’s too easy to keep thinking about your friend’s text, the frustrating work email, or the comments on your Facebook post.”

In other words, if you're worrying about the news you've read or wondering if you bought the wrong thing, your brain will keep buzzing.

“None of this is conducive to settling down for sleep at night,” Twenge says.

There you are! That's Harvard and a Professor of Psychology telling you. Not just lil' ol' me.

There seems to be a fashion in which way to lie babies.
I always put mine facing up. Not like this.

So turn off all screens good few hours before bed, and that means the news, too. The news is rarely good, always sensational and not exactly designed to help you rest and recuperate. 

To sleep like the proverbial baby - a nice quiet one, not a yelling, colicking sort, switch off early and often.

Have a radiant day and a restful night!

PS What to do instead of screen time? A warm bath while sipping an herbal infusion. I'll tell you which ones are good tomorrow.