Hello everyone!!
Now that Christmas is approaching, I want to talk about a small appliance that I have used for the last two months and that I love, it has become my favorite kitchen appliance after the pressure cooker (I love kitchen gadgets, they save us time and they make our lives easier, I will write another post about my favorite kitchen gadgets 😉).
It is the Hurom juicer. Since I started the blog, I mentioned a health coach that I used to follow on Facebook (when I still had Facebook, back in 2016). Her name is Valeria Lozano and she has the Hábitos.mx page (she is quite well known in Mexico). Her posts about vegetable juices caught my attention, which she recommended drinking on an empty stomach and preparing with a cold-pressed juice extractor. By then I had been drinking my vegetable smoothie at night for years, since I started that habit back in 2010 when I made gazpachos for dinner because I couldn't chew the salad properly with my braces.
The fact is that I loved seeing her posts about vegetable juices and their benefits, but I didn't dare to do it because I already drank my smoothies at night, and it seemed to me that it was something similar. But not. I didn't do it either because a good extractor costs a lot of money (much more than a simple blender) and the bagasse thing generated resistance in me, it seemed to me like throwing away food. Furthermore, I was not convinced about removing fiber, which is precisely something very good that fruits and vegetables have.
The fact is that, 6 years later (it's never too late, hahaha) and as part of improving my diet even more (now I would consider myself a flexitarian or plant-based, I eat few products of animal origin, with the exception of eggs), I decided to buy an extractor. There are cheaper ones than Hurom, but since I start doing something, I do it well, and to buy one that doesn't extract as much juice and requires buying more food, or that gives me less benefits, then I stick with the blender (also, It is compatible to drink juices and smoothies, eh?).
I decided to buy the Hurom brand because it is the one Valeria uses and I was very well informed about it. There are other good brands too, but in Mexico those who carry the Hurom brand are very active on YouTube (I watched all their videos, hehe) and I learned a lot. Furthermore, in Mexico City they have customer service and a physical establishment, and they give you a guarantee for the extractor, you can buy individual parts...
The fact is that I started making my green juices in the mornings and I loved it!! You really notice something different. To begin with, after the juice (500 ml) I don't get hungry at all until 2 or 3 hours (and having fasted overnight for at least 12 hours, I don't do it much longer either, at most 15 hours). It makes me feel very good, with a lot of energy, and my skin is flawless. Since I bought the pump after taking the blood test, we will have to wait to see if I improve even more (I already took good care of myself, this is an extra step). My sugar and cholesterol were fine, but I can lower the bad cholesterol a little and raise the good cholesterol, although I am within acceptable ranges.
I have made juices of different types, always without fruit except lemon (although you can add fruit). I love the carrot one (I never imagined that you could extract so much liquid from carrots, they are a ton of fiber!), the one with beets (great for anemia and for blood) and the green ones too, very fresh. I always add a piece of fresh ginger. And, a trick, if you are going to eat the leftover bagasse later, do not put the lemon whole but already squeezed, because the white skin that the lemon has, when it comes out as bagasse from the extractor, it is very very bitter. I have a lot of fun preparing the vegetables, cutting them, putting them in the juicer and seeing how the juice comes out, and then the bagasse comes out on the other side. If there is a rush in the morning, you can prepare and cut everything at night and just make the juice the next day. Or you can even prepare the juice up to 72 hours in advance and store it in the refrigerator; it does not lose its properties during that time when extracted by cold pressure (better if stored in a glass container with a lid and in the dark). I prefer to do it and take it at the moment. I eat the bagasse later at night as a salad adding other things to it, it is very delicious. You can make different sweet and savory recipes with bagasse. In my opinion, the simplest and simplest thing is to eat it as a salad or with egg in a vegetable omelet. I haven't tried it yet, but with Hurom you can make vegetable milk very easily, and the bagasse is perfect to use as nut flour.
Here I show examples of my first juices and leftovers' salad with Hurom:
Regarding the juice/smoothie differences, the advantages of juices and why Hurom, I couldn't explain it better than these images:
Since now at Christmas we tend to eat less healthily, a juice extractor works perfect to compensate, or to get seriously healthy in January haha. I use it daily, in fact when traveling I have missed my morning juice. I have tried to do the same but with a smoothie, and when you wake up it is harder to drink, plus the insoluble fiber falls heavier (the cold-pressed smoothie has soluble fiber but not insoluble, that is what goes to waste). Being on an empty stomach and not carrying insoluble fiber, that fruit and vegetable water, with all its vitamins and minerals, immediately reaches the bloodstream. I think it's a really good way to make sure kids take their vitamins (they can drink juices as early as 1 year old). A few days ago they contacted me from Hurom México in case I wanted to be a collaborator promoting their extractors, and since it is a product that I do believe in (I would have bought it 6 years ago, hahaha) I said yes. The domestic model that I have is HY, there is another model with more capacity which is the H200. I see this one more for large families and businesses, it has more capacity, works for 4 hours and you barely have to chop the ingredients.
By entering my code maria2223 when purchasing the extractor on its official website https://hurom.com.mx/ (go to “do you have a coupon?” and put it in “coupon code”) Hurom Mexico gives you a gift. This month of December is a lunchbox. Additionally, for Christmas, they have the following offers:
Updating this entry about three months later, I confirm that I love my Hurom (I haven't stopped making my juices since I bought it). Here I put my ambassador link for the Wellzen México store (who distributes the Hurom brand in Mexico) and the QR code. By entering the store with my ambassador link or the QR code, in addition to your Hurom you can buy other very interesting products. Every month there are different promotions for Hurom and by entering the link, in addition to the Hurom promotions you have additional gifts and a lower cost for shipping the product: https://www.wellzen.com/#maria2223
PS: So that you believe me even more on the subject of juice, know that the famous Tony Robbins, in his book Power Without Limits, says: “It would be a good idea to control that your diet is made up of 70% foods rich in water. That is, fresh fruit or vegetables, or freshly squeezed juices of one or the other” (p.214). Water is very necessary for the body, but even better than plain water is the water contained in fruits and vegetables, and we already know that cooking vegetables loses some vitamins and enzymes. Tony also says, “Do you want to know what the best purchase you can make is? Buy yourself a blender! [refers to a juicer, the Spanish translation is not precise, I read it in English] Do you have a car? Sell the car and buy a blender, which will take you much further. Do it right now! The juice is taken on an empty stomach, just like the fruit itself, and is digested so quickly that just fifteen or twenty minutes later you can have a normal meal” (p.222).
If you have any questions about Hurom extractors, you can write to me on the blog or privately and I will be happy to answer you.
Very Merry Christmas and until the next post!
Category: Electrolysis hair removal
Get the most out of your solid shampoo (or any soap bar) with a panty
Hello everyone!
It's been a long, long time since I wrote on the blog, but here I am again to tell interesting and useful things. This is my latest discovery and, although it is silly, it has me excited, because it had not occurred to me before.
I have been using solid shampoo for a long time now, because it is more ecological, practical for traveling, and because in theory it is cheaper, since you are not paying for a container with water and some product (as you do with liquid shampoo). You pay only for the raw material, which is the shampoo. I say that in theory it is cheaper because the problem I had was that when the tablet was already quite worn out, it was difficult for me to apply it, not enough foam came out, it fell off...
I researched online and saw recipes where they cut the remaining soap (or shampoo in this case) into small pieces, dilute it in hot water and create a liquid shampoo. There are also videos where they create a new soap with soap flakes. I tried the first idea and it didn't work, the pieces didn't dissolve well. Furthermore, if you do that it would be for a single application, since you are mixing the product with water and you are not adding any preservative, as there is in commercial liquid shampoos. I didn't try creating a new pill, but for that you have to have enough leftover pieces.
The fact is that the other day I found a video where a woman said that what they did to take advantage of the bar of soap (in this case for the body) was to wrap it in one of those cloth sponges. And then I had the idea! I remembered other videos where they explained that with an old stocking you could squeeze nuts to make a vegetable drink. And it occurred to me that by putting the solid shampoo in a stocking I could "squeeze" it as much as possible. No sooner said than done! I cut up an old sock, put the pieces of solid shampoo in and tied a knot. When I washed my hair it worked perfectly, not a bit of shampoo escaped, when mixed with water and rubbed on the head the product came out well, so I could use every last flake. Then the stocking is left to dry and that's it, when the stocking is worn out it can be washed as normal and start again. I put a photo of my stocking with shampoo, already used.
I hope it helps you! 🙂
Intimate Grooming
Hello! Happy 2021! In the first post of this year I’m going to talk about some grooming issues that I think don’t appear very much on the Internet.
The first one are inverted nipples. What?? Yes, there are women (including myself) whose nipples are not erected, or not always. This is called having flat or inverted nipples. In my case, they are usually flat, but with cold or when touched the “tip” comes out. They’re shy, hahaha. For me it is not too much of a problem, quite the opposite, since I do not have that problem of the noticeable nipple when wearing a sports bra or not wearing a bra. Something that, by the way, should not be a problem either, since a nipple is normal, well, what if it is noticeable under the clothes? Men’s package is usually noticeable too. One day I heard a youtuber telling that she had inverted nipples, and that since she wanted to have a baby, she needed to have a surgery there before, in order to be able to breastfeed her baby. When I had rhinoplasty this summer, I mentioned this to the surgeon and he told me that it is just the opposite: if you have inverted nipples and you have surgery done there, you can no longer breastfeed. So, I have doubts about it, if someone has had this problem and has had surgery and then breastfed, please tell me. I read that having flat or inverted nipples may cause problems when breastfeeding, but in my case, since by just touching them they come out I do not think so. What the surgeon told me is that with the surgery to pull the nipple outwards, some “fibers” are cut (those “fibers” cause the nipple go inwards) and that is why afterwards it is no longer possible to breastfeed. Whatever.
Another issue I wanted to discuss is the pubis/labia majora. I think that in a post I already mentioned that I had full intimate hair removal for the first time two years ago, and now I have completely finished the process. There is no going back. I thought a lot about whether I should do it or not, because with electrolysis hair removal the result is definitive. As it was not my priority, I left it until the end, but now after three sessions I am already hairfree there. My doubts were whether I looked or felt strange, and because hair is supposed to have a function there, to protect from friction and against some sexually transmitted diseases.
Well, I did not take my decision for sexual reasons because I am not promiscuous nor did I seek to improve sensations or something like that. I did it, honestly (and I know I’m not the only one who thinks so) because I was sick of seeing pubic hairs (even tough they were mine!) On the bathroom floor, in the sanitary towels, in my pants, on the shower floor… Like the hair on the head, pubic hairs are renewed and fall out, and are long enough to be seen. I don’t go naked at home, so I could not understand how I could see pubic hair on the bathroom floor, just due to drying off after showering. The fact is that I was very disgusted. And those hairs were quite dark, curly and long, gross. Another reason for me was the odor/hygiene issue. Although hair is not synonymous with dirt, well, some remains keep there when you urinate or have your period. Finally, I had a stain on my groin that I thought was from when I had laser there many years ago. I thought it was a burn and that’s why I had that brown stain. But one day it started to itch, and then I started to wonder if it was a fungus. And yes, it turns out that I had a fungus in my groin for several years and had not found out. With a cream it was removed, but I did not stop thinking about how a fungus could have come out there. Because of my lifestyle it was not possible that it was due to something contagious. Then I realized: fungi come out because of the humidity. What could have caused humidity there? Well, when I shower, I usually dress immediately, and my public hair was still half damp when I put my panties on. That’s why the fungus started. I searched on the Internet and saw that other people had also suffered this problem, and they recommended drying public hair with cold air with the hairdryer, or intimate epilation. For the reasons stated above, I preferred the second option.
And that is how I decided to have a total intimate epilation. I forgot to mention that, with aging, many women get gray and bald spots there, so that would be one less inconvenience. With intimate hair removal I have included the pubis and the entire intergluteal/perianal area. It feels very clean in the shower when you notice that there is no hair there. It also feels less annoying with the period, and I don’t get any hairs stuck to the glue of the sanitary towel (it used to be a sudden pain when going to the bathroom hahaha) I was worried that I would notice more friction, for example, when riding a bike. But no problem. Since the epilation was with local anesthesia, it was not painful at all, nor did it give me any problems afterwards, the area swells a little and then it goes down.
One last topic that I have learned about is related to the labia majora. I really don’t know how the “intimate area” of other women look like. But it seems that, as with breasts, there are differences, there are women with larger or smaller, darker or lighter labia majora. In the intimate area the skin is darker than in the rest of the body, that is clear. And it seems that some people whiten that area. Some women have their labia majora too big, or one bigger than the other, and it seems to them little aesthetic or it bothers them with tight clothes. I have one labia majora larger than the other and somewhat dark, but it doesn’t give me any comfort problem or anything. In fact, bigger labia majora are supposedly beneficial on the sexual area. Anyway, for those who may be concerned about this, there is also an intervention that “cuts” labia majora (with laser) and makes them look more aesthetic.
Well, you see, I always talk about “never said” issues. In addition to being curious, they seem to me to be issues that must also be discussed, otherwise it happens as it happened to me with my hair problem: it happens to a young or uninformed girl and she thinks that she is abnormal and that it only happens to her to her. All because some issues are not discussed.
Until next post!
I wrote a book!!
In the last post of this strange year 2020 I want to share that I have written a book!! It is not my first book, but it is the first that I did not write for work reasons and that I’m publishing as Mariahelpsyou. It is available in Spanish and English, both in ebook and paper format. For every taste!
The possibility of self-publishing for free with Amazon had caught my attention a long time ago. Knowing the difficulties of gaining a foothold in the publishing world, it seems like a great option for all those who want to publish something that may not sell, or who are not professional writers. Taking advantage of the low social life imposed this year, I took on the task of compiling some of the blog posts into a book, which has the same title as the blog. It is a short book, with eight chapters, with the posts I thought were the most important to include. In the five years that have passed since I started writing the blog I discovered new things and I had to update several posts. So, in the book I wanted to include all that information together. For example, how I progressed with electrolysis hair removal, belonephobia, skin care, in dyeing my gray hair, in oral care…
The book is aimed especially at teenage girls and girls in their twenties. Every time I wrote a blog post, I mentally relived my past dealing with different beauty / health issues, and each time I thought: “If someone had told me this at the time.” I remembered how I felt so lonely and hopeless with certain problems, which apparently only happened to me because nobody around was talking about them, and that despite my many attempts seemed to have no solution. Some of them (like acne or gingivitis) may seem more common and not as serious. Others, like hirsutism or belonephobia, have really embittered much of my life. That is why the book is aimed at young girls who may living a similar situation. Although it has taken many years, I have found a solution to all these problems. And it has not been thanks to the many specialist doctors, or dentists, or hairdressers, or any so-called “professionals”, but only with my persistence and research on the Internet, losing a lot of time and money along the way. Whoever seeks finds (even if it is later than sooner). Although the book is aimed at young girls, of course anyone can benefit from reading it, at least one chapter, be it a man or a woman of any age.
And well, what better date to launch a book than before Christmas! I do not expect to earn lot of money with this, it would be enough for me to know that the knowledge I share arrived and helped someone who needed it.
Merry Christmas!!
*Where to buy the book:
As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
*Book in English: https://amzn.to/3fNCJxK
*Book in Spanish: https://amzn.to/33tbuUd
Blackheads
Hello everyone!!
In this month’s post I am going to talk about impurities and blackheads. After talking about anal pimples or blackheads (by the way, it is the most widely read post on the blog, but no one dares to comment on it, lol) I had to talk about the most common blackheads, those on the nose. So, in this post I’m not going to talk about acne, but about impurities, blackheads, oil that accumulates in the pores.
This type of problem occurs in the T zone of the face (forehead, nose, chin), chest and back. In my case, the problem is mainly in the nose (my nose is very greasy, although the rest of the face is not) and the cleavage.
Let’s start with the nose. In my case, the pores on my nose are too large, I don’t have many blackheads, it’s more an accumulation of oil in the pores. What I advise for this are two things. On the one hand, a pore sucker can be used. On the other hand, you can do a weekly pores cleaning: after a long and hot shower (that is, when I wash my hair) the pores are open due to steam, so when I get out of the shower it is the ideal time to do the cleaning. With two pieces of toilet paper, I gently squeeze all over the nose and all the grease comes out. Then I hydrate all my face with aloe vera. Since I shower at night, if my nose gets red, there is no problem because the next day it has disappeared (in any case it should not be very red, you do not have to be rough). Having large pores or not is something rather genetic, there is not much that can be done about it (of course, you can cover your pores with makeup, what I mean is you cannot minimize your pores). However, cleaning your pores can help to avoid bigger pores or the accumulation of grease that leads to blackheads. Oily pores become larger, and clean pores may appear somewhat finer.
In the case of the cleavage, my problem was that I used have small pimples. Now I don’t get any. What I did was trying to apply the same cleansing method as on the face, and after the shower, weekly, passing the pore sucker over the area (gently). And, in honor of the title of the blog (things that not many say) I am going to give one important tip: in the area of the cleavage I had some hair, after removing it with electrolysis, pimples in the area disappeared. I think hairless skin is less prone to blemishes and pimples (in the areas that are prone to it).
Until next post!!
*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
*From the United States:
·Pores sucker: https://amzn.to/347A1Pt
*From Mexico:
·Succionador de poros: https://amzn.to/2TakV5j
*From Spain:
·Succionador de poros: https://amzn.to/3j7nfEQ
A small summary
Hello everyone!!
This month’s post is going to be a compilation of everything I’ve been writing about on the blog, since I started with three posts in 2015, until I decided to take it more seriously and write a monthly post as part of my goals for the year in 2017.
When I started the blog I wanted to share things that I had discovered by myself, especially through the Internet and from my own experience and that of others, over the years. They were doubts, questions that do not appear so much in beauty magazines and on blogs and YouTube channels, or that in the case of appearing I considered they had wrong or incomplete answers (such as taking the pill if you have acne or resorting to laser if you have hair on your face…). I really wanted to address problems and solutions that I thought were not being publicized enough.
In 2015 I explained how the irrigator (in its eco-friendly and cheap version, the Italian So-Wash) is the secret weapon that dentists do not want you to discover, along with the coconut oil + bicarbonate toothpaste. A toothpaste that also works as a deodorant. I also published the most visited and consulted entry of the entire blog, the one that talks about electrolysis hair removal. A post that I updated later showing the progress of my “do it yourself” results in this regard.
In 2017, I started talking about my experience with hirsutism and acne, I defended Roacutan and Ovusitol against the contraceptive pill and I talked about some simple and cheap measures like aloe vera, castile soap (Dr. Bronners), the importance of changing face towels and the pillowcase (better if it is made of silk) often. I have also talked about the importance of nutrition (the now fashionable smoothies) for the skin and the little-known mineral makeup.
Also in 2017 I dared to confess the existence of tonsil stones and anal blackheads, in the most eschatological blog post. I spoke again about hair, but this time about hair on the head: I was interested in henna as an alternative to dyes and allergies, but I was worried that it would not cover gray hair well.
I also talked about health issues, such as period pain, and how I try to control them by always keeping omeprazole and ibuprofen close at hand, in my emergency bag. Or the problem of belonephobia, so poorly treated by most health professionals and which causes serious trauma to many people. I still hadn’t found a definitive solution to this issue, but reading the book Overcoming Medical Phobias gave me some hope. Trying psychological treatments (hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming) gradual exposure (with images, videos…) and using the applied tension of the muscles could be the key. In my case, I also think that choosing a different site from which to draw the blood (perhaps the hand and not the inside of the elbow) could have an influence. I’ve been working on this for the past few months, and I’ve gone from feeling a bit dizzy just reading or watching videos about it, to being able to tolerate it (at least from a distance). I also think that the time of day influences, since for example I have the lowest blood pressure and I am weaker in the morning, which is precisely when the blood extraction procedure is done (and on an empty stomach). A reader advised me to use Buzzy and I have it ready to try in the future. What I’d really like to try though is the Seventh Sense Biosystems TAP. I keep writing them to see how to acquire it but it seems that at the moment only certain laboratories have it (I have also written to them and they do not respond). I hope it is only a matter of time, because it gives me the impression that there may be the solution. Other alternatives are the use of Vacutainer or butterfly needles for extractions. I had considered these alternatives, so I would also like to try. Anyway, hopefully in the future I can write a post explaining how I finally solved the issue. It would be my personal big hit on these issues, along with the discovery of electrolysis :))
In the blog I have also shared my personal manias, such as my rejection to long nails (which does not mean that I do not take care of my hands), my rejection of feet, of absurd fashion stupidities like ripped pants, my horror of intestinal parasites and of noise. And I have defended the use of the forgotten bidet, protection from the sun but not with creams, internal and external hydration and attention to the lymphatic system.
Some posts include novel therapies, such as the natural solution to myopia (including much cheaper glasses), a problem that I had previously discussed. In this regard, I recently read a piece of news about some drops to solve myopia developed by a university in Israel … I’ll be watching too. Hopefully ending myopia without surgery will my third hit :))
*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
*From the United States:
·Buzzy: https://amzn.to/2ZTLvDF
*From Mexico:
·Buzzy: https://www.buzzy.com.mx/
*From Spain:
·Buzzy: https://amzn.to/2RUnzMh
Parasites
Hello!!!
Today’s post is about an issue that terrifies me since I was little and continues to worry me today: parasites inside the human body. I suppose everyone has been told as children that if you eat a lot of sweets you get “worms”. I never had it, I guess it really helped that I didn’t eat a lot of sweets as a child.
Now that I am an adult and I know more about life (hehehe) I already know that there are different types of parasites, and that they are usually acquired by eating raw-poorly cooked food, poorly disinfected vegetables or fruits, water in poor condition …
Another story that has always terrified me is that of the tapeworm. The idea that you can have a “worm” of a few meters inside your body, without knowing it, for years … bufff. I have heard many stories about this, sometimes from close people (I’m not sure if I believe them). From models who acquired the tapeworm “on purpose” to be able to eat a lot and be thin, to the grandmother whose tapeworm peeked through one nostril and got into the other nostril … Also the story of people who were put face down, with their mouth open and a bowl of water or milk, so that the tapeworm would come out to…The story of a woman who had a tapeworm inside her for 10 years and whose tapeworm came out one day while she was taking a shower…Or the story that says that if you open your mouth after eating cod, which is very salty, the tapewrom comes out to drink from the glass of water. Hahahaha they seem like camp horror (or laughter) stories!!
But the fact is that it does exist, and if you have it, it is not that serious: you take a pill, it dies, and you will shi it tup. Among the tapeworm, amoebas, worms and others, I have been living in distress every time I went to the bathroom, in case they appeared, hahaha.
Another important fact is that in countries that are not as temperate as Europe, the United States or Japan (those that have seasons), that is, those countries that are rather tropical, the incidence of parasites (also transmitted by mosquitoes, although this is another issue ) is quite bigger. Not only because of the hotter climate (apparently the “bugs” die in cold weather) but because of their habit of eating in the street, in places with hygienic-sanitary measures that leave much to be desired.
When you are going to travel to one of these countries, at the vaccination center they recommend you to drink only bottled water (some exaggerated one that I know went to Ecuador and even washed her teeth with bottled water), not to eat on the street, and better not to eat fruits and vegetables (unless you eat disinfected and peeled fruit). I very much agree with these measures, and not only in tropical countries. In fact, when I eat out in Spain and Europe (although not in street stalls) I don’t usually order salads or fruits. Why? First, I don’t eat out every day, so since I am paying a plus I prefer something more substantial than a salad (I already eat vegetables every day at home). Later, because I don’t know how they disinfect raw foods, if they wash their hands before handling them, if they wear gloves… Since I heard the story of a “funny” man who worked at McDonalds and spit on hamburgers, well… That’s why I love places where they cook pizza or whatever in front of you.
And well, in tropical countries, if you live there or are there for a long time, you surely will end up eating somewhere where hygienic-sanitary measures are not what we are used to in Europe. You just have to go around the municipal markets, they have made me want to vomit seeing how they have raw meat lying there, without cold or any protection measure. But … it would be a shame to miss the local gastronomy for that. So, I sometimes eat in street stalls in these places, but trying to make sure it a trustworthy place, that both the product and the person cooking look good, and I do it very rarely. Another fact to take into account is that in these countries people are “dewormed” like dogs. Every six months or year they take a deworming pill, because they assume that they have caught something, or as a precaution. WTFFFF !!!
Until next month!!
Summer and the Sun
I will dedicate this month’s post to the king star and how to protect ourselves from him. We all know the dangers of sunbathing, both aesthetically (wrinkles, premature aging) and health (melanoma).
When I was a teenager (a few years ago) people were crazy about getting tanned. Luckily, it seems that this has changed and now being pale does not look so bad, many people even think it is beautiful (including myself), as is the case in Asian cultures. Although I am very pale and it does not bother me at all, it is true that in occassions like weddings etc, certain dresses dont look well if one is very pale. But self tanners, tanning showers (with sugar cane, etc.) and makeup have been invented for that, so it doesn’t seem like a reason to sunbathe or go to the rays.
In Winter I dont worry about the sun, because I do not spend much time outdoors, and ten minutes per day seem good to me (we already know that vitamin D comes from the sun and is necessary). But when spring-summer comes, I do start to be careful.
Unlike the advice of pharmacists and marketing from the cosmetic industry in general, I do not use sunscreen daily. It seems an unnecessary expense that has been promoted for commercial purposes disguising it as prevention. And they include unnecessary skin chemicals. For a person who goes from home to work, or to shopping, I think it is enough to try to walk in the shade, wear sunglasses and a hat or an umbrella/parasol. Also, I dont like the texture of the sunscreens, their ingredients, I don’t like wearing it at all. But obviously if I am going to be on the beach I do wear it (although I will be under the parasol most of the time, except if I walk or bathe). In that case, I use cheaper sunscreens (although always with high SPF) in the body and of higher quality (Avène type) for the face, which are also non-greasy and non-comedogenic. Even so, whenever I put a blocker on my face I get some pimples afterwards.
Well, in general I dont worry at all about being tanned, except in the case that I have mentioned. In addition, I have already seen that those girls in their 30s who have sunbathed a lot have more wrinkles, sunspots and in general they look older. Not to mention the appearance of moles, which I hate and have a tendency have, so one more reason to avoid sunbathing. And returning to vitamin D, 10 minutes a day is enough, so I don’t think it is an argument to defend sunbathing.
*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
*From the United States
- Avène sunscreen: https://amzn.to/3hLirnV
*From Mexico
- Protección solar Avène, no grasa, no comedogénica: https://amzn.to/2FLLJFY
*From Spain
- Protección solar Avène, no grasa, no comedogénica: https://amzn.to/2H5C4dJ
The period (menstruation)
This month’s post is dedicated to the period or menstruation. It is a subject that I would like to address from my experience, in case it can serve others who go through the same thing and if the people who read it can provide some valuable insights.
I had my first period quite late, when I was 14 years but only three months before turning 15. So I was quite excited, since it was the last of my friends and I was beginning to worry. From my third period I began feeling pain, the famous “menstrual cramps”, and from there the ordeal began (apart from the hair/acne problem that I have already treated in other posts). I have to say that I think my period pain is genetic, since my mother also had menstrual cramps and I remember when I was a child and she stayed in bed one or two days a month. I think it can also be related with the fact that she did not give birth, but had a C-section. Some people say that those who had painful periods and have given birth stop having painful periods, but I’ve seen this is not always the case.
A second issue is “timing”. My periods comes with me to all good times: New Year’s Eve, trips, etc. It comes also on weekends, of course, but I almost prefer this because, as I feel so bad, I can stay at home during the weekend. To give some examples, the first year I had my period it came with me to my high school study trip, in which we spent all day doing water activities. I had never used a tampon because I had hardly had five periods until then. So it was very uncomfortable because I didn’t put it well, it bothered me, it stained everything… At New Year’s Eve I had to stay at home because my period came just that night. It also came with me to a transatlantic flight, and I had previously taken an aspirin for the traveler syndrome (to avoid clots doctors recommend taking aspirin before long hours of travel, and also wearing compression stocks). Since aspirin avoid clots, on that trip I bled like an open tap, great.
But the worst part is pain. I have fainted twice. One of them it was at home. It was a weekend (of course). I got up for breakfast and noticed that it was starting to hurt, but I wanted to wait until I finished breakfast to take my ibuprofen. Suddenly it started to hurt a lot and I noticed that I was getting dizzy, and I just had the time to run to my bedroom and throw myself in bed before I passed out. When I woke up my parents were looking at me super worried. The second time it was on the city bus, the one I took to go to work when I lived in Belgium. That day was a working day, and I had an ibuprofen after breakfast, I had some discomfort, but I thought it would disappear in a while, when the ibuprofen I had taken made effect. I got on the bus (maybe the bus rattle made it worse) and I began to feel very bad, I was thinking about arriving at the office and being able to lie down even on the table…and when I woke up the bus was empty and an ambulance had arrived. They put me in the ambulance (first time in my life) and took me to the hospital, I told them that I was fine, that I just needed a little water … but they refused to give me water! Already in the hospital they took me on a stretcher (as in the movies, haha) to a room and there they made me some tests and they pricked me on a finger to draw blood (the issue of fear of needles I will treat in another post, but that day I was so stunned that I didn’t notice that they punctured me). After one hour lying there they told me that I could go home, but that it had to be on my own (on the bus again, I expected them to at least take me home in the ambulance).
During the nine years I took the contraceptive pills I totally forgot about the issue of period pain, and that is another reason why I took them so many years. But when I stopped my pain returned. Luckily my pain crises (one hour or two) have been almost all at home in my bed. Sometimes I think that the time to give birth, the contractions, must be something similar. A problem that I think I have solved is that of ibuprofen damage. Ibuprofen is very hard for the stomach and should not be taken lightly (a friend ended up with an ulcer because she took ibuprofen like chewing gum). But I have test many medicines and for my period pain (a pain that is inflammatory) ibuprofen is what goes best. My problem is that most of the time the crises start when I wake up in the morning (maybe going from horizontal to vertical position?) and with an empty stomach. Also, with the pain, my appetite is totally taken away and I can’t eat anything. So, of course, ibuprofen does even more damage to an empty stomach. I had hydrocutions and vomited (also on an empty stomach), and really wanted to go to the bathroom. And, I am ashamed to say it, but I had to do my thing in a basin next to the bed, because I was so bad that I was afraid to go to the bathroom and pass out there. A doctor told me to take omeprazole before ibuprofen, because it acts as a protective layer on the stomach and then ibuprofen no longer hurts you. Omeprazole can be taken on an empty stomach. This way, when I have morning crises I also take it on an empty stomach. In times of crisis I usually take up to 1200 milligrams of ibuprofen, which I fear is quite a lot. I already know about cardiovascular risk and such, but what else can I do? On top of that, I am half a day groggy and afraid of having an overdose or something. It also used to help having an electric blanket on my stomach during my crises, which last about two hours (although the longest was 4 hours, I thought it never ended). Ah! An important issue is not to drink milk when taking ibuprofen, milk does not go well with medication.
My problems with period pain made me afraid to travel (and my mother was also afraid of me traveling). But I decided that it was not going to affect me, and I have not stopped doing anything for that (although in the days of crisis I had to stay at home). The problem with this is that it is like a Russian roulette, there are times that from when I notice the first cramp until my period starts, five days can pass, and I spend those five days scared and taking ibuprofen because I don’t know when the crisis will start. The truth is that it is a horror. And it seems to me that if I take ibuprofen (to prevent pain in advance), I delay my period more, so during the wait I take more than I should without need.
Another issue in which I am a bit special is that I only like to put on compresses. I think that for those who have period pains it is better not to wear tampons, because it could affect the pain issue. In addition, someone told me: How do you empty a water bottle better, dropping the water, or putting cotton in it to absorb the water? I have only used tampons if strictly necessary. And the menstrual cup, I think it’s a great invention, but I don’t use it, at least as long as I still have period pain.
Well, that’s my experience, you can see how beautiful.
Until next month!!
More about hairs (this time from the head)
I’m going to dedicate this month’s post to hair, but this time to head hair. Anyway, in the future I may talk more about fuzz and body hair. Let’s start, then.
First, I will explain the type of hair that I have. It is long and wavy, which implies advantages when it comes to varying my style, but not so many if one wants to get out of the shower and let her hair as it is (although that is precisely what I do). I’ve always had a lot of hair (in this case I don’t dislike it so much, lol), in a dark brown color.
When it comes to washing my hair, as I have a lot and it is not greasy, what I do is leave two days in between washes. That is, if I washed it on Monday, I wash it again on Thursday. I can do this for my hair type, although I know that girls with fine or oily hair need to wash it every day or at most with a day in between. But in my case that would be an ordeal, because it takes a lot to dry and I would have to use the dryer everyday (with the consequent damage). Well, even so, a discovery I’ve made recently and that I wanted to share is dry shampoo. It is a spray that you put on your hair when you do not have time or do not want to wash your hair, and what it does is to absorb oil, odors, and give a better appearance to the hair. I would not use dry shampoo on a regular basis, just for some urgency. The reason is that I have looked at the list of ingredients (of several, I have compared) and most of them contain aluminum and I don’t know how many more horrible things. And it is not like the normal shampoo that you put on and rinse, this product can really reach your scalp, and as I explained in the post on deodorants, everything that reaches your skin is absorbed by your body. I could also talk about the environmental damage caused by aerosols, the danger of breathing the components … To sum up, I would recommend dry shampoo just like Perspirex: only for very specific cases, knowing that it is not good and that there are alternatives (like washing your hair, hahaha).
Turning to the topic shampoo/conditioner/hair mask /fixing products. As with skin cosmetics, I have a lot of distrust and I think less is more. For shampoo, it is a whole world and I am not an expert, but I know that the less rare ingredients the better. Also in this case, the issue of ingredients seems less serious than in cosmetics, since they will only be in contact with the skin during the time we wash our hair, and “your hair itself is already dead, no matter what you put on it” (this phrase was told to me by a friend who was studying medicine and it was recorded, hahaha). By the way, it makes me feel quite uncomfortable to think that some people wear natural hair extensions. What is most important for issues like dandruff, itching, etc. is the health of your scalp, that is, of the skin of your head. And for that, I think food and water are we ingest are more important. Of course one cannot control whether the water is softer or harder, it depends on where one is. I have noticed a lot of difference in my hair from one city to another using the same shampoo, and this is due to water. Soft water leaves hair much cleaner and more manageable than hard water (with more lime). Knowing that, what I recommend is to put a filter in the shower (like a Brita jug, but for the shower, hahaha). It is not only good for your hair, but also for your skin, which appears less dry. It is much more useful to invest in a filter (in Spain they cost around thirty euros) than in products like moisturizers and hair masks. In addition, I use tip-to-medium conditioner (here there is no concern for the scalp, so I use Pantene) to control the frizz and because if I don’t use it my hair looks like Mafalda.
On shampoo brands, I would like to have more biodegradable (non-polluting) brands available in supermarkets. As there are not many options, and since I always look for the least bad option, I usually choose baby shampoos (since they are for babies have a more controlled list of ingredients). On fixing products, I understand that for girls with frizzy hair they may be indispensable. I do not use them, or at most I wear some aloe vera (this time the cheap green phosphorite). In addition, I have a slight suspicion that foams and hair gels cause acne (leaving residues on the pillow where you put your face). What I do when I wash my hair (usually at night) is to dry it with the dryer, and the next day I put it in a bun. The second day I can already wear it loose. From time to time I iron it, but honestly, it takes me 40 minutes and every time I am less willing to waste time on something like that. On this, another tip: those who have a lot of hair like me, it’s better to use irons with large squares in order to advance much faster. Regarding curling irons, I have only used mine twice. And it didn’t look so bad when I did it, but I repeat, for these things I don’t have patience.
Finally, the theme of the dyes. Because of my hair color and eyebrows (also black) I never dyed my hair until my gray hair began to bother me (about two years ago). Many people change their hair color for fun, I don’t find any sense in that (sorry, call me bland). But what I can’t do is go with gray hair!! Now it seems fashionable to dye your hair in white, even young girls are seen with white hair… It’s like ripped jeans, people do weird things to be fashionable. If it becomes fashionable to carry a vase on their head they will put it on. The fact is that I began to be traumatized by my gray hair (and did not have so many) and, of course, the first thing I did was to tear them off. MISTAKE!!! I do not think this causes more gray hairs to grow (obviously with time you will have more grey hairs, it is the law of life) but if you tear them off, later you’ll have short white hairs, and that is much worse !! What I had to do with some grey hairs (especially when I had straight hair, which made them more noticeable) is to paint them with mascara! (luckily my hair is black, I’m sorry blondes). I had to wait for them to grow to be dyed. But here I had another problem, and it is that my hair is very thick (that’s why it takes so long to dry) and it seems the dye doesn’t work very well on it. In fact, the 4 or 5 times I’ve dyed my hair, I get the feeling that the dye has not done very much on my hair me. Does this happen to someone else or is it just me??? I tried with Apivita and Herbatint dyes (I wanted without ammonia), a color less than black. A hairdresser told me that without ammonia grey hairs are not covered, but I don’t want to use it … I have not tried henna, but I have heard that it stains, it goes with the washes and then you can’t use dye, so I don’t see it very practical.
As a last tip, I recommend that you buy a tangle teezer brush, it’s amazing!
Until next month!!
UPDATE!!: I finally tried henna and it worked!! Read my post: I dye my hair with henna. You can also read the post Shampoos, hairbrushes and showers.
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