Category: Oral hygiene

Travel Tips

Hello everyone!!

In this month’s post I am going to talk about some tips that are quite useful for traveling, I am referring especially to long trips. In the current moment, traveling seems a thing of the past, but sooner or later we will return to normality.

Due to my job I have traveled many times on long flights (transoceanic), flights of at least 10 hours. The longest lasted 14 hours! So, I have some experience and I have seen what is best for travel, from my personal experience. I am going to offer a list of recommendations, especially suitable for long flights, although they could be used for other types of trips, I hope they serve you!:

1. Comfortable clothes. I am always surprised by the photos of celebrities arriving at the airport super divine, with jeans, heels and makeup. I suppose those are occupational hazards. But for those who are not or aspire to look like celebrities, the best thing in the case of long flights is to wear comfortable clothes: leggings, sports shoes, sweatshirts. Clothes with which you can sleep in the most similar way to how you would in your pajamas. Footwear that you can put on and take off easily. And don’t wear a bra. If you have big boobs you can wear a comfortable sport bra. I don’t wear any bra when traveling. In a previous post I already talked about the lymphatic system and the convenience of not wearing a bra, but on a long flight this is even more necessary. When I have flown in the summer and I was wearing a T-shirt at the airport because of the heat, and I felt that I could not go without a bra because it was going to be too evident, what I did was to take it off in the bathroom of the plane and put it in my handbag or backpack. On airplanes it is never excessively hot, rather it is cold because there is usually ventilation going on, so you will be able to put on a sweater, even if it is thin, and not feel that people will realize you are not wearing a bra. Although, as I mentioned in my previous post, wearing a bra or not, noticeable, or not, shouldn’t be a problem or cause for embarrassment. Also, even if it is summer/hot, I think it is always better to wear more than less clothes when flying. On airplanes, I repeat, it is usually cold. Although they give you blankets, you can get cold, and anyway the excessive clothes that you wear can always be removed. For this reason, I never get on a plane wearing sandals (unless I have thick socks in my bag to put on later) or with not enough clothes, I always wear at least one sweatshirt just in case. And I also wear a neck scarf because the cold of the plane can cause sore throat.

2. Travel pillow. Although they also give a mini pillow on the plane (in the case of Iberia) it is better to take a travel pillow for the neck. You can end up with a terrible torticollis if you fall asleep with poor neck posture.

3. Glasses. If you wear contact lenses, do not take them to travel. You can take them off when boarding the plane or going directly to the airport with glasses. On airplanes your skin and mucous membranes get very dry, even if you do not fall asleep it would be very bad to fly for many hours with your contact lenses on.

4. Big bottle of water. Continuing with the above, on the plane you get very dry on the outside and on the inside. It is advisable to drink plenty of water during the flight. At meals time (on a transoceanic flight there are usually 2 meals and a snack) they offer you a glass of water, but it is advisable to drink much more. And it is better not to drink wine, coffee, or anything like that, just water. Since I cannot carry liquids, I always buy a bottle of water as big as possible (1 or 2 liters) in a store inside the airport.

5. Ear plugs, eye mask, headphones. Again, they usually offer them to you on the plane, but just in case. The earplugs can help you sleep well, the mask protect you from the light, and the headphones are in case you want to listen to your own music, audiobooks or whatever, or if you are uncomfortable with those that are provided on the plane.

6. Toothbrush and toothpaste. After a long trip and several meals, bad breath can occur. At least before landing it is advisable to brush your teeth. Depending on whether you are going to see someone important when you arrive or not, you could also wear some cologne or makeup. I prefer not to wear makeup for long flights, because the skin suffers a lot on those trips. Sometimes I put some aloe vera before landing in order to hydrate. Some underarm wipes can also help you arrive with more dignity (I remind you that I don’t use deodorant).

I hope it helps you! 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

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

Electrolysis + oral hygiene (updated and expanded)

Hello everyone!!!
Since one of my new year’s resolutions is to update the blog monthly, here I go with a new post;)) As it has been a while since I wrote the posts on electrolysis and oral hygiene, I felt that I had to update and expand that information a bit, since I have learned /discovered new things that I want to share.

Let’s start with electrolysis. I have visited the lady that I already mentioned twice more (one week at a time) and she epilated those parts of the body that I cannot reach, and those that are more complicated too (back, butt, pubis…). But, as I said to those who wrote to me both on the blog and in private, I still think that buying my Apilus Junior machine (7 years ago!) was perhaps the best investment I could made. It has served to: review legs, armpits and eyebrows, epilate arms, and now also mustache and knuckles. As an example, you can compare the photo I posted when I started epilating my arms myself, and how my arm is now, clean, clean (and my moles are much more noticeable than before):

 

Brazo1Brazo2

Two months ago I decided to start with my mustache. I was epilating it with wax but I wanted to finish with that too. I had always done it with hot wax and although the results were fin I found it very cumbersome, specially when going on a trip, if there was no microwave…So I changed to facial bands of cold wax, much more practical in that sense but less effective waxing, in my opinion. I checked my moustache every week and yes, it was a moment, but after much meditating and investigating I decided to venture and do it myself with my machine. If I had not do it before, it was because I was afraid of having a disaster in my face (as I did at the beginning in my thighs, but then the marks go away) and because once you start there is no going back to wax. If I had had a good electrologist nearby I would have gone, because the mustache is a small area and I do not think it would be expensive. The problem is that it is a facial area and I cannot stand seeing myself with hair there, so I would have had to go every week during the process, and where I live now I do not have that possibility.

So, I waited a week for some hairs to grow and I started with the first round. Obviously at first it seemed very simple because in a week you have very few hairs. But with time fuzz comes back, and epilating fuzz is quite complicated. Hairs that are black are easy to epilate, because you see them easily. But in the moustache there is a lot of fuzz, very small and blond hairs. Go, if I do not see them I do not mind having them, but if there are may they are noticeable. So, for the second and third rounds, things got a bit complicated.

The procedure that I have followed is as follows. I try to do it at night, or one morning on the weekend if I’m not going out at least until night. I put Emla cream (anesthetic) and cover it with plastic so it absorbs well. I wait an hour for the area to fall asleep (if the center area-under the nose is not asleep it is impossible, it hurts very much) and then I start to shave. You have to hurry because the effect of the Emla there (at least to me) fades very fast, like in half an hour. I use the finest needle and parameters of 0.20 sec, 98% and 1 pulse. I found these parameters in a forum and I really appreciate it because they have worked very well for me. I had the ones I use for the body and these parameters are better for the mustache. I use thermolysis and an Apilus Junior (the most ancient model of all). With other machines the parameters may be different (it also depends on each person, obviously a man’s mustache would need more power). And, with my magnifying mirror I epilate hair by hair.

I focused first on the blackest and noticeable hairs (two months later no longer existed) and later in the fuzz (which is much more complicated to eliminate). The most difficult area is under the nose, the center and the edge of the lip. But little by little it has been fading. It is better epilating during the day or at night? During the day, with the window that I have and natural light, the view is great, but it is so good that it is difficult to focus on what to remove, and you lose a bit of perspective. At night you have to make more effort with your eyes but you can do better when selecting. So I decided to alternate. Of course, at night it is better in the sense that your skin is red and the next day that disappears. I do it during the day if I’m going to stay at home. Another trick that I saw, so that there are no scars left there or marks, is to put Bepanthol (the cream for babies) when you finish and cover it with a plastic (I leave it until the next day or the time I’m home if it is during day). This way, the area is superhydrated, oxygen does not enter and you don’t have crusts. You should let the sun touch that area for some days.

I have also removed hairs in my knuckles, since I had already removed all hairs from my feet. Whenever I saw photos of engagement rings or wedding hands I thought, “how ugly it would look like with hairs on your knuckles”. In biology class I studied that it is a genetic trait to have little hairs there. I used my old epilady to remove them. When I decided to epilate them I did the same as with the mustache: I let hairs grow and I removed them each week. Although, of course, on the knuckles it is not a big problem to let some hairs grow, as it is on the face.

Regarding the teeth topic, I still think that the So-Wash device is a wonderful invention and much better than the Waterpik device. My dentist-periodontist used to tell me that I did not brush my teeth very well, but now he always says the contrary. I have no gums problems or cavities. I find suspicious that dentists do not recommend its use, since for me it is key. When travelling, if I could not use the irrigator, I did not feel my mouth was as clean. So, I bought the new adapter for travels. Now the company has launched more products based on the same idea, for washing the colon and to wash after going to the bathroom if there is no bidet (I have not seen bidets outside of Spain and Argentina, in spite of how practical they are for that and to wash your feet after wearing sandals).

Regarding toothpaste, in the other post I recommended Fluocaril. But I changed my mind. One problem that I had and did not mention is that sometimes I got spots on my teeth because of tea, vegetables, juices, etc.  I have not had that problem again because for two years I’ve been making my own toothpaste with coconut oil and baking soda. Baking soda is not abrasive, or it is not as much as any toothpaste (there is an online comparative table with the degree of abrasion of different tootphastes and of baking soda). In addition, it is mixed with coconut oil, which whitens. What you Keep in mind that it is better to throw the oil in the trash because if it is cold outside, coconut oil solidifies and may clog the pipe. If it is too hot, coconut oil becomes liquid. Here is my pasta:

Pasta dientes1Pasta dientes2

The only problem is that I find it a little messy for travelling, so when travelling I use Weleda’s salt pasta instead.

Another trick to prevent stains is to have liquids with a straw. This works also for acidic juices like orange juices, because acids weaken your enamel. I bought a stainless-steel straw and I wash it after each use (cheaper and more ecological). Remember: it is not good to drink hot drinks with plastic straws, because with heat the plastic releases substances that can pass to your drink. It is also not recommendable not to heat or put hot food in plastic tuppers, but to use glass tuppers;))

Here is my straw:

Pajita

*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

*From Mexico

*From Spain

Miracles of An Irrigator

Hello!!

  The first entry of my blog it’s going to be dedicated to a gadget that is not well known and which can avoid many visits to the dentist-periodontist (and many euros too). It is the oral irrigator. Two years ago I had an orthodontic treatment and I discovered the Waterpik irrigator, a device available in a fixed or mobile version that shoots water like a hose, helping to remove the remains of food from between the orthodontic and your teeth, removing plaque and massaging your gums. I bought the mobile version, although I think it is a very large and uncomfortable device to carry in your bag:

irrigador

  In addition to cost almost one hundred euros, you have to charge it and over time is loses potency. I do not know if it was due to lime or why, but it often got stuck and it did not work, and I had to leave it with vinegar to see if the duct was unclogged… I started thinking that oral irrigation resembles the process of cleaning with a hose, and that there should be some kind of “hose” for the mouth. Italians must have thought the same thing, so they created So-Wash :

irrigador2

  It’s all advantages: it’s silent, cheap (about 20 euros on the internet or at the pharmacy), it does not lose potency (it regulates itself with the tap’s potency), it does not have to be charged or unclogged … The only disadvantage is that it is not mobile (it wasn’t, now there is a travel device for it). You can install it very easily in your sink. Some critics say that it does not work for all the sinks, but I have verified that it works, you just need to see if our sink has “male” or “female” device in the faucet and then put the So-Wash device that corresponds. I have my So-Wash in a cup next to the sink.

  When I was 20 years old, I started having a gum retraction in my lower teeth, and I ended up with a surgery to prevent it from advancing and losing a tooth. At that time I did not take much care of my oral hygiene, I brushed quickly and without paying attention. I had periodontitis, gum disease that causes bad breath and receding gums. Almost ten years later I realize that many young people have this problem and do not know it: good oral health is not just the absence of cavities. Gingivitis and periodontitis are responsible for bad breath in 90% of cases, and are caused by poor oral hygiene. In addition, gum disease does not hurt and many people who have bad breath do not know (it is too violent to tell someone that he has bad breath), so it is usually detected when it is quite advanced. The oral irrigator really is a great help because it removes plaque and strengthens the gums. I’m surprised that my periodontist never mentioned existence of this device (my conspiracy theory is that he does not do it because he would only have clients for regular cleanings, no more gum disease, I’m serious).

  What my periodontist did told me is the importance of flossing (at least once, at night) and interdental brushes (available in different sizes). For a good breath it is also important to brush your tongue, it can be done with the your brush or with a “tongue scraper”:

raspador

  If you have had an orthodontic treatment like me, you may have a retainer wire in the upper and lower teeth. For that you can use the interdental brushes or a dental threader :

enhebrador-dental

  My favorite toothpaste is Fluocaril , since I used it I have not had cavities anymore. I know there are many detractors of fluoride, but I do not eat toothpaste! Although I must confess that I do not rinse it with water after brushing. What I do is using the oral irrigator or rinse before brushing my teeth. My periodontist told me that toothpaste is like a cream: who rinses his face after putting on a cream?

Arriba

My advice is that you should wash your teeth after every meal whenever you can, and let the least amount of time pass since you finish eating. I eat at work, so I have a toilet bag there with my toothbrush, my toothpaste and my interdental brushes, there is no excuse! In addition, it is pleasant for oneself and for others. You should brush your teeth the gums to the outside, without pressing too much, and with circular movements on the surface of the molars. Take at least two minutes to do it right. The toothbrush should be soft and be changed every two months because bristles wear away.

I hope you have enjoyed my thesis on dental hygiene :))) I wait for your comments!

*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:

*From Mexico:

*From Spain:

*UPDATE!: read my post Electrolysis + oral hygiene (updated and expanded)