Mane management in monsoon
Neelu Grewal

WITH the monsoon here, humidity dominates the atmosphere. Hair suddenly just does not seem to fall right or look good. Dry hair frizzes out and fine hair, even after a salon blow-dry, falls flat in two hours. Most of us try to fight the natural texture in this weather but end up in tears. An understanding of one’s hair type and styling it accordingly can make your appearance.

Dry hair mayhem: Most of the women who have dry hair also have thick hair, which tends to lose its shine during the monsoons. And heaven forbid if you are tempted to cut it to a shoulder length blunt. Instead of falling into any style, it will frizz out into a halo around your head.

* Always use a hair cleanser and conditioner which is meant for your type of hair. A shampoo which is not meant for your type can make your hair even more unmanageable. A dry hair conditioner will moisturise your hair.

* Get a good basic cut without too many layers, if you want to leave your hair open. Dry and curly hair could be either cut very short or worn in a style that falls below your shoulders as the weight of the hair will give some sense of order to your cut.

* Never get tempted to cut the first layer very short, as your hair will not flattering frame your face as the models in a fashion glossy but curl up in 18th century tendrils.

* Instead of a blow-dry after a shampoo, use a leave-in hair conditioner and when the hair is semi-dry, roll it in one direction and make a knot on the top of your head. In fact, the more you knot up your hair in this way the more you control it, especially if you want to leave it open.

* Wet look gels can be used, especially with pair of large loop earrings to create a sophisticated evening look.

* Home conditioning can be done by using the following pack once a week.

* 1 tsp. glycerine

* 1 egg yolk

* 1 tsp. curd

* 1 tsp. ground green gram

Mix all these ingredients together and apply it on your hair and scalp. Leave on for about an hour and then wash off.

Fine hair woes: In this weather, fine hair will be hanging in rats tails even if you have had your hair blow-dried in the morning. The most important thing is to realise that you cannot fight your hair texture: you are born with it and you live with it. Chemical treatments offer temporary respite, but in the process you can cause permanent damage to your hair.

1. A full bodied shag cut gives a lot of volume to fine hair. Take care that your hair-dresser does not thin out your ends too much.

2. Always use a body building shampoo.

3. Washing your hair everyday is never harmful, but make sure you use a good brand of a frequent wash shampoo.

4. After semi-drying your hair naturally, blow-dry your hair with your head thrown in front. Try not to unnecessarily tug or pull your hair with brushes; a good cut will automatically fall in place.

5. A dollop of mousse applied at the roots before a blow-dry will give it volume.

6. Conditioners weigh down your hair, so avoid them in monsoons.

7. Three toned highlights give the appearance of thickness and enhances a texturized cut.

Bazar Buzz: The Indian market is flooded with hair-care and hair-styling products. This vast array sometimes confuses the consumer. Before buying make sure that it is the right product for your hair type.

1. L’oreal’s Leave-in Intense Repair Conditioner (Rs 315) works wonders when teamed with the Intense Repair shampoo (Rs 299).

2. Suave’s shampoo for dry and damaged hair makes the hair soft and manageable.

3. L’oreals's studio line gel with multi vitamins priced at Rs 179 for 150 ml is a good styling product.

4. Lander’s wet look gel priced at Rs 114 for a 240 ml quantity is good value for money.

5. Dabur’s Amla life for those who enjoy a good head massage is priced at Rs 24 for 100 ml.

1. Biotique’s Green Apple shampoo is a hotseller as a frequent wash hair cleanser. This is priced at Rs 120 for 210 ml.

2. Revlon’s body-building shampoo is priced at Rs 99 for a 200 ml bottle.

3. L’oreal’s Volume Energy for fine hair and Sebo control for oily scalp are other popular items and are available at select outlets.

The long and short of it
B.L. Manocha

The weight of a person in his lifetime may show many ups and downs, but the graph of his height shows an upward trend up to a certain age (around 18 years). Thereafter, it does not exhibit any increase at all. Neither is there is any downward slope in this graph.

It has been observed that height gain can be improved (a) between the age of 5 and 9 years, and/or (b) between the age of 12 and 16 years (more precisely, during puberty years).

Males growin height up to 18 years while females stop gaining height when menses are fully established and breasts fully developed.

Which item of food is helpful in gaining height? Increasing one’s height means elongating the long bones. This requires calcium.

Nature has provided an abundant quantity of calcium in milk. Thus, milk is a very important item for improving height in the above mentioned age groups.

Calcium is also available in eggs. But all persons are not egg-accepting. In such persons, the process of absorption of calcium is weak. Even when they take tablets of calcium, good results remain elusive. Among green vegetable leaves, spinach (palak) is superb, if taken uncooked but duly washed.

Generally, heredity plays an important role in the physical development of any individual. It has been found that a male child in the family of a tall father and dwarf mother takes after his father while a female child in the same family picks up the height pattern of her mother. But she can improve her height through proper medication, exercises linked with swinging and helpful diet during the specified age groups.

If the father and mother are both tall and their children do not show a similar height, it means that the assimilation of calcium in the body of the child has been scuttled. It may be due to sluggish working of the liver, or some debilitating disease, or over-dosage of eggs/calcium tablets, or sedentary habits, causing damage to the digestive system of the body.

Tonics, vitamins and hormones do not play any role in height gain.

Any longstanding disease, simple or serious, can curb the normal increase in height. Likewise, any irregularity in menses can frustrate the ambitions of a girl to grow taller.

Worry of any type also casts a damp over physical growth, including height gain.

Teenage love is an ill-timed sprout; the clamped state of secrecy (an essentiality of the game), the untrodden paths, the constant fear of failing in spite of one’s sincerity, explosive nature of every move, sleepless nights....can obstruct height gain.

A balanced and nourishing diet can add some centimetres to one’s height. In the UK, an average 9-year-old boy of today is 3.2 cm taller than many of his counterparts of the seventies (1970-1979). Similarly, a 10-year-old girl of today is 1.8 cm taller. This is all because of better diet.

It must not be understood that good diet always increases height; it may even add some centimetres to girth and there may be no height gain at all. American girls are living examples of this change in the past 50 years. They have added inches to their girths at the expense of height.

Many teenagers, who put on fat, resort to excessive dieting. The result: they lose appetite, a disease worse than obesity. Height gain suffers a setback during dieting.

Fatty, fried, and junk foods are harmful for children as assimilative calcium is practically zero in this food.