Fact-check: Don’t Get Burnt by DIY Sunscreen

diy-sunscreen-bad

You may have seen DIY sunscreen recipes going around on blogs and Pinterest, promising safe sun protection with gentle, natural ingredients. Generally the ingredients will be zinc oxide, a popular physical sunscreen ingredient (often in the form of diaper rash cream), and some plant oils such as coconut oil. Now, I am partial to a bit of DIY skincare. I …

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The Science Behind Massage

If you’re like me, Christmas is 1/3 food, 1/3 fun and 1/3 hair-tearing stress. Gift-buying, feast-cooking and end-of-year deadlines – it gets pretty overwhelming come mid-December! If tea-drinking, baths and stress balls aren’t cutting it, it might be time to step up to a professional massage, which has lots of health benefits according to science! How to tell if you’re …

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If You Smoke, Your Future’s Not Pretty

Now that we’re in the 21st century, we all know smoking is bad for your health and gives you cancer – in fact, it’s considered the single biggest preventable cause of death and disease. But because that doesn’t happen until we’re older, and we humans tend to ignore long-term risks (I know I certainly do!), so it’s easy to convince …

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Does skin need to breathe?

In short, for humans who are not premature babies, the answer is “no“. Not in the traditional sense of taking in oxygen for the rest of your body, anyway. Your skin’s essential function is to prevent things from the environment from entering your body, and things you need (e.g. water) from leaving the body. It’s very good at its job! …

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Is an aspirin mask the same as a beta hydroxy acid treatment?

(Chaval Brasil) Aspirin masks are a popular DIY skincare treatment, but can some pills crushed in water be an effective homemade replacement for expensive salicylic acid exfoliants? Aspirin vs salicylic acid Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, which sounds a lot like salicylic acid, a beta hydroxy acid that’s great for exfoliation, with anti-irritant and anti-bacterial properties that make it great for …

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Sleeping beauty – benefits of getting enough shut-eye

  (You think you love your sleep? If you’re not Japanese – think again. The Japanese are HARDCORE SLEEPERS. Google images of “Japanese subway sleeping” for some pro-level public transport power-naps that most of us mere mortals can only aspire to.) I’ve been staying up til all hours recently for a number of reasons (Diablo, nail painting, thesis – in …

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Vitamin E – what does it do for your skin?

3268zauber Vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols) can be found in lots of foods (vegetables, nuts, oils (e.g. sunflower), seeds, wholegrains)… and lots of lotions! What’s it doing there? Well, vitamin E is actually one of THE most important antioxidants in our bodies! Oxygen is essential for life, but it’s also very reactive and, when it reacts with things it shouldn’t …

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Q&A: What’s the difference between a whitehead and a blackhead?

Q: What’s the difference between a whitehead and a blackhead? A: Your skin is covered in tiny sebaceous glands, which secrete sebum, a substance which moisturises your skin. When these get clogged with plugs of sebum and keratin, you break out and get whiteheads and blackheads, which are a type of acne that is not inflamed. A blackhead (open comedo) …

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