Beautician Shahnaz Husain offers suggestions and answers queries. Send your queries to askshahnaz@gmail.com
Give me a solution for dark lips. — Sudha
The skin of the lips is very thin and delicate. However, after washing the face, when the lips are still wet, rub them gently with a soft towel. This helps to remove dead skin. Then apply cream of milk and leave it on for an hour. Add a few drops of lemon juice to the cream of milk before application. Apply pure almond oil daily on the lips at night, and leave it on overnight. You can also look for a lip balm with sunscreen. Change your brand of lipstick, because the perfume in certain lipsticks can cause darkness as a reaction to sun exposure (photosensitivity).
My baby has dandruff. Suggest home remedies. — Gowri
A scaly, dandruff-like condition of the scalp, known as “cradle cap,” is quite common among babies and infants. These scales are cream in colour and usually stick to the scalp. If this happens, do not pull out the scales. Wash the baby’s hair two or three times a week, using very little baby shampoo. Apply pure olive oil on the scalp, using cotton wool, and leave it on for a day. This will help to soften the scales. Then wash the hair and scalp with baby shampoo. Try to remove these scales gently, while washing, using cotton wool. If some are still sticking to the scalp, follow the olive oil treatment again after a day or two. If the scales become difficult to remove and the condition is severe, please consult a child specialist.
What I should do for dark and rough ankles? — Annie
Take lemon halves and rub them on the ankles daily. Wash it off and then apply til oil daily and massage it on the skin. Mix a little besan with curd and a pinch of turmeric, make it into a paste and apply it on the areas three times a week. Wash it off after 20 minutes. You can also apply a lemon-turmeric cream daily.
Tell me how to get rid of lice in my hair. — Madhuri
Apply vinegar on the hair and scalp. After an hour, comb with a fine-tooth lice comb and get the nits (eggs) taken out by hand. Vinegar loosens the nits and they are easier to remove. Then wash the hair with a mild herbal shampoo. After shampoo, add two tablespoons of vinegar to a mug of water and use it as a last rinse. Then comb again with the fine-tooth lice comb. Do this daily for one week. Have weekly henna treatments. Add 4 teaspoons each of lemon juice and coffee, 2 raw eggs, one teaspoon of methi seed powder and enough “tea water” to the henna powder, mixing it into a thick paste. Make tea-water by boiling used tea leaves again in enough water, cooling and straining the liquid. If the hair is dry, add two teaspoons of oil. Apply the henna on the hair and wash it off after an hour.
How should sunscreen be used? Can I apply it after applying cream, or should I mix the two? Does sunscreen make the skin dark? — Bhargavi
You can apply sunscreen on the face, arms and neck, as these parts are mostly exposed to the sun. Most sunscreens have built-in moisturisers, so there is no need to apply both sunscreen and cream. Sunscreen should be applied 20 minutes before sun-exposure. You should apply it the way you apply any cream and should leave it on. If your skin is very dry, first apply sunscreen, wait for a few minutes, so that it is absorbed, and then apply a cream or moisturising lotion. Sunscreen helps to protect the skin from UV rays. Anti-tan sunscreens are also available.
My eyes are small. What kind of eye make-up would help? — Laxmi
For small eyes, you can try the following measures to give the impression of larger eyes. When plucking your eyebrows, leave the inner part of your brow thicker; this will create an arch to frame the eye. On the lids, use a slightly off-white eye shadow on the inner part of the lid and add a pure white shadow in the innermost part to create a light effect. Pay attention to the lash line to add definition to the eye area. Apply eye pencil close to the lash line on the upper lid. Dot the pencil along the lower lashes and smudge carefully with a swab to enlarge the eye area. When applying mascara, pay attention to the lashes at the outer corner of the eyes.
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