Take Care of Your Feet during Sandal Season and Year-Round

Warm weather means sandals and bare feet at the pool or beach, so many people schedule pedicures to ensure their feet are looking their best. But pedicures do more than just make your feet look good.

Consider that the average person takes 8,000 to 10,000 steps every day (http://bit.ly/kmZiTb). All the weight from those thousands of steps is borne by the feet.

 

A pedicure provides relief. It includes a massage that releases tension, alleviates pain in the feet, and improves circulation. The exfoliation done during a pedicure removes the calluses that form around the heels and toes, which, if left untreated, can feel uncomfortable or even painful. Nail cleaning and trimming is important for removing dirt and bacteria.

There are aesthetic benefits too, of course. Exfoliated feet feel softer and look nicer in sandals. Neatly trimmed nails look better and, as we all know from experience, there are no nail polish mishaps when someone else paints your toes!

Lest you think that pedicures are just for women, think again. Many men enjoy them too, although most of them choose to skip the polish. And those who enjoy regular pedicures will tell you that they are not a luxury, but an essential element of looking and feeling great at any time of the year

Moroccan Oil Glimmer Shine Spray

In its Trends of the Season, the MoroccanOil website showcases the tresses of celebrities Naomi Watts and Scarlett Johansson. One secret to their fabulous hair? Moroccan Glimmer Shine Spray.

As the name implies, Glimmer Shine Spray provides instant, luminous shine without weighing hair down. It enhances colour and highlights and helps prevent static and frizz, leaving hair feeling silky and soft.

Like all Moroccan Oil products, Glimmer Shine Spray is made with argan oil, which has been used for hundreds of years by women in Morocco to counteract the effects of a hot climate on hair. Glimmer Shine Spray helps protect hair against harmful pollutants, and its UV filters keep hair healthy in the summer sun.

Keep your hair looking its best on hot, sunny days with Moroccan Oil Glimmer Shine Spray, available at Great Lengths Hair Gallery.

Hairstylist Q&A With Jason—Keeping Hair Healthy in Summer

What are the best ways to minimize the impact of hot sun and chlorine on hair?

I would recommend Joico’s K-Pak Sun Therapy Protective Sun Milk. It’s a lightweight, color-safe leave-in protective spray that repairs and shields the hair from future sun damage. You can use it on wet or dry hair during long periods of sun exposure and it leaves your hair hydrated, conditioned and protected against chlorine when you’re in the pool. Sun Milk has a powerful blend of three full spectrum UV protectants and contains aloe vera, for natural healing and soothing.

Want Healthy Hair That Holds Your Style? Give Up Daily Washings

Have you heard of the “no ‘poo” movement? According to a recent article in the Globe & Mail (http://bit.ly/ieQEyR), it is becoming increasingly popular.

“No ‘poo” advocates are people who have given up daily hair washing, instead choosing to shampoo only once every three to five days. Some go even longer without washing. Why? Because they think their hair looks and feels better, and it probably does.

Your scalp produces oil that helps nourish and strengthen hair. Shampooing washes this oil away, depriving hair of its own, natural conditioner. To compensate, the scalp goes into overdrive and produces more oil. As the Globe article notes, washing your hair less actually leaves it less oily.

Worried about the smell of unwashed hair? No need. A whole range of dry shampoos are available to freshen up hair that hasn’t seen suds in a while. (Great Lengths recommends Kevin Murphy Fresh Hair.) If greasy hair is an issue, and it may be until your oil production adjusts to your no-shampoo routine, a dry shampoo can absorb excess oil too.

In addition to being healthier, unwashed hair is easier to style, especially if you are keen on replicating the messy up-dos and ponytails seen recently on fashion runways.

Not sure you can give up your daily shampoo? The Globe article suggests that you begin gradually by washing every other day and then tapering off. One more piece of advice? Keep a good dry shampoo on hand, in case you need it.

Interesting Hair Facts

• Hair grows faster than any other tissue in the body, save for bone marrow.

• The average scalp has 100,000 hairs or just fewer than 1,000 per square inch. Redheads have the least at 80,000; brown and black haired persons have about 100,000; and blondes have the most at 120,000.

• We are born with all of our hair follicles. Some are programmed to grow pigmented hair (as on our scalp) up to 1 metre in length.

• 35 metres of hair fibre is produced every day on the average adult scalp. 90% of scalp hairs are growing and 10% are resting.

• It is normal to lose 100 hairs per day from the scalp.

• A single hair has a thickness of 0.02 - 0.04mm, so that 20 - 50 hair strands next to each other make one millimetre.
• Hair is as strong as copper wire of the same diameter. It can stretch up to 20% of its original length before breaking when it is dry. When wet it may stretch up to 50% before breaking.

--Adapted from http://www.ukhairdressers.com/news3.asp, http://www.dermweb.com/skincare/hair/hairfact.html and http://www.keratin.com/aa/aa016.shtml