Shooo!! Off u go unwanted hairs!!

Hairy legs?!!

It's really disturbing to see the above image right?

Nice looking but.... hairy legs??!!! Big NO NO!

Eye sore

So hair removal is a MUST for women these days
 if u want to flaunt those nice legs of yours, especially living in the hot hot Malaysia.

A must do!

Desire smooth, hairless skin?

There are many ways to remove unwanted hairs,
but aren't we sick of painful hair removal methods like plucking, waxing, threading and the time consuming shaving?

Ouch!!

Painful >.<

Girls or women nowadays have a new cool gadget to remove unwanted hair- the great invention for females- Depilatories! 

Haven’t heard of it??! 

Depilatory creams are commercialised hair removal creams that ‘magically’ get rid of unwanted hair by just applying it on. 

Quick, pain-free, smooth skin and hair grows back less stubbly!

Economical method

Large variety to choose from :)

Wondering how does it actually works? Here’s the mechanical behind it..

First of all, hair is made up of keratin- a hard protein that is also found in nails.  Therefore, depilatories use chemicals that can effectively dissolve proteins like keratin. Letting the dissolved hairs to be washed and wiped away without any fuss. Fast and economical method right?

All these depilatories contain a chemical called thioglycolate mixed with sodium hydroxide, calcium hydroxide or titanium dioxide which is able to literally melt the unwanted hairs away. 

This is because thioglycolate will disrupt the disulfide bonds that are the chemical bonds which hold the skin and hair cells together. 

The disulfide bonds that hold hair cells together contain more of the protein cystine than the disulfide bonds which hold skin cells together. 

Thioglycolate is more effective on bonds which contain higher amount of cystine.

 Hence, this will ensure that the thioglycolate in depilatories will not break the disulfide bonds that hold the skin cells together. 

In the simplest term, depilatories have the ability to weaken the root of your hair and allowing it break off.

Using hair removal cream

A depilatory is applied to the area with unwanted hair and left on for 3 to 15 minutes. During this time the chemical dissolves the hair and the resulting jelly-like substance is wiped or washed off after the appropriate time. 

Bear in mind to follow the exact instructions that come together with the cream, because the chemicals may melt away skin cells and cause skin irritation if used incorrectly or left on for too long.

Despite the advantages of depilatories, some people do not use them due to the unpleasant odour of these creams. 

Unpleasant odour 

Do note that although the hair cream smells before applying it onto our body, the cream is completely harmless. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal because the horrible smell is just simply the chemicals in the cream have unpleasant odours. And the smell will get even worse after the chemicals start breaking down our hairs, due to the release of sulphur as a by-product of the process of thioglycolate dissolving the disulfide bonds. 

Dissolved disulfide bonds gives hair removal creams that bad smell.

Sulfur- not the most pleasant of scents

The smell will be washed away with your hair, so you've just have to bear with it for a short period only. :)

So, that's all about depilatories.

What are you waiting for? go grab one and have nice smooth skin!!

Confidently showing off your skin!

Did you smile today? :)

"Say CHEESE !", showing a bright smile with happy teeth ! Wheee !

Shiny white smile will always bring happy happiness to everyone around you ! But it is not easy to maintain a white and shiny teeth though. Just like me myself, a perfect smile doesn't see in me as i have yellow teeth. :(
I did brush my teeth everyday ! Yet i still do not have a white teeth :(

I stop smiling with happy teeth ever since. I dare not laugh out loudly or even open my mouth bigger when i talk to my friend. I felt so lost in self confidence.

Things start changing until i did research on teeth whitening ! And it really helps me in whitening my teeth !

First of all, you have to know the causes of yellow teeth.

There are 4 simple and common causes that leads to yellow teeth.

(a) Age 

Teeth turns yellow naturally as age getting older.Stains are still able to seep past the thin white film into the enamel even if you brush and floss your teeth regularly.

(b) Food and Beverage

Some food and beverages are well known to stain teeth. For example, tea, coffee, tobacco and soda. These causes stain on teeth as they contain "chromogenic" agents in these products. Level of staining directly relates to the amount, frequency and duration of teeth have been exposed to staining agents.

(c) Bumping accident

You may suffer from unhealthy nerve if you have a dark single tooth due to bumping accident or root canal. This problem should be solved by getting the root of problem and address the nerve, and not simply trying to whiten the outer film only.

(d) Formative years

Children's tooth enamel is still forming before age of eight and it is vulnerable to yellowing agents that may linger in their adult years. Teeth may acquire a yellow brown to gray blue stain if they took excess amount of tetracycline. Besides that, if a child took a lot of fluoride,such if the swallow toothpaste, they can get fluorosis that will leads to chalky-white patches or lines on the teeth.

So, now you know you causes of yellow teeth? Yay ! Then let's move on to teeth whitening tips !

I bet many beauty desperately and actively looking for an effective teeth whitening methods. Now here's the question, what teeth whitening methods which better?

There are two types of pigmented teeth whitening method which are home teeth whitening and medical tooth whitening. Home teeth whitening is generally to develop and get use to good habits like brushing teeth twice a day, rinse mouth and floss regularly. And of course, using a whitening toothpaste properly !

However,  to start and proceed any teeth whitening process, i advice you to discuss with your dentist. To start with teeth whitening process, you must first step up your personal oral hygiene.

Brush your teeth twice a day, use a whitening mouthwash and floss regularly. Anyway, please do not put too much expectations on good results but it will at least stop your teeth from being more discolored from before !

Tips 1

First of all, the most common tips, teeth whitening swabs! I know this not not new or something common for us to apply,but, by applying whitening solution to the teeth made a great inroads lately !

Why teeth whitening swabs?  First, they are inexpensive and secondly, it requires less time to clean than others.Many celebrities found teeth whitening swabs to be effective as they are easiest to be used and it removes stain like coffee, tea or even other hard-to-remove stains. This easy step releases free oxygen to oxidize and lift organic stains away from teeth.

Swabs are filled with a solution of glycerin, peppermint flavoring, methylparaben, propylparaben and water. When swab was dipped into the whitening solution and apply to the surface of tooth, it activates magnesium peroxide to form substances that eventually discharge oxygen and lifts stains from teeth. Solution may also contains aluminium trihydroxide that polishes teeth.

Tips 2

Whitening strips have fallen in popularity nowadays. It is placed on teeth and held there for a period of time. This is consider another home kit teeth whitening method as i uses strips that are treated with bleaching agent. Later, they are put on teeth in order to allow diffusion of bleach to the teeth. It might takes hours before procedure is completed. It is affordable and simple in application. It does not works as effective as others, least satisfactory and lowest among all methodologies used.

Tips 3

Tray bleaching is also one of the common teeth whitening methods. A person do stains cleaning without help of a dentist at all. They have to find models made of was or plaster that fits and suits their teeth exactly.Bleaching agent is applied on the inside part of this model and it is then worn on the teeth. After two hours, the bleach will dissolve the discoloration of teeth. This method are relatively inexpensive as there are no complex procedures to be followed with an assistance of a dentist. This process is also relatively slow.

Tips 4

Next, a new process of teeth whitening, laser teeth whitening ! It is far more effective if you compare laser whitening to other systems. This is a very costly and complex method which can be only performed by professional dentists. Teeth observe and cleaning process have to be done by dentist.

With a laser teeth whitening procedure, it is able to open the pores of enamel in order to prevent stains. Before that, gel is applied and laser beam is shone on the teeth. This laser will serve as a heat lamp to heat and warm the whitening gel. Once it is activated, the enamel will eventually dissolved. The results of laser whitening is merely perfect. However, there are still possibility that lasers happen to damage teeth.

This method only took at most 2 hours to obtain a white shiny teeth. Cool huh ? ! Anyway, this process works best when it is done repeatedly.

Tips 5

Lastly, the natural teeth whitening method ! It is a very low cost method which involves in using natural product. There are few steps to follow in this  natural teeth whitening method :

1. Purchase hydrogen peroxide from local chemist.
2. Dip toothbrush with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide solution.
3. Brush your teeth for 2-3 minutes.
4. Rinse your mouth with water.

Besides that, by combining soda and hydrogen peroxide is another method used in teeth whitening. Steps are easy as mixing baking soda with hydrogen peroxide together (to make a paste). This can only be done at most twice in a week because baking soda is abrasive and it may causes teeth damages.

There are still others tips for teeth whitening methods as shown in below :

• Chair side bleaching    -  expert care on gel treatments
• Dental supervision gels   - 
• Dental crowns  - for tooth which are badly decayed
• Porcelain veneers   - gave a white appearance with less invasive;suitable for tetracycline stained teeth
• Dental bonding     - single tooth gain benefits from remodeling
• Over the counter gel   - uses a low concentration of whitener ; popular
• Brush on whitening 

Anyway............

there are also disadvantages in teeth whitening process... OPPS !

We know that bleaching is very effective, but, for individuals who were more chemically sensitive may causes teeth sensitive for few days. Teeth whiteners are all a form of bleaching teeth and it may not correct or works on all type of discoloration. Cases like serious teeth discoloration are more advisable not to use bleaching method. Bleaching method is normally used due to its lower cost. 

In other words, how do i know which method is suitable for my situation?

Take it easy and check on the list below !

If you have a......

yellow stain, you are optimal candidate for bleaching

If you have a......

brownish hues, the effects are less beneficial

If you have a......

shade of gray, effects may be low

If you have......

previous dental work, bleaching doesn't work well on tooth coloured fillings. Replacement of teeth is advisable.

If you have......

white spots on teeth, whitening bleach is not effective at all 

Oppps ! Just for laugh ! :D

Keep in mind that regular dental checkup is essential no matter you're young or old ! If you continues to be careless with teeth or overlook the importance of dental health, you may suffer from teeth problems and oral diseases ! Checkup regularly with dentist ! It can prevent long term teeth problem or any other possible diseases !By the way,you should pay attention to problem of periodontitis and periodontal as this formation eventually exposed root, loose teeth, teeth together with laminate vaneer and procelain crowns !

End of tips sharing everyone ! Happy smiling teeth ! Yeah !! :DDD

It is oily! Is it really good for us?

Most of the girls may think that oil will make us grow larger in size, increases in weight and become fatter. Thus, we are trying to avoid fats intake from food, especially the people who is on-diet because we know that: Fats-will-make-us-FAT!!!!

However, fat will make the food delicious most of the time. For example, cakes, pizza, and fried foods are delicious but high in fats content, right?
Who doesn't like fried chicken, cheesecakes and chocolate?

As the knowledge we get from both biology and chemistry classes, fats are high in energy content. Based on the information get from the internet, one gram of fat can provides 9 calories indeed to provide 37.62 kJ of energy whereas both of protein and carbohydrate can only provide 4 calories per gram!

For sure, the excess supply of energy (food) will be stored in our body, in different form, most probably is in the form of fats.
While, the people that concern on their health will avoid to takes in too much oil, especially the food that contained LDL (Low-density-lipoprotein), saturated fats and trans-fat.
Do you know what is the different between LDL and HDL (High density lipoprotein)?
Both of them are lipoprotein (lipids and protein bound together) that carry fats in the blood stream. Many enzymes, transporters, structural proteins, antigens, adhesins and toxins are building up by lipoproteins.
Besides, we always call the LDL as bad cholesterol lipoprotein and call the HDL good cholesterol lipoprotein because LDL brings cholesterol from the liver to body cells while HDL transport cholesterol in the opposite way, that is bring it back to the liver from the body cells. The trans-fat is said to be a bad thing is just because it transfer the HDL to LDL.
I still remember that my previous biology lecturer told us that:” I don’t eat Oreo, because Oreo contains so many trans-fats….”

As what we learn during secondary school time, fats is organic compound that generally insoluble in water. It is the ester form when a pure carboxylic acid reacts with glacial organic alcohol. Is that the reason of some essential oil (most of them is from flower) have a good smell?
Such as rose, that has the fantastic smell.
Fat is tri-esters of glycerol and fatty acids. We called it 'fats' when it is in the solid state in room temperature, and 'oil' when it is in the liquid form. While, we also called the grease as oil!

When a carbon atom binds to the maximum number of hydrogen atoms, we called it as the saturated fatty acids because it is unable to bind and react with other atoms anymore. In the other hand, if there is still any double bond or single bond in the carbon atom, we will call it as an unsaturated fatty acid. It is called monounsaturated acid if there is only 1 double bond in the carbon compound while it would be polyunsaturated acids if the compound contains more than 1 double bond. All of these fats differ in their energy content and melting point. Since an unsaturated fat contains fewer carbon-hydrogen bonds than a saturated fat with the same number of carbon atoms, unsaturated fats will yield slightly less energy during metabolism than saturated fats with the same number of carbon atoms. Saturated fats can stack themselves in a closely packed arrangement, so they can freeze easily and are in solid at room temperature. But the rigid double bond in an unsaturated fat fundamentally changes the chemistry of the fat.

We can found the lipids everywhere in our life. For example, all of the animasl have fats in their body as the form of lard, butter, blubber, ghee and fish oil, but most of the animal oils are saturated fats, which means that it has only single bond in their molecular structure. As what we stated at above, saturated fats would not react with other chemical easily as it has only single bond. That is why most of the nutritionists recommend us to intake unsaturated fats compare to saturated fats, because only unsaturated fats can form chemical reaction with other substances in our body. Luckily we still can gain the unsaturated fats from delicious food, such as sesame, vegetable, beans, nuts and the olive oil that normally added into salads.
And some more, fats are very important for the absorption, digestion and transportation of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K! They cannot be received by our body cells if lipid is absent…

Did you realize that girls’ waterproof cosmetics can only be removed by make-up remover that contains the oil?
It is that much useful for us actually!

YuckSsssss! I step on chewing gum…!! Arghhh…!

Everytime I stepped on chewing gum, the very first word out from my mouth will be ‘YUCKSSSS’ !

ps: ‘Why can’t those people be more responsible and hygiene?’ The second reaction I will have. Then I wonder, why chewing gum can be so sticky and elastic? DangDang….! I found the answer through internet!

We know that there are many brands of chewing gum in the market, but do you know the main ingredient in chewing gum that made it so chewy? 

                                      
Originally, chewing gum is made of chicle, the latex sap of the sapodilla tree. Chicle is made up of thousands of C₅H₈ isoprene units and called as polyterpene. Besides, other natural gum bases such as sorva and jelutong also used as the component to make chewing gum. After World War II, synthetic rubber is created by chemists and therefore replaces most natural rubber in chewing gum. The examples of synthetic rubber are styrene butadiere, polyvinyl acetate and polyethylene.

               
                                               Sapodilla tree and its sap.

Others than the gum base as main ingredient, chewing gum also contains sweeteners, flavorings, colorings and softeners. The purpose of adding softeners are to blend the other ingredients and help prevent the gum from becoming hard or stiff. Ingredients of softeners are such as glycerine or vegetable oil. The mint flavor chewing gum is the most popular chewing gum flavor that can be found in the market. Besides, other flavors such as peach, lemon, strawberry, apple and green tea also can be found due to demanding of consumers.

Chewing gum is made of gum base component, thus makes it sticky. By the way, do you interested in the process of making chewing gum? Let me tell you here. =)

How to make chewing gum?

1.     First, put the tree sap into a pot for about 115°C until it turns really thick. 

2.   Next, the thicken tree sap is filter through a fine mesh screen to let the liquid go through. This      

process is keep hot.

3.     Mix the powdered sugar, corn syrup or glucose, softeners, flavorings, colorings, preservatives and other additives in mixing vats and then gather in cool air

4.     The gum then goes into extruders, machine that makes the gum smoother and finer. 

5.     After that, the gum goes into the sheet rolling machines.

6.     The gum put in a machine that could cut the gum into the shape desired. 

7.     Then, the gum put in a pan where it is whirled with wax.

8.     After that, the gum is put on another pan and put it in a machine to cool it. 

9.     Finally, you take it out and you can EAT. ^^

 

The purpose of adding corn syrup or glucose is to coat the sugar particles and stabilize their suspension and keep the gum flexible. Thus, corn syrup or glucose serves as humectants in chewing gum. The amount and grain size of powdered sugar will determine the brittleness of the result. 

Do you thinking now that actually we are chewing tree sap added with flavoring and glucose? The answer is definitely YES! Long time ago, researchers discovered that the Mayan Indians once chewed chicle, which was the sap of Sapodilla tree mentioned above. Now, you should be glad that we get to chew ‘tree sap’ with a variety of flavors, smoother and tastier instead of tasteless tree sap that they chewed. 

Apart from being a snack in our daily life, chewing gum offers us some health benefits that will surprise you! By the way, as each person is unique and will have different responses to chewing gum, there are no standard benefits on everyone. Research indicate that chewing gum may good for improve memory, stress reduction, increase focus, alertness and concentration, manage weight, improve oral health and etc. So, the conclusion is: chewing gum is our BEST FRIEND during EXAM!

a.     Chewing gum improves memory

I bet most of you will think: How it works to improve memory? @@ Let me tell you that! Actually, the act of continuous chewing or moving our jaw improves our memory. While people chew, the activity in the area of our brain that is crucial for memory (the hippocampus) increases. Besides, some research shows that insulin receptor in the hippocampus play a role in memory too. The body and mind fuel i.e. the glucose level is increases when we chewing gum. Moreover, blood flow to the brain increases when we chewing gum and thus the heart rate increases too. The increased heart rate speeds up oxygen delivery to the brain which can enhance our cognitive power. As heart rate increases, heartbeat and blood pressure also speed up and that enough to wake up both left and right hemispheres to work together. 

b.     Chewing gum reduces stress

Psychiatrists and psychologists believe that chewing gum reduce tension, release nervous energy and provide an outlet for frustration and irritation. There is a recent research that shows the rhythmic motion of chewing gum has a stress reducing effect due to relaxed and satisfied feelings. 

c.     Chewing gum increase focus, alertness and concentration

When we sleepy, we will drink coffee to take away the sleepy feeling. Here, I introduce you the substitute for coffee, chewing gum. Chewing gum is a better choice as chewing gum that is sweetened with xylitol does not raise blood sugar and also it has good taste. Chewing can take away sleepiness and thus some people become more attentive and feel more alert when they chew gum. 

d.     Chewing gum help to manage weight

Girls, this definitely is a good news for you. =) According to some studies, the adults who chewed the gum ate 36 calories less of the snack than adults who did not chew gum. Both regular and sugar free chewing gum has the effect of helping adults to eat less. Besides, the physical act of gum chewing helps to reduce your cravings for high calorie snacks and chewing gum can burn about 11 calories per hour according to a group of scientists.

                                     

e.     Chewing gum improves oral health

I believe that most of us will chew chewing gum when we have bad breath to freshen the breath. Besides, chewing gum can whiten teeth by reducing stains and preventing stains from accumulating and reduces plaque. When we chew, the amount of saliva increases which is the most important component of oral health and powerful protector of the oral cavity. Saliva contains buffers, minerals and antibacterial components, thus it can help to correct a potentially harmful environment. Furthermore, sugar free chewing gum does not cause tooth decay. In turns, it demineralizes tooth enamel and has antimicrobial effect. Hence, those who chewed sugar free gum after eating had fewer cavities than those who did not. 

                                 

As a reminder, there is no standard effect on everyone for the benefits stated above. However, chewing gum is always a better snack than others. Lastly, I hope those who eat chewing gum can be more responsible and hygiene by disposing your chewing gum properly because chewing gum is difficult to remove once it dries. 

Ps: I do not wish to step on any chewing gum again! I hate it!