Wednesday, November 14, 2018

#1 Hair Guide for Winter

The shift from warm weather to cooler temperatures is enjoyable for many people. You get to dig out those sweaters and jackets, walk through fall foliage, and wake up to brisk air streaming through the still open windows. But the flip side of crisp, cool autumn – and the approaching winter – is that something else needs to change: the way you take care of yourself.
Cold air, central heat, increasing winds, and less humidity means that your once luscious skin and hair will begin to dry out, leading to dull skin, an itchy scalp, and cracked feet and hands. While these conditions are uncomfortable, having dry skin also affects your self-esteem. If you don’t think you look your best, you’re not going to feel your best. And as skin is designed to protect us from infection, illness, and allergens, it’s essential to tend to it.

Caring for Skin and Brazilian Hair Weave in Fall and Winter

Good news: There’s plenty you can to do to insulate yourself from the drying climate, and the best time to start is now.

1. Moisturize Frequently

As the outdoor humidity drops, so too does the water content of your skin. In essence, this means it needs better protection – aka a heavier moisturizer. The type you choose depends largely on your skin type. If you have dry or combination skin, pick a moisturizer that’s oil-based rather than water-based, which is what many use in the summer. Thicker, greasier night creams are usually oil based so they can work their magic all night long.
If you have oily skin, your skin may actually relish the loss of moisture in the air, and you might not need to make any transition until winter fully arrives. However, if it starts to feel tight or itchy or looks as if it’s drying out, it’s time for the big guns. Either way, natural moisturizers work best. Olive oil and coconut oil are my saviors, though shea butter, cocoa butter, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, and vitamin E oil also work well.
Lest we not forget, thorough skincare means moisturizing from the inside, too. Taking vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids – either as supplements or through increased intake of nutritious foods, such as fish, nuts and leafy greens – helps to improve your skin’s elasticity.
And don’t forget a critical rule of skincare in any season: Use sunscreen. Even in fall and winter, especially with snow glare, the sun shines damaging rays. This is the fastest way to age your epidermis. If possible, find moisturizers that contain sunscreen. Otherwise, make sure you apply a good quality SPF 30 simultaneously. If you are concerned about the efficacy of your sunscreen, consult the Environmental Working Group’s Sunscreen Guide for a list of the best sunscreens on the market.
Always moisturize head to toe right after a shower, when your pores are open wide. However, if your skin is prone to acne, this could clog your pores and cause a breakout – so experiment to see how your skin responds best. When you find something that works, stick with it.
If your skin is super dry during the height of winter, consider doing your hands, face, and neck hourly with a natural moisturizer sans any irritating chemicals. You need to be careful because some commercial products actually contain ingredients linked to cancer. If you’re unsure if your current moisturizer or other beauty product is safe, look it up on the Cosmetic Safety Database.

2. Protect Your Brazilian Hair Weave

Just as your skin takes a seasonal beating, your locks get dry and frizzy as well. Flyaway hair and split ends are often reported from the lack of humidity, so hair needs a thick moisturizer to coat each strand and protect it from blow drying on top of the outside air.
smiling young woman applying oil mask
Coconut Oil
This is my personal favorite, a miracle product many people don’t know about. I use it in my hair, on my skin (even my face), and even as an additive in food and coffee. It’s so multipurpose I actually buy it in bulk.
What’s so great about it, you ask? Well, besides smelling great, it is loaded with vitamin E, helps control dandruff, contains lauric acid (an antimicrobial that can slow hair loss), and coats the Brazilian hair weave shaft with proteins to build strength, repair damage, and improve shine.
Coconut oil becomes a liquid at 76 degrees. Simply melt a couple tablespoons in the microwave for a couple of seconds (don’t overheat!), or use warm water to melt it down, then massage into your hair and scalp. Let it sit a few minutes, then rinse thoroughly. You can also use solidified coconut oil to tame frizz and add shine. Simply rub your fingers on the coconut oil and massage it into your hair and scalp. If your hair is thin, you might find coconut oil weighs it down, so use less and smear it on the hair but not the scalp.
Coconut oil is available in most large grocery stores or in natural food stores like Whole Foods. Some health and beauty chains, such as The Body Shop, sell coconut oil specifically for hair and skin, but it’s quite expensive. You can save far more buying a tub of it from a market or from Amazon.
Apple Cider Vinegar and Baking Soda
Shampooing in general tends to strip hair of natural oils, and that’s why many people choose natural shampoos. Some use baking soda and apple cider vinegar exclusively to wash their hair. If you search online for “baking soda hair” or “baking soda shampoo,” you’ll find countless stories of people who say their Brazilian hair weave is fuller, healthier, and stronger using these two natural ingredients. My husband uses apple cider vinegar several times a week for his dandruff, and it works far better than any expensive shampoo. So making this switch is clearly a cost cutter as well.
Use the baking soda as a wash by mixing one tablespoon in one cup of water. It’s easier if you put it in a squeeze bottle. Let it sit a couple of minutes, then rinse with the vinegar by mixing one tablespoon with one cup of water as well.
Once you first start using this regularly, your hair weave might actually react by producing more oil – but this is normal. Your Brazilian hair is used to having all the oils stripped out by shampoo and then replaced with conditioner, so it might take several days, or even a few weeks, until it adjusts. Then it will balance out – and look amazing and much healthier.

3. Exercise and Stay Hydrated

Ever notice how much healthier people look during the summer? That’s due to several factors: We spend a lot of time outdoors absorbing vitamin D; we are more active; and, partly because of the heat, we drink a lot more water. Then the seasons change, and we slowly move into hibernation mode. And quite simply, stagnation and sitting isn’t good for any part of your body.
In the chillier months, it’s essential to keep up your level of exercise. It not only makes you feel great, but it helps remove toxins from your system and gives your skin a healthy glow. There are plenty of ways to work out at home, so a gym membership isn’t a necessary purchase. I gave up mine years ago in favor of doing yoga at home, and I’d never go back to slogging on a treadmill!
Because you also need to keep drinking water when the temperatures dip, try to develop a routine at work where you sip throughout the day and aim for a full eight glasses by the time you go home. Once you’re in a good groove, try to extend the routine to the weekends. And use a small cup so you have to walk more to fill it up. Every step counts.

4. Don’t Turn Up the Hot Water

When the weather gets cold, it’s tempting to turn up the hot-water heater to make those showers extra toasty. However, hot water actually dehydrates your skin and Brazilian hair weave, especially in drier air. Soaking yourself in a too-hot tub is like cooking the moisture out of your skin, stripping it of natural protective oils – and you actually risk surface burns. By contrast, a comfortably warm bath can help seal in skin’s moisture, especially if you add oatmeal, dry or liquid milk, and even honey to the water.
To help temper your use of hot water, keep the water heater at the same position all year round – or better yet, see if you can edge it down in the fall and winter.

5. Exfoliate Naturally

Skin cells are constantly dying. As sad as that sounds, it’s actually a healthy thing, because they’re always being replaced with fresh new cells. When you exfoliate – scrub away the dry, dead cells – you accelerate that process and prevent your skin from looking dull and pasty. I use oatmeal as a natural exfoliant, as it’s great on dry skin, especially when blended with milk and honey. If you have oily skin, use baking soda and water. Both work wonders and are far cheaper than commercial masks.
Scrub your skin with a quality exfoliant at least twice weekly during the cooler months. If your skin is especially dry, you might want to opt for three or four times.
woman removing facial dried clay mud

6. Use a Humidifier

During the winter, chances are your heat runs constantly. In my home, the moisture level indoors can be as low as 25% without a humidifier. To put that in perspective, the Mojave Desert often has a humidity level of 20%. A humidifier running quietly in the rooms you use most keeps a necessary level of dampness in the air. There are single-room units and even whole-house humidifiers that connect to your HVAC system. Consider it money well spent.
It’s especially important to use a humidifier overnight. In addition to keeping your skin and Brazilian hair weave moist, this keeps your sinus passages clear and better equipped to fight off germs. Plus, you no longer wake up with gunk in your eyes.

Final Word

These are just some of the things you can try. Another strategy is not to walk outside without gloves on. Your hands have far fewer oil glands than other parts of your body, which is why they’re so vulnerable to harsh winter air and so much harder to keep moist. Keep them wrapped up when outside, and use a natural moisturizer like coconut or olive oil right when you come back in.
With proper tending, your skin and hair can thrive all year round. My skin used to get so dry and itchy starting every November, and I was in misery until the warm rains of April. But thanks to the natural products I use now, I look just as good in December as I do in June.
How do you keep your skin and hair healthy through fall and winter?

Monday, September 11, 2017

Hands on: RavPower AC Power Bank Charger 27,000mAh review

TODO alt text

Think about a battery charger and what usually comes to mind is a cheap plastic box with a USB port that charges your phone. The RAVPOWER EXTERNAL BATTERY (model number RP-PB055) couldn’t be further from that stereotype.
For starters, this charger comes with an AC outlet, one that can support devices rated at up to 100W, which is enough to power a 55-inch television, not to mention most laptops and even some desktop PCs.
And although it is not as powerful as say the MaxOak K2 (with its massive 50,000mAh capacity), this effort has some useful features that make it worth considering, especially if you’re after a charging companion to take on frequent trips abroad.

This PowerStation series 27,000mAh charger comes in a stylish semi-rigid casing that holds, other than the battery charger, two microUSB cables, a user guide, a travel pouch, travel adaptor and a power adaptor.
The latter offers a modicum of flexibility (it is fully reversible) but also hides the power LED that indicates whether the socket is active – ouch! Why RavPower didn’t simply integrate the universal power adaptor in the first place boggles the mind.

The Power Bank feels like a hardcover book you’d slip in your handbag. It’s about the size of an A5 notepad but with a thickness of nearly 40mm and a weight approaching 870g (exceeding 1kg once you add the accessories).
RavPower has used an anthracite rubber finish with eight status LEDs and the company’s insignia on top. Cooling air vents and the power input are on one side, and on the other side there’s a Type-C output, two USB ports, a power button and the AC outlet behind a flap.
An LCD screen might have been useful in order to get a more granular reading of remaining battery capacity, and a couple of extra ports certainly wouldn’t have gone amiss (as well as high-capacity output USB Type-C ports for compatible laptops or tablets).

The battery is rated at 27,000mAh/99.9Whr with the AC output delivering a maximum of 100W, but rated at a more sustainable 85W. The two USB ports can deliver 12W each (5V, 2.4A) while the Type-C connector hits 15W (5V, 3A).
The ports use RavPower’s proprietary iSmart technology which detects and delivers the power needed for any connected devices minimising the risk of overcharging. With the capacity here, you will be able to charge your Galaxy S8 or your iPhone 7 between seven times (for the former) and almost a dozen times (for the latter).
However, it’s a shame that there’s no cable for the latter out of the box, although this Power Bank does automatically charge any supported device once connected. The charger will automatically turn off when not in use, and you turn it on by pressing on the power button for three seconds or more.
It’s good to note that 99.9Whr is below the 100Wh threshold imposed by most airlines for batteries – you won’t be able to put the RavPower charger in your checked luggage, only in your hand luggage.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

BEST ELECTRIC GATE OPENER REVIEWS




Are you after the best rated electric gate opener? The growing demand for the safety of the MIGHTY MULE MM260, household, and other related products has led to the introduction of the automatic and the electric gate openers in the market. These are considered to be the best in a range in the market for the purpose of safeguarding the houses and all the other valuable articles inside the place. Due to its growing popularity and the increasing demand, several models and types of electric gate openers are now available in the market. Single and double opener units are the most preferred of the lot, and either of them can be used for a swinging gate.

BEST ELECTRIC GATE OPENER REVIEWS

There are numerous electric MIGHTY MULE MM260 in the market and deciding on the right one is not an easy job, though it might seem like one. Some people in their haste tend to choose the one that they can easily get their hands on. They regret their purchase when the gate opener starts to malfunction after a short duration only. After thorough research, consideration and recommendations here are a list of the top 3 electric gate openers that are currently on the market.

BODY

The outer body of the MIGHTY MULE MM260 is made from an aluminum alloy chassis. This further reduces the possibility of corrosions due to the external environment. The built and the functions of this particular electric gate opener make it suitable to be fixed with the sliding door system. This variant of the electric gate opener from ALEKO happens to be a new addition to the family of electric openers being operated by the AC powered chain drive gate openers.

FEATURES

  • The aluminum alloy chassis is the reason for the light weight of the gate opener. This gate opener can support 50 ft long sliding gates weighing up to 1400 pounds.
  • The AC powered system helps in the stop and reverse of the gate in case any obstruction is encountered in the middle. For safety reasons, the gate opener has a high base along with two added sensors.
  • The chain drive gate operator provides exceptional starting torque to the system and makes it suitable for continuous handling. The gate opener can support up to 100 remotes, 2 of which are already included in the system.
  • The gate opener comes with a User programmable and user erasable remote codes.
  • For precautions, heavy duty motor and 20 ft long chains are provided. If the person has forgotten to close the gate, the auto close feature in this electric gate opener closes the gate after getting the signals from a sensor.

DURABILITY

Regarding the lifetime of this gate opener, the product has a two year warranty period from ALEKO. As an aluminum alloy chassis is being used, the product happens to be corrosion resistant and can thus be used for extended periods of time. The product offers a great value for the money. The 2-year warranty is directly provided by ALEKO right from the date it has been purchased. If being purchased on Amazon, the warranty deal for the product can be registered with them or at ALEKO.

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Your Guide to Setting up an Online Business



So you want to set up an online business. Many do it these days, where the entire business is conducted online with no physical customer facing areas. It works! Just look at Amazon, who has completely dominated online retail. There are certain things you need to remember to keep your online business safe and excelling. You are at a disadvantage to other businesses with a physical front because that is a whole different side to the business, meaning they don’t have to pay as much time to their online area compared to you. But, don’t let it get you down because you can still make it. Here are some tips you need to think of to ensure your online business is nothing but a huge success.



Website Design


You need to focus on your website design. Give it all the time in the world. It needs to be amazing, because essentially it is all you have. The only medium from which to sell your products or services. Get a plan, and take it to a web developer. You can’t afford to make it on your own, even if you have some skill doing it. It needs to be good and run well and only by asking professionals to do it will you really make a significant impact. There can’t be any glitches or errors which can hurt your publicity and you also need a website that is easy to navigate otherwise people are just going to get frustrated and leave your site for another one they feel is easier to use. The colouring needs to be in line with your branding. Make it bespoke and unique. Design a business logo and put it on your site. Everything like this gives your website a professional slant which can give people trust in your business.

Friday, March 24, 2017

How to Pick the Best Removalist Company for Your Next Move



As the world continues to turn, so does its inhabitants. Humans crave change. They can’t stay in one place all their lives. Some need to explore new opportunities while others run away to cosy places in search of some peace. In recent times, Australia has become a central point for immigrants as it offers countless business and growth opportunities to individuals. It promises a resilient economy, boosts acceptance towards all communities, is a hub to explore new business and a great place to grow old. This has resulted in a spurt of removalist companies and is continuing to grow.

If you are among the many that are planning to move your business or home here in 2017, we have a little insider’s guide to help you find the best mover companies. Here is all the information you need to point you in the right direction.



They Should Offer More Than a Bare Minimum


For starters, they should be a licensed company and offer insurance. But that is just a bare minimum. There are many removalists that go as far as offering packaging boxes so the ideal firm must offer some additional and services than just a few handy man and a truck.

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Comprehensive Guide to Prepare Health and Safety Policy for Small Business



Having a health and safety policy in place is crucial when running a business. It’s a legal requirement to have your policy in writing if you employ five or more people. You should also make sure your policy contains the right information, in case a health and safety inspector pays you a visit.

So, when it comes to putting together your health and safety policy, what should you include?


Key sections of your policy


First, it’s important to mention that a good health and safety policy is set out in three sections. These are policy statement, responsibilities, and arrangements.
Understanding each section and what it should cover, which is relevant specifically to your business, can help you know what to include when writing your policy.

Policy statement

This is your statement of general policy on health and safety in business. Sometimes called a general statement of intent, the statement, which you should sign and date, should set out your commitment to health and safety in your place of work.