Love is blind and we have all dated the ugly

My husband is as tactful as a four year-old who calls you fat to your face simply because, well you are. That four-year old feels no shame in saying it as it is and neither does my husband. But it is because of people like him, that some would rather hide the fact that they are seeing anyone than admit that they are dating someone who is, God forbid, unattractive!

If we are honest with ourselves, it isn’t just my husband who likes to indulge in a little cruelty every now and then. We all do. We love to call people fat, fashionably challenged with bad hair but then we try to ease the guilt by ending the sentence with something feeble like “Oh, but she’s nice though”. It’s not entirely bad to engage in some minor harm every now and then. We are human! But to allow vanity become the decider in the fate of a relationship, that’s just plain dumb.
Plus, we can’t really control who we wind up falling in love with. He might be gorgeous, rich and terribly romantic but the odds are more likely to be mediocre looking, living paycheck-to-paycheck and terribly romantic. So you say “Great! I’ll take it! At least he’s romantic”

There is a leap of faith. To risk being mocked by your friends and turn a blind eye to the scrutiny around you, might just turn out to be your best stroke of luck. Take for example the case of my dear friend Marwa. When she was still dating her now husband, it would amaze her how many times they would ‘coincidentally’ bump into friends of his wherever they went out. She had naturally assumed that he was just very popular! What she didn’t know was that she was being scanned, evaluated and given the ‘go ahead’ by his buddies. Thankfully they didn’t deem her to be an ugly cow and the relationship was spared. But if it hadn’t, her husband would have been the one to pay the price. Years into their marriage and he is still as in love with her as the first day they’d met. And it isn’t because she looks good. It’s because he still loves to talk to her, have fun with her and run to her when something goes wrong. She is his perfect life companion and if she looked any less attractive, which she will someday, I doubt that that will be the end of it.

Others aren’t so lucky. A male friend of mine shamefully admitted to having dumped a girl he had just started seeing when he took her to Sharm El Sheikh and ran into a buddy of his who found her ‘below average’. The guy didn’t even wait to go back to Cairo. The poor girl was already dumped some 20 minutes later. He had been initially attracted to her and willing to forego her average looks until his own vanity took over.

Now excuse me while I get off my high horse for an instant to admit that I still occasionally drool over the hunk running on the treadmill next to me and ogle most of the guys on the water polo team at the club but I’ve dated and fell in love with the bald, the fat and the terribly dressed.

And for that… I have no regrets

Liposuction-Fashion cheating?

The fact is that, there are parts of the body that are impossible to get rid of extra fat naturally. No matter how much exercise a person does, there will always be an area that will still show a bit of extra weight. Love handles and calves are two examples of this. In order to get rid of this, it will require cutting corners, no pun intended. Unfortunately, God did not create us all equally, at least as far as physical appearance is concerned. Therefore, whatever God didn’t give you is possible for a doctor to give. There is just no use to look at it as cheating. After all, if it is not harming the person or anybody else, why should it matter?
There are those that require liposuction for health related reasons. If a person is considered obese, then liposuction is the fastest way to get rid of extra fat. Everybody knows that too much fat is downright unhealthy. So why not go for a liposuction procedure? As far as tummy tuck liposuction cost is concerned, there are many influencing factors. The main factors are the skill level of the surgeon, geographic location, area of the body where liposuction is to be done, and other health or personal issues. However, on the whole, current liposuction price is relatively affordable.

Generally, as a rule, no matter where the procedure is done, a person can expect to pay more to have it done on large areas of the body. Liposuction done on thighs or what we call thigh liposuctionis an excellent example of this. In other words, thigh surgery will cost more than a tummy tuck. This may be the reason why more and more people are opting for this procedure. After all, it only requires a few hours visit at the doctor’s office, and the person can come out looking asgood as new. As mentioned earlier, prices for liposuction can vary greatly.

The national average for the procedure itself can be anywhere in between $3,500 and $12,000 dollars. The price will not include anesthesia. Anesthesia is a requirement, not an option. If the doctor is highly experienced and is using high tech equipment, then expect to pay more. It is always better to pay extra and go for better quality when doing liposuction. After all, in most cases people are doing this to look good. This is not a time to go cheap and look disfigured in the end.
Source: MSN

Ten Tips for the Perfect Shave

Shaving is neither fun nor progressive, but a necessary evil in most of our daily routines. Although shaving is a seemingly simple endeavor, there are various tried and trusted techniques which can improve the quality of your shave and ensure you avoid dermatological catastrophes such as skin rashes or sliced cheeks. If you are unsure if you should follow the grain or oppose it or whether you should douse yourself in aftershave or hardly use any, then read on…

1. Slow Down: Your Skin takes longer to wake up than you do

Try not to reach for the blade as soon as you wake up. Just as you are liable to feel groggy and in a somewhat ragged state first thing in the morning, the same is true of your skin. Your face is liable to be puffy at this time due to fluids that congregate in your facial tissues during the night. So grab yourself a cup of tea or brush your teeth to kill about ten minutes or so before tending to your face.

2. Lubrication, Lubrication, Lubrication

Be sure to apply a high-quality pre-shave oil or gel before beginning your shave, leaving it to work on your skin for around a minute. This will ensure your face is sufficiently lubricated - meaning you will have a solid foundation for achieving a close and gentle shave. Without this foundation, your skin may suffer from razor burns or rashes, as it’s simply not prepared for the invasiveness of a sharp blade. There has been some speculation that pre-shave oils are unnecessary and simply supplement the largely inadequate levels of lubrication in most commercial shaving products. Until both products can be successfully merged, you would be best advised to employ a decent pre-shave oil.

3. Leave a Clean Slate: Use a Face Scrub

Washing your face with a decent facial scrub before shaving will open up the pores of your skin and tauten your hair follicles to help achieve a close and more comfortable shave. By exfoliating your pores in this manner you will also scrape away any malignant dead cells and impurities that can lead to acne and ingrown hairs. Using a scrub will also help to smooth your complexion and encourage the growth of fresh and healthy skin cells.

4. Less is More: Shaving Foam

It’s neither necessary nor desirable to slap colossal amounts of foam on your face before shaving. Masses of foam resting on your face is doing nothing to improve the quality of your shave, so only apply a moderate layer - this is all that‘s required. Many varieties of foam actually contain ingredients such as Sodium Laurel Sulfate, which act in conjunction with the other ingredients to create the foam-swelling effect out of the can. However, these ingredients -although aesthetically pleasing to the eye - can also act as severe skin irritants so bear this in mind when next reaching for a huge hunk of foam.
5. Shave in the Shower

A shower or bath serves as an ideal environment to shave because the pervading steam and heat will soften the bristles on your face and also help open up your facial pores, ensuring they are “warmed up” before the blade hits them. It takes approximately 4 minutes for the bristles on your face to sufficiently soften and the facials muscles to relax in readiness for your shave. Alternatively, you could employ a more retro barber shop approach and simply open those pores via a hot towel resting on the face for a couple of minutes.
6. Live by the Sword: Replace your blades

You should use a sharp, steady blade and to replace it after four or five uses. Always ensure you wash your blade thoroughly with hot water after use. The sharpness is likely to begin to wane significantly after a few uses and a blunt blade means a poor shave. If you are hanging on to blades for too long, you also increase the risk of infection as any lingering bacteria or impurities on the blade may infect your skin. Also, try to use gentle strokes rather than applying excessive pressure on the blade. You may feel like you will achieve a closer shave this way, but ease and grace is liable to be a much more successful strategy.

7. Reap what you sow: The Rule of the Grain

Ensure your blade has been warmed in hot water before beginning your shave and move your blade with the natural grain of your face rather than against it. Opposing the natural direction of the hair follicles on your face increases the risk of cuts and general irritation. You should also aim to use short, non-aggressive strokes rather than dragging it in one continuous motion along the whole perimeter of your face. You should also make sure you keep the blade as horizontal as possible. Changing the angle of the blade is likely to be more invasive to the face and it may rupture or become irritated as a result, so don’t give it any nasty surprises and try to keep the angle consistent.

8. Post-Traumatic Stress: Aftershaves and Lotions

As a general rule, trust the reaction of your skin to any applied lotion. As with the act of shaving itself, any product that causes numbness, irritation, pain or visible redness, is probably not the right product for you. Lotions containing alcohol are liable to be the main culprits for skin irritation but heavily concentrated plant extracts such as menthol or citrus can be just as harmful. Alcohol-based lotions should thus not be applied directly to the face after shaving. If, however, you have just shaved and are dead set on having a splash of your favored aftershave before heading out to meet a special lady, try to apply it behind the earlobes and around the neck, thus avoiding those vulnerable pores of freshly shaved skin. The skin is in a highly sensitive state at this time, so applying such a balm directly to the face is liable to inflame it and cause irritation.
9. Wet is Best: Avoid Dry-Shaving

Certain antiquated schools of thought dictate that a dry-shave is the best way to achieve that smooth, grafted shave, however, there is little evidence to support this supposition. Even those who swear by their state-of-the-art electric shavers should consider using some kind of lubricant or foam before attacking those stubborn bristles. Utilizing foam softens the surface of your skin and creates a crucial buffer zone between your skin cells and the sharpness of the blade. Taking a blade to dry, unlubricated skin is a reckless strategy liable to lead to skin rashes and overall discomfort.

10. Fuzzy Logic: The Shaving Brush

Old-fashioned shaving brushes shouldn’t be considered the preserve of stuffy, middle-aged men who tend to their stubble in a smoking jacket and cravat. Switching from the more prevalent hand held razors to the more traditional, wooden brushes - often used in antiquated barbershops - could yield significant benefits to your shaving routine. Whilst applying foam to your face, the brush also exfoliates your skin and stimulates the hair follicles on your face whilst retaining more moisture on your face than a standard shaving apparatus. It can also significantly reduce the occurrence of ingrown hairs and general skin discomfort.

So there you have it. Even the daunting task of taking cold steel to your drowsy face early in the morning needn’t mean the discomfort expected. By following these core guidelines, your daily torment can swiftly be transformed into a hassle-free and even pleasant break from your morning blues. Happy shaving