Dandruff is common, but that doesn’t mean you should be walking around with snow on your shoulders. But don’t panic. Dandruff is nothing more than skin being shed from your scalp. While a small amount of shedding is normal, if you find yourself covered in white powder all the time you can take some natural measures in treating it.

What causes dandruff?

When people have a higher, more frequent skin cell turnover rate, this can cause dandruff. As your skin cells continue their never-ending cycle of replacement, the old skin is pushed outward and eventually flakes off. Most of the time skin shedding isn’t noticeable. However, in people with dandruff, skin cells mature and replace themselves faster than normal which results in large, oily flakes of skin being sloughed off.

Another form of dandruff is cause by a fungus called Malassezia yeast. This fungus is found naturally on the skin, but when it’s fed fat (or oil from the sebaceous glands in your scalp) it can get out of control. The result is a lot of clumpy, itchy dandruff.

Other factors that can attribute to dandruff:
Use of shampoos with high alkaline content
Poor diet and nutrition
Overuse of styling products

Home remedies for dandruff

After shampooing take a couple teaspoons of lime or lemon juice and rinse it into your hair. It helps exfoliate your scalp, eliminate existing dandruff and leaves your hair shiny. It smells good too!

Take a bit of beet juice, mix it into some vinegar and massage into your scalp. Let sit for about 5 minutes and then rinse.

Rinse your hair with apple cider vinegar after rinsing out your shampoo. This will help eliminate as well as prevent dandruff from reforming.

Use a shampoo infused with tea tree oil. Tea oil has natural antiseptic and antifungal properties which can help reduce and even eliminate dandruff.

Mix an egg with a teaspoon of lime juice and apply to your scalp. Let it sit for up to 5 minutes and then rinse. Egg is also used to keep your hair shiny and healthy.

–Magdalena

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Warts are ugly and persistent little rascals, but they aren’t the end of the world, nor do they come from toads. Nearly everyone has had a wart at some time in their life and as many can attest, they are often difficult to get rid of permanently.

What is a wart?

A wart is caused by the HPV (human papilloma virus) and that’s not just genital warts either. There are over 100 HPV types currently identified. Since warts are caused by a virus that also means warts are contagious. They can be transmitted from skin contact, sharing towels, sharing razors, not wearing shoes on locker room or pool room floors… nearly anywhere.

Most warts are characterized by their rough, cauliflower appearance and can last for as little as a few months or persist for years depending on how fast your immune system can attack and destroy the infection. Warts are also known to reoccur if they are not removed fully.

Different types of warts include:

Common warts, identified by rough, cauliflower-like surface occurring mostly on hands and knees.

Flat warts which are small, smooth and flat occurring mostly on the face, neck, hands, wrists and knees.

Filiform or digitate warts, characterized by their thread- or finger-like appearance which appear mostly near the eyes.

Plantar warts are usually identified as a large lump that occurs on the soles of the feet. Plantar warts can be painful when pressure is applied to the afflicted area.

Genital warts or venereal warts are soft bumps found near and on the genital area.

Home remedies to remove warts

The most popular remedy is duct tape (also called occlusion therapy) and studies show it works. In fact a study has shown that this duct tape home remedy is 20% more effective than standard cryotherapy. Not only is this method not painful in the slightest, it’s cheap too!

Apply a strip of duct tape to the wart for six days straight. Remove the tape and use a pumice stone or emery board to scrape the dead skin off the sight of the wart. Continue up to two months until the wart is totally gone.

Why does duct tape work? Some say there’s something in the glue that stimulates the immune system into attacking and destroying the wart. Others think that it’s because you’re suffocating the wart. Yet others think that it’s just an affective way to file down a wart. The true answer is not scientifically known.

You can also try placing a banana peel on the site of a wart, covering it then with a bandage. Replace with a fresh peel when the first one gets old. Keep applying until the wart is gone.

Garlic supplements can help your immune system attack a wart and destroy it quicker than without. Applying a small piece of garlic directly to a wart is also effective. Word of caution though; garlic can greatly irritate your skin.

Soak a cotton ball in vinegar and place it on the wart. Cover with a bandage and replace every couple days. Soon the wart will shrivel and fall off.

Put a potato on it. Rubbing a raw potato over a wart a couple times daily will help diminish a wart.

Dabbing a few drops of tea tree oil onto a wart a couple times daily will help it disappear. Tea tree oil is a powerful antiseptic and has a very high rate of success in removing warts.

–Magdalena

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Teething seems to begin with birth and go on until kindergarten. It’s a trying time for both parents and tots alike. But rest assured, teething does end, and peace will be restored; where teething is concerned anyway. Then it’s on to any number of wonderful phases of growth for you and your child.

Causes

Children’s teeth actually begin to develop in the womb. When the teeth begin to break through the gums, teething has begun. Teething can begin as early as 3 months and last until the child is three. Most commonly, 4-7 months is the time when the primary teeth break through. But there are always those early developers who have a tooth poking through at birth, and late bloomers who sport a gummy smile until around the time of their first birthday.

Teeth usually break through in a specific order, but not always. Typically, the bottom front teeth make their appearance first, followed by the top two front teeth. The bicuspids and the canines are next, followed by the molars. There are general stages when the molars come in, giving them the names of two-year, four-year, and six-year molars.

Signs and Symptoms

Teething is a painful time for most children, although some don’t experience any side effects at all. The gums become painful and swollen from the tooth pressing against them, working its way out of the gums. The child may react with crying, irritability, loss of appetite (because it’s too painful to eat), and excessive drool which can cause a rash on the face and neck of the child. Other symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, diaper rash, and vomiting are debatable as to whether or not teething is the actual cause of these other symptoms. One pediatrician, William Sears, author of The Baby Book, maintains that teething can cause diarrhea and mild diaper rash due to the excess saliva that the baby is swallowing. Fever (101 or lower) can be caused due to the inflammation of the baby’s gums, any higher and a more serious condition must be ruled out. Many refute his claims, and assert that other symptoms are from illness and not from teething.

Treatment

There are many items on the market to soothe the baby beast. Just remember, as frustrating as it is for you to listen to all the crying and wailing, have your sleep disrupted, and go through a pound of wash just on ‘drooly’ bibs, it’s that much more for the poor teething soul. Here are some things you can do to help your not-for-long-toothless toddler.
• Offer teething rings—make sure they are hygienic before giving them to your crumb snatching ankle biter.
• Give a baby toast like zwieback to help move the teeth through while ensuring the risk of choking is minimal. Never leave your child unattended while eating. DO NOT give carrots, bits will break off and cause a BIG choking hazard.
• Keep the child’s face wiped clean of drool to aid in the prevention and healing of facial rashes.
• Often just rubbing your finger on the inflamed gums will soothe the seething, teething toddler.
• Over-the-counter topical analgesics are sometimes helpful during sleepy times.
• An anti-inflammatory like acetaminophen for children is sometimes used, especially if accompanied with fever. DO NOT give children aspirin without the consent of your pediatrician.
If diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, fever, or rashes persist, consult with a physician to rule out any other cause.

As always, lots of hugs and kisses to soothe the teary-eyed teether.

-Anne

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Hepatitis B is caused by a virus called Hepatitis B virus (HBV) . HBV attacks the liver and can cause lifelong infection, but usually gets better on its own. If it doesn’t get better within 2-12 days, it’s called chronic HBV which is currently incurable and can cause cirrhosis (scarring) of the liver, liver cancer, liver failure, and eventually death.

Causes

HBV occurs when the blood of an infected person enters the body of an uninfected person. You can get HBV through unprotected sex, sharing needles, having a tattoo or body piercing done with dirty tools that were used on somebody else, sharing a razor with an infected person, through needle sticks or sharps exposures on the job, or an infected mother can give it to her baby during birth.

Signs and Symptoms

About 30% of people have no signs or symptoms. Signs and symptoms are less common in children than in adults. Hepatitis B can almost make you feel like you have the flu.
• Jaundice
• Fatigue
• Abdominal pain
• Loss of appetite
• Nausea, vomiting
• Joint pain

Doctors diagnose HBV with the confirmation of a blood test. Not only does the blood test confirm or deny the presence of the virus, but it will also tell the seriousness of the virus.

Prevention

Health care professionals have found the best course of prevention to be vaccination. In children, the vaccines are given in three doses and provide life-long protection from the virus. The first dose is given at birth, and the entire regimen finished by the age of 6-18 months. In the event that an individual under 18 wasn’t vaccinated in infancy, they can still have the HBV vaccination and may want to consider it. Routine vaccinations for HBV started in 1991. Since then, instances of HBV have dropped by 95% in children and adolescents, and 75% in all age groups.

Treatment

The most common treatment is medication, which helps to reduce the affects of the virus on the liver by slowing it down or stopping the HBV from reproducing. There is no known cure as stated above, but in some rare cases, a person may lose the Hepatitis B virus and develop protective surface antibodies.

Home Remedies
• Regain your energy by including complex carbohydrates in the form of whole wheat and its products. Avoid refined sugars and processed foods in your diet.
• Take proper rest, don’t over-exert your self.
• High proteins can cause further liver damage so include a moderate amount of proteins in the form of skimmed milk, skimmed yoghurt, legumes, pulses and sprouts.
• Decrease overall consumption of fats and oils and include MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) like butter, cream, coconut oil while preparing food as they are rapidly absorbed into the intestine and pose less stress on the liver.
• Have small and frequent meals at regular intervals.
• Avoid the consumption of alcohol completely.

-Anne

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Breathing is the most natural thing to do, right? So why am I sitting here writing a post about breathing? Can you believe that most of us are breathing wrong? Well, we’re alive, so we must be doing something right. The thing is, if we learn to breathe a little more consciously and from the diaphragm, we can reduce our stress levels, optimize our sense of smell and taste, and even live a little longer.

There are basically two types of breathing: cleansing and energizing. Cleansing breaths detoxify the body and stress exhalation. Energizing breaths focus on inhalation and collect and store vital energy.

Sounds like basic breathing so far. But what of the spontaneous ’sighs’ and ‘yawns’ we sometimes experience? A sigh is a cleansing breath, a long, forceful exhalation preceded by a quick gulp of air. People sigh when toxins in the bloodstream reach a critical level or energy is running low. In contrast, a yawn is an energizing breath–a long, deep inhalation briefly held in the lungs, followed by a short exhalation.

Breathing is a three step process. Did you ever notice a sleeping child or puppy? The stomach moves up and down as they breathe, not the chest. Take a gradual breath in, and expand your diaphragm. Your stomach should fill up like a balloon. Next, feel the air fill your lungs without lifting your chest or expanding your rib cage. Third, you can feel the air getting up into the top of your lungs. Exhale in the same manner, only the steps are in reverse. When we breathe, as we do, into the rib cage and the clavicle, our breaths are shallow and so not enough oxygen or negative ions are getting into the lungs and subsequently the blood stream leading to lower energy. A cleansing breath helps open the blood vessels in the brain as well, and is a great aid in relieving stress. Slower, deeper breaths will help the body to heat naturally, and comes in handy on a cold February day like today.

Chee-gung has been a formal branch of Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years, and means both ‘breathing exercise’ and ‘energy control’. It was found that it was first referenced in the mid-sixth century B.C. There are many different ways to do exercises in order to learn to breathe properly. This first one is for beginners and takes only 10 minutes a day.

· Dress in loose comfortable clothes.

· Find a comfortable, quiet location.

· Lay on back or sit with back erect in a chair or on the floor

· Count “1″ and breathe in and think “relax” and breathe out.

· Focus attention on breathing and counting.

· Expand diaphragm on breathing in and keep chest still.

· Count up to 10 and then back to 1.

· Practice up to twice daily, 10 minutes each time.

· Monitor your practice.

1. Place one hand on your chest and the other one on your stomach with your little finger just a little above your naval. The movement should come from your lower hand (diaphragm, muscle in stomach) not your chest.
2. Do not try to take in too much air and don’t slow your breathing down too much. Just breathe smoothly and easily through your nose. Do not hold your breath.
3. Count “one” mentally as you breathe in, and think “relax” as you breathe out. Then “two” on the next breath in, and breathe out and think “relax.” Do these until you get to 10 then start back at 1.
4. After about 5-6 weeks of doing chee-gung, gradually begin to slow your counting day by day until you can breathe at a rate of 10 breaths per minute at rest.

-Anne

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