It turns out our beauty regime could be doing more harm than good, so TOAD checked in with specialists to find out more about some of the more common misconceptions on to look your best.
The Skin
Everyone cares about their skin. Let’s be honest, it’s often one of the first things we notice about a person. TOAD spoke to Kaya Skin Clinic’s dermatologist, Dr Marian Coutinho about what she sees of people treating their skin badly in her work.
‘My skin is oily, so I need to exfoliate’
Dr Marian says, what is the case is not the cause. ‘Often, I have patients coming in that use a harsh scrub on their skin because it’s quite oily. But it is frequently due to dehydration that the skin is producing the oils, because of the scrubbing. So we subscribe them to a softer cleanser.’
‘All moisturisers do the same thing’
‘Add to that, we see younger women that will use any moisturiser on their skin because it’s dry – this often results in excess oils as the moisturisers for young women are different to women in middle age.’
Kaya Skin Clinic, various locations including Abu Dhabi Mall (02 643 5030).
Weight
Ah, weight-myths. Does anyone know what really works? Well, as Nouvriet Boutros at the NUYou Slimming Spa tells us, there are many misconceptions her and her team encounter.
‘The less I eat, the more fat I will lose’
Nouvriet says, ‘With starvation diets most people lost water and muscle. One of the mistakes people make is not eating balanced foods for their bodies, and as a result when the body needs fuel it will burn muscle rather than fat to get it.’
‘All fats are bad fats’
All fats are not created equal, there are good fats and bad fats. Omega 3 is good fat, this is derived from fish, dairy and is healthy for the body, brain and skin. Omega 6, polyunsaturated fatty acid is essential to the human body, however most people intake is about 14 – 25 times more omega-6 fatty acids than omega-3 fatty acids. Omega 6 is found in seed oils, margarine, salad dressings, mayonnaise and shortening.
‘It’s okay to eat processed foods’
Processed foods interfere with the natural body function. Your stomach has stretch receptors that allows communication from your stomach to your brain to inform you that you’re full and to stop eating. However, processed food interferes with the signal. First, the chemicals in the food trick your brain into thinking it is much tastier than it actually is therefore you eat more. Secondly, the chemicals interfere with the brain and the signal is not communicated to the brain, so as a result you eat much more food. The receptors work to tell the brain that your stomach is full, however, without the proper communications you still feel hungry and continue to eat even though physically your stomach is full.’
NUYou Slimming Spa, opposite Khalifa Market, Khalifa City A, (02 557 7225).
Hair
Is your hair dry and brittle? Are you doing something wrong? TOAD spoke to the team at Glamour Hair Salon about some common hair problems.
‘Why do my blonde highlights go brassy?’
This is common with blondes in the city, according to the stylists. ‘With the harsh water here, combined with sun exposureand chlorine in the water and seawater, it strips the colour of tone and you are left with the raw bleach undertone of the colour. So we recommend using a purple/blue shampoo to neutralize your hair to a nice creamy blonde again. Also, use professional shampoos and conditioner to help prevent the stripping from happening.’
‘I have to change my shampoo and conditioner to get better results’
This is not the case according to the Glamour stylists. ‘The answer is no, hair doesn’t get used to products. Build-up and residue is usually to blame for dullness, so we suggest investing in a cleansing or clarifying shampoo once every two weeks to remove excess build-up. We love Label M’s cleansing shampoo for this.’
Glamour Hair Salon, El-Nilen Bank Building, cnr 4th and Corniche road. (02 626 3002).
Nails
Racquel at Dashing Nails offers a few tips to save your tips.
‘Moving between the hot, dry air indoors and the cold temperature outdoors can reduce the moisture level in your nails. Get in the habit of applying cuticle oil and moisturisers to make your nails flexible, supple and less likely to split or break.
‘Another common problem we hear, which is incorrect, is that customers believed that “scraping any callus with blade can help to remove it”, which is not the case. Rather, soak the feet in warm water for five minutes and rub a foot file over the callus. The abrasive surface of a file will exfoliate the skin and gently take the callus off your foot, leaving the smooth skin visible. If the callus is extremely hard, we offer special callus treatment for that, we use a special callus eliminator to diminish the growth and eventually remove the callus completely.’
Dashing Nails, various locations including Khalifa City A, (02 553 1775).
