quote:

---

Originally posted by jescat:
You could get a facial and have someone else do the work for you. Beauty school facials are pretty cheap. A home remedy is to mix baking soda and water into a paste and apply it to the offending areas, leave for 5-10 minutes (this makes the skin alkaline and loosens up oil and gunk), then wash it off and extract the blackheads. Finish up with toner. It's hard to keep blackheads from coming back, but I find that using a clay mask on my T-zone twice a week keeps the pores clean and tightened.

---

Also Tasha, have you tried those Bi0re Pore Strips? They work pretty well.

quote:

---

Originally posted by EmmaNadine:
If I wear eye shadow too often, like more than once a week, the skin on my eyelids starts getting red and irritated looking, and a little flaky.

---

It could be eczema, at least from your description (flakyness is a big cue). You could be having a reaction to the makeup or the makeup remover. Maybe you could experiment with different brands of eye shadow (I use MAC makeup and I don't have any problems, even though I have awfully sensitive skin and tend to have eczema on my eyelids) and switch to a makeup remover for sensitive skin, and see if things improve.

Edited to add that I don't wear makeup more than a few times a week, and often not at all for weeks. I can't guarantee that daily use of MAC cosmetics wouldn't cause a flareup.

quote:

---

Originally posted by bekkaboo:
What makes you want a igarette soooooo badly when you've been drinking?? Is it psychological, or is there some physical reason why alcohol just makes me want to suck down cigarettes?

---

I think I have some kind of stress incontinence. Meaning that whenever I laugh or cough too hard, I pee a little. I'm only 20, so it's not like I'm old, and I've not had sex or had a child, so it's not weakened muscles (I would think) that kegel exercises would fix. My bladder also fills up rather easily, and I pee a lot during the day- and I don't een drink a lot. Really just at meals.

quote:

---

My bladder also fills up rather easily, and I pee a lot during the day- and I don't even drink a lot. Really just at meals.

---

I have problems with having to pee a lot too. I think whenever I drink something it goes right through me - ie. out drinking last friday night, I was in the washroom at least 10 times over the course of 6 hours and 8 drinks (4 of which were martinis - not alot of liquid). (My boyfriend went maybe 3 times the whole night when he drank even more than that) I asked my doctor during last year's physical and she tested me for a bladder infection which was negative.

So is easier to heat the body if cold or cool the body if hot?

quote:

---

Originally posted by Shadowhand:
So, this is pretty random but it's about your body so I figure I'll check it.

I was told that we have something like 95% the same DNA as a banana...is this true, or was my high school science teacher lying to me to make me look like a fool?

---

I couldn't resist the chance to g00gle "human banana DNA" and this is what I found:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/mole00/mole00304.htm

Though further g00gling seems to point to the idea that humans and bananas share 50% of the same DNA. Like most things on the internet, take it for what it's worth.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ralphyr:
So as humans we have a lot in common with a peeing banana. Interestink.

So is easier to heat the body if cold or cool the body if hot?

I'm not thinking extremes here just If it is a really hot day or a snow day rather than being stuck in a freezer or glasshouse for the day.

---

Are we talking naked or with equipment? If coat and such count, I'd say that it's much easier to heat than to cool the body.

quote:

---

Originally posted by kena:
Let's say that our body is basically comfy at something like 20-25oC. Then we can say that 50oC is pretty much as hot as we can support, and probably something like -40oC on the colder side of the range. At least, that's the hottest and coldest I've ever seen myself (in a foundry for hot, outside in February in Quebec for cold) Clearly, we adapt better to cold.

---

But saunas can get upwards of 120C, while not necessarily comfortable, isn't killing people ... (Those crazy Finns!) So that puts top and bottom extremes much closer to each other.

quote:

---

Originally posted by kena:

Let's say that our body is basically comfy at something like 20-25oC.

---

20'C is freezing, you Canadian nutter! Definitely weather for long sleeves and possibly a jumper as well.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sophie:
20'C is freezing, you Canadian nutter! Definitely weather for long sleeves and possibly a jumper as well.

[This message has been edited by Sophie (edited 12-08-2004).]

---

I think you've been in HK too long! 20c is very comfortable thankyouverymuch

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sophie:
20'C is freezing, you Canadian nutter! Definitely weather for long sleeves and possibly a jumper as well.

---

LOL! I'm not nutty, just fattier I guess

Quite seriously, our bodies DO adapt to the cold though. At this time of the year, I think that -10oC is cold even with sensible clothes on. By the end of winter, anything above -18-20oC will be comfy (still with the sensible clothes... I'm not THAT nutty)

quote:

---

I always thought that there is no limit to how many layers you can put off, but you can only take OFF so many layters of clothing.

---

I think it's also a question of producing heat vs producing cold. Our body itself is pretty much a heating element: you put food in and your cells turns it into heat and energy. So as long as you have good insulation, the limit is pretty much how much food you can get in. People who go explore the North Pole in skis and such typically eat high calorie stuff non-stop just to generate heat. And I mean really high calorie, like drinking pure oil straight from the bottle. Supposedly it tastes like heaven when your body craves it.

Producing cold is much more complex (just think of how simple an oven is VS a fridge).

quote:

---

Originally posted by yam:
Ack! Do you mean 120F? 120C is above boiling, wouldn't you like.. become an entree?

---

Yup, 120C. In Canada and the US saunas aren't allowed to be hotter than 90C, but in Finland, land of the sauna, (1.5 million saunas for 5 million people!)they are regularly above 100C.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Dewgirl:

My question... do liver spots actually have anything to do with the liver? If so, why do they appear on your face and hands? Or are they just a general part of aging? My hands are getting spotty and I don't think I drank *that* much in college

---

Nope, actually no relation to liver function. "Liver spots" are caused by UV rays, and you can inherit the tendency. They appear on skin that is the thinnest and most exposed to the sun. So don't forget to put sunscreen on your hands, too.

quote:

---

Originally posted by ziola:
Yup, 120C. In Canada and the US saunas aren't allowed to be hotter than 90C, but in Finland, land of the sauna, (1.5 million saunas for 5 million people!)they are regularly above 100C.

---

Oh man, that totally gives me the willies. I think finland is really populated by hungry aliens who are trying to convince visitors to hop on the stove for supper.

I would be on a disability pension if it ever hit -10C. Seriously, I wouldn't physically be able to get out of bed. The government here issues the cold weather warning when it's forecast to dip below 14'C, and opens up the schools to shelter old people who may not have heaters at home.

In Beijing and Harbin and other places in northern China (where the wind comes howling in straight from Siberia) in the olden days they used to have things called "kangs". It's basically a brick furnace with a bed on top, and you would sit there for six months of the year. I've always thought this was a splendid idea, though not as splendid as packing up and moving to the tropics. When it was 16'C the other night I was semi-seriously discussing with my friends how nice it would be to have a kang, and if they thought it would be difficult to get planning permission to build one.

I am with Dewgirl. 30C is spot on.