MW Staff

<hr>&nbsp;This month, Dr. Jamuna Pai on preparing your skin for the winter and sharing sunscreen with your spouse&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I have severe darkening on&nbsp;my lips of late. I don’t smoke&nbsp;or go out in the sun much.&nbsp;Could there be another&nbsp;reason?&nbsp;Maybe it is genetic. To lessen&nbsp;this problem, you could start&nbsp;with exfoliating your lips.&nbsp;You could do this with your&nbsp;toothbrush after brushing&nbsp;your teeth, to exfoliate the&nbsp;dead skin cells off your lips.&nbsp;However, you should take&nbsp;care to do this gently so as&nbsp;not to hurt the lips. After&nbsp;exfoliation, always apply a&nbsp;coat of lip balm to moisturize&nbsp;and soften it. You could&nbsp;use petroleum jelly too.&nbsp;Remember to massage your&nbsp;lips gently with a good lip&nbsp;balm every night. During the&nbsp;day, it is advisable to use a lip&nbsp;balm with an SPF 15. If you&nbsp;follow this routine without fail&nbsp;every day, you can definitely&nbsp;see the difference in a few&nbsp;weeks time. You can even&nbsp;lighten the lip colour by a&nbsp;semi-permanent tattooing&nbsp;technique.&nbsp;<img src="https://d12d6l12s3d372.cloudfront.net/Dr_Jamuna_Pai_2_400x600_a537fdea53.jpg"> &nbsp;How are sunscreens for&nbsp;men different? Can’t I just&nbsp;use the same one as my&nbsp;wife?&nbsp;The primary need of the&nbsp;skin being the same, the&nbsp;ingredients of the skin care&nbsp;products like a sunscreen&nbsp;do not differ. As the skin of&nbsp;men is 25 per cent thicker&nbsp;than that of a woman, it is the&nbsp;strength and concentration&nbsp;of these ingredients that are&nbsp;more intense in a men’s skin&nbsp;care range when compared&nbsp;to that of women’s skin care&nbsp;products. More than the&nbsp;gender, it is important to&nbsp;select the skin care product&nbsp;based on the skin type you&nbsp;have. Also there is no onesize-&nbsp;fits-all skin care product.&nbsp;Every skin and lifestyle is&nbsp;different and your skin care&nbsp;should reflect this. What you&nbsp;use, how you use it and when&nbsp;you do so is very important&nbsp;for women and men alike.&nbsp;If your wife and you have&nbsp;similar skin type, you can&nbsp;surely use the sunscreen that&nbsp;she has.&nbsp;My family has a history of&nbsp;balding as early as the age of&nbsp;30. What can I do to avoid it?&nbsp;&nbsp;One thing that you need to&nbsp;remember is that the number&nbsp;of hair follicles that a person&nbsp;is born with is always going&nbsp;to be the same throughout&nbsp;his life. No medication or, for&nbsp;that matter, shaving (as is&nbsp;believed) can increase these&nbsp;follicles ever. Again, as hair&nbsp;loss is also genetic, you can&nbsp;do very little to stop it. What&nbsp;can be done, however, is&nbsp;delaying this phenomenon&nbsp;by taking oral supplements&nbsp;that have Biotin and Calcium&nbsp;Panthotenate. Minoxidil&nbsp;based hair solutions also&nbsp;help in retarding the hair&nbsp;loss and increase temporary&nbsp;hair growth. But all this can&nbsp;be started after consulting a&nbsp;doctor as it is always safer to&nbsp;be under medical supervision.&nbsp;The other solution would&nbsp;be shaving off the hair&nbsp;permanently, opting for hair&nbsp;weaving or a hair transplant.&nbsp;I’ve tried a lot of&nbsp;products but none&nbsp;have helped get rid&nbsp;of my dark circles.&nbsp;What is the best&nbsp;solution?&nbsp;Lack of good&nbsp;sleep, sleeping&nbsp;late, wrong eating&nbsp;habits, not drinking&nbsp;enough water, long hours&nbsp;of work in front of the&nbsp;computer, constant use of&nbsp;mobile phones, long hours&nbsp;of watching television, not&nbsp;wearing spectacles despite&nbsp;being advised to wear them,&nbsp;low hemoglobin and stress&nbsp;are other factors that account&nbsp;for the under eye darkening.&nbsp;You must have used products&nbsp;from the exhaustive number&nbsp;of creams that are available&nbsp;in the market to lighten the&nbsp;dark circles. They include&nbsp;lightening agents made from&nbsp;berry extracts such as kojic&nbsp;acid, arbutin and azelic acid.&nbsp;They are all are good, but if&nbsp;they have been ineffective,&nbsp;perhaps they may be mild for&nbsp;you. Meet your doctor, who&nbsp;can advise stronger products&nbsp;or some peel treatments for&nbsp;the same.&nbsp;<img src="https://d12d6l12s3d372.cloudfront.net/Untitled_21_345x600_eaf3a937cc.jpg">&nbsp;How should I prepare my&nbsp;skin for the upcoming winter&nbsp;months?&nbsp;The most common skin&nbsp;problem encountered in&nbsp;winters is excessive dry&nbsp;skin on the face, body and&nbsp;even hair. After bathing or&nbsp;showering and before drying&nbsp;the skin completely, apply&nbsp;a moisturizer to seal the&nbsp;water in the skin before it&nbsp;can evaporate. Moisturizers&nbsp;should be reapplied liberally&nbsp;during the day and evening,&nbsp;especially to those areas&nbsp;prone to dryness (hands,&nbsp;arms, legs) and when itchy.&nbsp;Whilst selecting moisturizers&nbsp;in winter, one should look for&nbsp;active hydrating ingredients&nbsp;like urea, lactic acid, shea&nbsp;butter and sunflower oil as&nbsp;these lock in the moisture and&nbsp;keep skin hydrated for longer&nbsp;periods.&nbsp;What are some easy home&nbsp;remedies for acne?&nbsp;For acne: Application of fresh&nbsp;mint juice over the face every&nbsp;night cures pimples without&nbsp;drying the skin excessively.&nbsp;For oily skin: Applying a pack&nbsp;of multani mitti (Fullers Earth)&nbsp;and rose water is also a good&nbsp;drying and healing mask for&nbsp;acne with an oily skin.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Dr. Jamuna Pai is a cosmetic&nbsp;physician, author and the&nbsp;founder of Skin Lab

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This month, Dr. Jamuna Pai on preparing your skin for the winter and sharing sunscreen with your spouse.