Learn about the best anti-aging and beauty solutions, from skin tightening to removing spider veins.
Bikini trends come and go, but the desire to look good in them—that’s a constant.
While we’d all love to hit the beach with sinewy arms like Gwyneth, sky-high stems like Heidi and an insurance-worthy derriere like J Lo (heck, one of the three would be just fine!) many of us don’t have the time to spend crunching and squatting our bodies to perfection.
Know this: If you’re self-conscious about your belly, backside or some other beautiful and—believe it or not—perfectly normal body part, you’re not alone. Women (and the gents too) have long battled to overcome insecurities. As many as eight out of every 10 women are unsatisfied with their own reflection, according to the Social Issues Research Centre. Naturally, these woes are intensified by the very idea of prancing poolside in practically nothing.
Rest assured, there are many tricks that can help you get bikini ready—and fast—without having to run uphill for hours on the treadmill. Half the battle is confidence…
Fraxel is a brand family of fractional laser skin treatments that offers treatments at different levels of intensity.
The fact that they are fractional lasers means that the laser itself is made up of hundreds of tiny columns of energy. Because the laser is split into tiny bits, Fraxel lasers affect only parts of the targeted area and thus have shorter healing times than non-fractional lasers.
There are four levels of intriguingly spelled Fraxel treatments that increase in strength. They include "re:fine," "re:store," (both of which are erbium lasers) "re:pair," (a C02 laser) and the most recent addition to the clan, "re:store Dual" (which combines an erbium laser and a thulium laser).
All of these treatments work by making tiny wounds in the dermis, which activate collagen production and prompt the growth of new cells. The result is plumper, smoother, healthier-looking skin.
A mouthful of braces isn't any fun when you're in middle school - and even less so when you're middle-aged. Invisalign braces will straighten your teeth without filling your smile with metal studs.
Align Technologies introduced Invisalign in 1999 as an inconspicuous way to shift teeth into position gradually without the use of visible braces. The removable bite trays, called aligners, are less than one millimeter thick and are placed on both the top and bottom rows of teeth.
Tanning can give the skin an attractive golden glow. But UVA and UVB rays from the sun can also wrinkle your skin (through breaking down elastin and collagen) and increase the likelihood of developing melanomas and other skin cancers.
The solution, for many, is sunless tanning. A sunless tan can be achieved in one of many ways and most commonly involves the application of reactive chemicals (DHA and/or erythrulos—more on them later) to the skin to give it the appearance of a suntan without actually spending time in the sun.
It's possible to temporarily color the face without chemicals - through the use of cosmetic bronzers, which are tinted powders or creams - but if you're looking for an overall glow that won't wash off right away, sunless tanning is the way to go. Keep in mind that sunless tanning does not provide any protection from the sun - it's not a "base tan."
Sunless tanners come in two main forms: lotions and spray tans. You can apply these lotions and…