SIN-PLY PRETTY

Last week a mother brought in her son  X to me for acne and hair loss. I was gobsmacked as I took in the pubescent teenager sitting in front of me with rippling muscles and a heavy frame . He was just seventeen years of age and was heavily into gymming and taking some supplements (probably steroid laced ) to get a heavily muscled body.He was probably( I say probably because some teenagers can actually take grave risks to achieve their ideal looks ) unaware that the use of steroids and too many protein supplements can cause acne, high blood pressure,hair loss,skin darkening and kidney problems . I asked the mother the reason for allowing such a young boy whose bone development is not yet complete, to go for such heavy duty exercises . The mother then confided that X was an only child and the whole family pampered him a lot .Most of the pampering came through a constant supply of  junk food and that lead to the child becoming a grossly obese teenager . That child gradually became t

Our hair is exposed to and affected by many environmental pollutants every day. Apart from chemical treatments and chlorine water which cause harm to hair, sunlight and UV radiation also causes a lot of damage. In summer, as the temperature rises, hair undergoes lot of changes due to UV radiation. Loss of hair pigment results in paler hair which appears dull and lacks the sheen. UV rays remove moisture content from the hair shaft making it dry, brittle and easily breakable. The protein content in the hair gets altered making it frizzy and easily breakable.                                      Hair that has been bleached, colored, straightened and chemically treated or exposed to chlorine is more susceptible to damage due to UV radiation. Both UVA and UVB can penetrate, absorb and change the structure of your hair permanently. Other skin conditions such as Seborrheic Keratoses, moles etc. may appear on the scalp due to bad effects of chronic exposure to the su

If you’re reading this and are not disabled then you are among the fortunate majority of Indian population that does not have to live with a disability and has access to education and employment as a basic right.The other 3.8% of Indian population, unfortunately, has some or the other form of physical disability which deprives them from having access to equal opportunities towards education and employment in our system and society.                                               Recently I got injured and had to wear a cast in one leg for about 15 days. Life with only one fully functional limb was a revelation to me. I could appreciate the hundreds of obstacles that a differently-abled person must face in their daily life. Be it crossing streets or walking on roads riddled with potholes or going up a few flights of stairs - it opened my eyes to the plight of millions of persons with disabilities who are bravely battling it out and still holding their head high with or without sup