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Ann Summers

Great news for this month only. You can get yourself a £5 discount when shopping on the Ann Summers website, but only if you spend over £50. They have some great lines, so it isn’t difficult to fill your basket - get over there now.

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Thanks

The Brazilian Waxing Procedure

The technician will start by trimming your pubic hair. The hair only needs to be a quarter of an inch long to get good results. After the hair is trimmed, the technician will spread the wax across the area in the direction of hair growth. Cloth strips are then pressed onto the wax and allowed to cool. Once the wax cools, the strips are ripped off in the direction opposite of hair growth. This pulls the hair out by the root. Any stray hairs will then be plucked with a tweezer. A soothing lotion is applied after the procedure to cool the skin and soothe irritation.

Tips for Good Results

o The hair needs to be at least a quarter of an inch long before the procedure. If you shave your pubic hair, allow it to grow back in prior to your session.

o Red bumps caused by ingrown hairs may occur after your session. This can be helped by exfoliating the skin. They are less likely to occur after repeated waxing sessions.

o You will need to wait at least three weeks in between sessions for the hair to grow back. The procedure will last anywhere from four to seven weeks, depending on how fast your hair grows.

o Some salons offer this procedure for both men and women; others only offer it for women. Check with the salon before scheduling an appointment.

o The degree of pain associated with this procedure varies according to your pain threshold and the amount and texture of the hair. A fast moving technician is best for reducing pain.

Caring for Your Skin After Waxing

Proper care will help prevent ingrown hairs and extend the time needed in between sessions. Use a soothing lotion to reduce irritation after your session. Lavender is a common ingredient in these lotions. The skin in this area is very soft and can be easily irritated by the wax process. Cleaning the area regularly will prevent and help heal this irritation.

Ingrown hairs are common after hair removal procedures. Exfoliate the skin regularly to help relieve and prevent ingrown hairs. You can use a commercial exfoliating product, a loofah or a wash cloth. A warm, damp washcloth held to the area helps heal ingrown hairs.

The bikini was invented and launched by two French designers: Jacques Heim and Louis Reard. Heim was a swimsuit designer who had created a two-piece suit to be sold in his beach shop in Cannes. He marketed the swimsuit as the “atome,” (named for its small size and meant to be compared with the atom, the smallest particle of matter known). No doubt, it was an outrageously tiny swimsuit.

The same year, Reard was creating his own similar, two-piece swimsuit. He named and marketed his swimsuit as the bikini, claiming that it was “smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world”. Reard christened his swimsuit the bikini in honor of experimental atomic bombs being detonated in the South Pacific, near the Bikini Reef.

So Reard’s name stuck, though by today’s standards, the bikinis of the 1940s and ’50s were positively modest in their coverage. Bottoms were cut above the navel, and tops fully covered the breasts.

Getting smaller by the year

The bikini went through several changes as time passed. Designers experimented with many varieties for the swimsuit, including a bikini top with attached propellers (!), a suit made entirely of red hair, and even a version made of porcupine quills.

As early as the 1950s, the bikini was already so small that it could be packed into a matchbook, but even more drastic shrinkage lay in store. In the 1970s, the sexual revolution in the United States caused designers to make the bikini even more revealing.

So we had string bikinis, which exposed the navel by fitting the bottoms on the hips. The top, too, provided only bra-style coverage. In the 1980s, the popular thong bikini arrived on the scene. Designers claimed the thong bikini originated from the clothing of Amazonian tribal groups in Brazil. As we know, the thong bikini leaves the bottom virtually uncovered and the back of the suit disappears into the buttocks.

Micro bikinis

In the 1990s and 2000s, designers have continued to revamp the bikini and innovated new styles. While the thong and string bikinis retain their popularity, the micro bikini has recently been added to the growing selection.
Essentially, micro bikinis are bikinis combining a micro bikini top and a thong bikini bottom. Needless to add, it is scantier and more revealing than traditional bikinis and hence its name.
Buying micro bikinis

· A word of warning: you need to be careful that you don’t opt for a string bikini when you mean to buy a micro bikini. There are enough illustrated examples online to show you the difference.

· Numerous sites offer essential advice like how to shave your bikini line (hairy exposures will NOT do). Make sure your pubic area in particular is well shorn.

· Choose the fabric well. Test your skin for itches and allergic rashes, particularly since you will be spending a lot of time in the sun wearing your bikini

· Have plenty of sunscreen handy. You need to use liberal doses all over your body since you obviously will not have much on in terms of protection from the sun’s rays!

Happy bathing!

First, sunscreen products are a must, even when tanning. Most tanning lotions today will have a low to medium SPF rating. This gives your body some protection, while still weak enough to let through a lot of the sun’s rays. You will tan more slowly, which is actually what you want to accomplish. Tanning too fast will shock your skin, dry it out, and could lead to sunburns.

Never stay in the sun for a prolonged period. If you don’t yet have a tan, keep it short, about an hour, and gradually increase the time over a few days.

Clouds do not block all UV rays. Wear sunscreen on cloudy days.

Tan in the morning or late afternoon. Between 11AM and 2PM the sun is at its highest point in the sky, and the rays are more direct and powerful. This is especially true in the tropics.

Moisturize your skin before and after you tan. This cools your skin and replaces moisture lost after the hot sun rays.

If you’re worried about tan lines, there is a variety of tan through swimwear that lets you tan through the fabric.

Keeping the above points in mind will minimize your risks and give you a great, even tan. Have fun at the beach!

Article courtesy of www.no-tan-lines.com - Your source for tan through swimwear
The next time you go to the beach, don’t worry about tan lines! Just wear a tan through swimsuit for that perfect, even tan.

UVA and UVB

UVA (Ultraviolet A) are long-wave rays that usually do not cause burns, but penetrate the skin more deeply. They are thought to be the main culprit behind the wrinkling and leathering of skin. UVA is NOT blocked by the ozone layer.

UVB (Ultraviolet B) are short-wave rays that cause burns. They strike your skin more forcefully, but don’t penetrate deep. UVB is partially blocked by the ozone layer, and the thinning of this layer has caused more of these damaging rays to reach the surface.

You also may have heard of UVC (you guessed it, Ultraviolet C), which are even shorter (and thus more powerful) rays. They are lethal to plant life and small organisms, but are completely blocked by the ozone layer. In the future, this could be a dangerous issue.

Up to a few years ago, sunscreens only blocked UVB rays, but today most “broad spectrum” lotions block both types of rays.

SPF and UPF

SPF (Sun Protection Factor) on a bottle of sunscreen is the amount of time you can stay in the sun before burning. This is based on your skin type, ranging from 5 minutes for very fair complexions to 20 minutes for dark complexions. If you have very sensitive skin, you will need an SPF sunscreen of at least 12 to safety play in the sun for 1 hour (60 minutes divided by the 5 minutes it takes for you to burn). Since you will probably want to stay out for a few hours, it would be wise to use an SPF of 30 to 45. If you plan to swim a lot, you should reapply your sunscreen throughout the day, as they are not fully waterproof.

UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) is a newer rating for clothing, especially clothing designed for sun protection. It measures how much ultraviolet light penetrates the fabric. A UPF of 50 only allows 1/50 the amount of light through.

For the purposes of this article, we will continue to measure clothing with the more-familiar SPF rating.

SPF and Clothing

Now that you have a good idea of the measurements used for sun protection, how does clothing protect you from the sun? Not all clothes are created equal, but it is easy to determine what has low sun protection and what has high.

Thin, lightweight, white cottons offer the least protection. The thinner the material, the easier the UV rays penetrate your skin. The weave is generally looser, allowing gaps in the fabric. Dyes offer more protection, so the darker the shirt the higher the protection.

Polyester, nylon and other synthetic fibers, due to their chemical composition and tighter weave, offer much higher UV protection, in the neighborhood of SPF 20 and above.

Wet clothing, when worn, will offer less protection. Many people will wear a white t-shirt while swimming, but when the fabric gets wet, the SPF factor is greatly reduced. If you wear a t-shirt while swimming, wear one in a dark color.

Washing a cotton garment will actually increase the SPF factor. That’s because the slight shrinkage due to washing and drying will bring the fibres closer together. Also, specialized UV-blocking detergents are now on the market that will temporarily increase the sun protection of the washed clothing.

To estimate the natural sun protection of the fabric, simply hold it up to the sun. If you can partially see through it, that amount of the sun’s rays is penetrating the fabric and the less protection you have.

SPF scale:

3 – An average wet, white cotton t-shirt
7 – An average dry, white cotton t-shirt
10-15 – A green or similarly dark cotton t-shirt
50 – Dark velvet
1,700 – A long sleeve denim shirt or pants
*All numbers are from the American Academy of Dermatology

SPF and Swimwear

Swimsuits need to be fast-drying, light, durable and flexible. This means most beach wear is made of synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon and spandex, which all have high natural SPF ratings. Like regular cotton, the darker the dye in the suit, the greater the rating. Minimum SPF protection is around 20, meaning that all general synthetics offer adequate protection. Darker colors like blue, red and purple easy reach 50, 100 and higher.

Similar to cotton, the stretching and dampness of the fabric decreases the SPF, though not by a large amount. As most synthetic material has a high SPF to begin with, the lower ratings still offer enough protection. Some materials, when wet, actually increase their protective properties.

Modern swimsuits now range from performance enhancing swimwear using high-tech materials, to swimsuits treated with special UV-blocking compounds, to reduced SPF swimsuits designed to allow you to tan through the fabric.

Tan Through Swimwear

For those who still love their tans, synthetic microfibres or a special blend of Nylon and Spandex allow the sun’s rays to penetrate the skin, but at a controlled rate. Porous material gives the user an even tan over the entire body, and is the equivalent of between SPF 6 and 10. Though the material is thin, it is not see-through. Of course, this means you will be at greater risk of getting a burn, so moderate exposure to the sun is recommended.

UV-blocking Swimwear

A relatively new field, there are now a variety of companies that specialize in swimwear and clothing designed to block a large percentage of the sun’s UV rays. While most materials give adequate protection, these materials are either specially designed with tightly woven synthetic materials and/or treated with UV-blocking compounds for extra protection. They will usually advertise their UPF rating, with 25 and above considered “very good protection.”

Article courtesy of www.no-tan-lines.com - Your source for tan through swimwear
The next time you go to the beach, don’t worry about tan lines! Just wear a tan through swimsuit for that perfect, even tan.

Women’s plus size starts beyond 14W. The clothing industry has produced some really exotic wear for plus size women. The categories just keep on expanding. Plus size clothing is not at all about hiding your body. It’s all about flaunting your body in a more sophisticated way.

Plus size clothing doesn’t imply baggy clothing to hide your over sized figure. Well fitted plus size clothing will make you feel more sensuous by giving you an enticing appeal. No doubt, modern plus size clothing will put you on a par with mainstream fashion. You can show your legs by wearing a fashionable knee length dress or skirt. Inside a low cut top you can wear a camisole. And all this and more, is available for you in plus sizes.

You can accentuate your clothing by accessorizing with scarves and jewelry. Plus size clothing is designed to make you feel comfortable and attractive. Items in plus sizes are also available for underwear such as bras, bikinis, panties and thongs. Plus size clothing for special occasions such as plus size evening gowns, bridal wear, jeans and T- shirts are also readily available in all good department and specialized stores.

Now you can buy sleeveless and tube tops in plus sizes. Plus size apparel is all about wearing colors, prints and styles of clothing in a manner that makes you look elegant and classy. If you are over sized and quite conscious of exposing to much flesh on your shoulders, you can drape or carry an exotic shawl around your shoulders. With the right mix and match of clothing to match your size, you can look really sassy in your plus size apparel.

Do you enjoy vacations and beach parties? Who doesn’t? If you have been avoiding them because of your size till now, you are really missing out the real fun of life.

Plus size beach and swimwear has been especially made to support the contours of your body. In plus size swim suits and bikinis, you can feel relaxed and comfortable on the beach.

Finding a beautiful wedding gown is getting easier too. With the availability of plus size bridal wear, kiss your worries goodbye. Plus size bridal wear is readily available in most department and bridal stores with a large range to chose from.

There are plenty of plus size designs and clothing available in the shops and alternatively mail order from catalogues or from the Internet. So you can now shop till you drop.

Plus size clothing for kids is storming the markets, both in the shops and online. There are pants, knickers, T-shirts, jackets all available for your children. Now you just have to choose if you want to buy that striking leather jacket or that exquisite denim jacket for your child. The options are limitless; all you have to do is choose what you want to buy - the choices are endless.

Different fabrics, shades and designs are available in plus size clothing for kids. You can choose from among the costly designer wears or the more affordable department store range. There is an amazing range of styles available so that kids can keep up with the latest fashions too. Take your children shopping and let them choose what they like.

There is nothing like great fitting clothes whatever your size so make the most of the selection available and get some great pieces today.

Olga Sen writes articles on a number of different topics. For more information on Plus Size Clothing please visit www.plus-size-clothes-online.org/plussizeclothes/ and for additional Plus Size Clothing articles please visit the following article page www.plus-size-clothes-online.org/plussizeclothes-articles/