Beauty and Personal Grooming

Growing up, I vividly recall my grandmother’s stern warnings about cutting nails at night. “Don’t do it after dusk!” she’d exclaim, especially if the clock ticked past 6 PM. She insisted it was inauspicious, a magnet for bad luck. But her rules didn’t stop there—she also forbid me from trimming my nails on Saturdays, my birthday, or the day of the week I was born. And under no circumstances was I allowed to cut my nails inside the house! These prohibitions left me curious: Why should we not cut nails at night? Is there a scientific basis, or is it purely a cultural relic steeped in superstition? In this comprehensive exploration, we’ll dive into the practical, historical, and spiritual reasons behind these customs, spanning India, Hindu traditions, and cultures worldwide.

Stop abusing your nails!

White spots on fingernails do not indicate calcium deficiency, zinc deficiency or any other vitamin or mineral deficiency, though it worries people. The white spots on fingernails are called “leukonychia” and are very common. Usually they are a result of some minor injury to the base of your nails – for instance, very vigorous pressing with a nail cutter or other manicure tool and even nail biting . Even though the knocking or injury may have happened several weeks ago, the spots show up quite late ; so you may not even realize that this could be the cause.  Sometimes white fingernail spots could also be a sign of allergic reaction to nail polish or nail hardeners and sometimes a symptom of mild infection. However these white spots on fingernails are temporary and will disappear once your nail grows out but this may take considerable time, even several months.

Even an innocuous, grooming task such as trimming nails is not left untouched by superstitious beliefs. An ancient European belief forbids a person from cutting nails on Sunday and Friday; cutting nails on Friday invariably brings bad luck and on Sunday attracts evil spirits. Another superstition doing the rounds in 19th century Europe was that a mother should never cut the nails of the child before it's first birthday and if she does so the child will grow up to be a thief.  India too has its share of superstitious beliefs regarding nail cutting. In India, at least in the part of South India where I grew up, there is a belief that cutting nails after dusk is a bad thing. Moreover clipping nails on Saturday and on the day of the week you were born is supposed to bring bad luck. So most people avoid cutting nails on these days.

While we remember to apply face masks every now and then, but pampering hands with a hand mask is often neglected. Now you may have been moisturizing your hands with hand lotions nightly, but it's also a good idea to pamper them with a weekly mask. And for that you need not spend much. You can prepare it easily with simple home ingredients. Here's one such hand mask . Two more recipes are given below. Use it once weekly for soft, smooth and beautiful hands.  

If you see signs of aging when you look in the mirror, and would like to reverse those and return to youthful, glowing skin, you are not alone. Millions of women are looking for ways to deal with age spots and wrinkles, hoping for the clear, smooth complexion that they used to have. One thing that you may not realize is that protein in your diet can be important in giving you the beautiful skin and hair that you desire.

Although there are many areas of the body that people want to keep looking pristine and polished, the cuticles are particularly important. This is the case for several reasons, including the fact that the hands and fingers are highly visible aspects of the body. If you are looking for strategies that will help you get beautiful cuticles, implementing the following six techniques will help you:

So you just got a manicure and you couldn't be happier, taking any excuse to show off your fingers to the world. But you know that in a few days, that post-mani euphoria will chip and crack like the polish on your nails, leaving you to walk around hiding your hands like a prodigy piano student with a paranoid mother.

Nail polishes have always been the most interesting part of the make up. When women paint their nails it can save a combination they are wearing, or destroy one. Nails may be small but they are visible and very important part of fashion. The great thing about nail polishes is that there is a great offer in colors, shades, effects and even in care. That is why almost every woman has a collection of nail polishes, and not just few, but more than 30 or 50 pieces. The problem with this amount of nail polishes is their organization. The perfect solution it would be to put them somewhere you can see them and pick easily the one you want to wear today and that is a nail polish organizer.

Even the most glamorous of engagement rings won’t be so dazzling if you’ve got dry hands and cracked nails. Expect your hands to be in the limelight once you’ve got that precious rock on your finger. Even if it’s not like Beyoncé’s 20-carat diamond ring, your engagement jewellery will still be of interest to everyone you meet on the street once word gets out that you’ll be marrying soon. And you’ve got to be prepared to lift your hand to the world and show them your ring.

Applying for a new job.  Final exam week.  An ugly divorce.  Sudden illness.  What do all these things have in common?  In a word – stress. We all know that stress has significant physical and psychological ramifications.  However, lesser known side effects of stress pertain to dermatological problems.  Conditions like acne, brittle nails, and hair loss are commonly associated with stress.

Not unlike the claws or hooves of an animal, your finger and toenails are made up of a tough protein called keratin. Claws and hooves, fingernails and toenails alike have a primary function- to protect paws, fingers and toes from injury. The secondary function is to serve as a tool for digging, scratching, and picking. No matter the species, it is important that nails stay healthy so that these purposes can be served throughout life. Think about how difficult it would be to remove a splinter without nails, or how much worse a misaimed hammer would feel on your thumb. However unlike dogs, cats, horses and goats, we humans also use our nails for show. Healthy fingernails make a hand more inviting to shake. And clean toenails look oh so much better in sandals. Whether it's simply vanity that drives you, or the desire to maintain an overall healthy body here are 5 tips for keeping your nails clean, strong and healthy.

Many people harbor bad habits that they'd rather the rest of the world not know about. Some can be hidden from the public eye while others are more or less socially acceptable, and some are merely annoying. For example, lying and cheating are bad habits that others may never know about. Drinking and smoking, while looked down on in some circles, are nonetheless part of our social culture. And habits like foot-tapping and change-jingling, while annoying, won't get you ostracized. But then there are bad habits that are not only impossible to hide, but they may also cause others to make assumptions about your personal state of health (physical and mental). Nail-biting is one such habit. And there are several reasons why you should make the effort to stop.

Now that he’s popped the big question – mazel tov, kudos and congrats! You've got a beautiful ring and wonderful fiancé! But, before the wedding planning starts, you have engagement pictures to take!    Everyone knows engagement rings are the main focus of the photos, so why not make yours pop with the perfect manicure? Believe it or not, your manicure can make a big difference in the way your engagement pictures turn out – you want your sparkly new engagement ring to be the center of attention!

The other day I was observing my domestic help. With flawless, dusky complexion, she was slim and svelte. It could have been her genes but then mopping, swabbing and walking without the use of any means of transport also did their bit in keeping her physique in top form. I then gazed at her hands. While her figure was something to be envied, her hands were a total wreck - they looked aged beyond years and completely worn-out.  All that years of toiling and contact with detergents and the like had taken their toll. Her hands were rock-hard with calluses and even affected with what is called as 'housewife's eczema' - the one that is caused by constant exposure of skin to water, detergents, bleaches & other house cleaning agents.

Style diva Kareena Kapoor guilty of a beauty crime or a bad beauty habit?     Now she is always impeccably dressed and her makeup is near-perfect most of the time, how could she ever commit a beauty blunder?    Kareena Kapoor flaunting her well-manicured hands and immaculately done nails.   BTW, we are neither talking about a makeup or fashion faux pas nor about any wardrobe malfunction on her part but about her obnoxious nail-biting habit .    Kareena, it seems, has a strange penchant for biting & chewing nails and disfigures them beyond recognition In most of her films, we have often seen her flaunting her beautiful nails while making exaggerated hand gestures, probably to show off !   So it's quite shocking to know when she allegedly revealed in one of her interviews that though she loves brightly colored nails, she simply can't help herself from chewing off her nail paint & biting her nails when stressed out.   Kareena Kap...

If you are in the pink of health, your nails too will be at their best. Read Nails Reveal your health . But if they do exhibit certain abnormalities , like a change in colour or texture it is usually a sign of an underlying disease. For instance,  if your once strong nails have become brittle and break off more easily these days, and if you strongly feel that it is not due to causes like exposure to harsh detergents, chemicals, usage of crappy & low-quality nail paints or certain nail-unfriendly habits that you have integrated in your routine, you should seriously consider going in for a thyroid test.

It's quite commonplace to put the blame on your eye makeup when you end up with irritated, swollen, and itchy eyelids, while the real culprit could be the least suspected one, a nail polish .     While it's true that cosmetics for the eyes can cause irritation, even if a person has used the same product for a long time, irritated eyelids and  rash can also happen when you accidentally touch your eyelids with stained or unsanitized fingers.    The skin on your hands is quite tough and can endure the harshest of chemicals, but not so in the case of eyelid skin.    Even a tiny speck of an irritant can bother the delicate  skin on the eyelids, be it your eyedrops, your contact lens solution, tiny droplets of hair spray, hair dye, shampoo, conditioner or a tiny speck of wet nail polish.