MENSTRUAL CYCLE-CREATURE COMFORTS: HAIR AND SKIN
Greasy hair is a problem at period time too. I’m not going to advise you to wash your hair every day, although I know many girls do. It’s a good idea to keep it clean, but if you subject it to a daily dose of hot water, you could be forcing it to produce even more grease than it would anyway. So my advice would be to cut down the shampooing to once or twice a week and then to make sure that you wash in warm rather than hot water and that the final rise is a cold one.
Skin-If you suffer from spots, boils or styes, then obviously you must keep your skin as clean as possible. It’s probably better to use cotton wool pads than a flannel, which can spread the infection. Failing cotton wool, you can clean your face very efficiently with pure soap and water and your fingertips.
Fingertip massage while you wash, in fact. Some people prefer to use a gentle cream rather than soap. Be specially careful how you clean your eyes: the gentlest make-up remover and a separate cotton wool pad for each eye. Skin irritation can be provoked by some anti-perspirants or deodorants, or even highly perfumed talcum powder. If you get skin irritation in your armpits it makes good sense not to shave when you’re low and to avoid anti-perspirants and deodorants altogether. Stick to baby powder. In other words, treat your skin with great tenderness when it’s vulnerable.
Sadly, the one skin trouble that won’t respond to a careful diet and scrupulous cleanliness is acne, probably the most distressing of all the infections you’re likely to suffer at period time. Acne is in a class by itself, as sufferers know. The trouble is that when your body first starts producing sex hormones it doesn’t always get the balance right. So some people produce more grease than they need and their pores get clogged with it. Cleanliness will help it not to get any worse but it won’t cure it. Only time will do that, which isn’t much help to you if you’re already suffering from all those spots and blackheads, or if your skin has already been scarred by them. Fortunately the amount of grease you produce will be inhibited by better supplies of oestrogen and many girls who go on the Pill report that one of its pleasant side-effects is that it clears up their acne.
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