From Chemo Baldness to Dreadlocks, Five Women Poignantly Talk About Their Hair

Photo: Getty Images

“Ask a woman about her hair, and she just might tell you the story of her life.” So begins the new book Me, My Hair, and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession ($27, amazon.com). Edited by novelist Elizabeth Benedict, this unique and insightful collection of essays reflects the many ways our locks matter, touching on everything from our sexuality to our mortality. Below, we’ve highlighted just a few of our favorite passages.

On “age-appropriate” hair…

“My hair is still long, no doubt inappropriately so for my age, but I am perhaps also of an age when no one dares—or cares—to say such a thing to me anymore. I’ve kept the highlights too, and they mask the gray that comes in around the temples during the long stretches in between my salon visits. Nobody will ever convince me again to do anything with my hair but what I want. My hair and I have grown into ourselves and know what we’re about.

The only one who ever has any hair suggestion to make is Steve. When I tell him that I’m off to the salon for one of my rare trims, he never fails to admonish, “Don’t let them cut too much off. I love your hair long.” Which, for the story of my hair, and now his, is another way of saying, And they lived happily ever after.” —Rebecca Goldstein, “The Rapunzel Complex”

On considering dreads…

“Dreadlocks would be a way of saying I was no longer going to play with the rules of mainstream white beauty. It meant that I was no longer going to even try and blend. It was a way of saying that I know what kind of hair I have, I know what it looks like, and I am going to stop trying to pretends its different than that. That I was going to celebrate instead.

But I was not ready; I continued to moussify.

No one knew the effort it took to make my hair look like it hadn’t taken any effort at all.” —Anne Lamott, “Sister”

RELATED: 15 Hair Products for a Shinier, Healthier Mane

On the power of style…

“I wanted to get a simple buzz cut, a preemptive strike against the chemo that would soon make my hair fall out for a second time. When I explained my situation by my barber, Miguel Lora, he suggested I take the buzz cut one step further by getting ‘hair tattoos.’ The idea of a tattoo scared me at first, but Miguel reassured me that he would simply use his clippers to groove a spiral design in the half-inch layer of hair that remained. ‘What the hell’, I said. After all, I had little left to lose. My new style made me look like I was tough, even when I didn’t always feel that way. I was adding armor, and I liked the way it fit.

As I walked out onto the street, a construction worker whistled at me. ‘Cool hair!’ he shouted. It was the first time since my diagnoses that someone had made a remark about my appearance that wasn’t cancer related.” —Suleika Jaouad, “Hair, Interrupted”

On Black hair…

“If you are a Black woman, hair is serious business. Your hair is considered by many the definitive statement about who you are, who you think you are, and who you want to be. Long, thick, straight hair has for generations been considered a down payment on the American Dream. “Nappy” hair, although now accepted in its myriad forms, from the natural to twists and locks, has long been and remains a kind of bounced check on the acquisition of benefits of that same enduring cultural mythology. Like everything else about Black folk, Black people’s—and especially Black women’s—hair is knotted and gnarled by issues of race, politics, history, and pride.” —Marita Golden, “My Black Hair”

RELATED: Foods for Beautiful Skin and Hair

On hair stress …

“If I didn’t fret about my hair, something else would take its place. I believe we are born with a cup of affliction and it’s our destiny to keep that cup filled at all times. If something terrible happens, I forget about my hair. When my parents got sick, my hair was a nonissue. But here I am, an orphan now, back to worrying about my hair. Not that frizzy doesn’t have an upside. On an airplane, I never have to ask for a pillow. In winter, my hair traps so much body heat I rarely need a hat. Caught in the rain, I look better as my hair flattens. Best of all my toddler grandsons love it. They squeal and pat it and lose their hands in it. If there’s anything better than Jack, Sam, and Miles patting my hair and laughing, tell me. You can’t, can you.” —Patricia Volk, “Frizzball”

From Me, My Hair, and I: 27 Women Untangle an Obsession, edited by Elizabeth Benedict (Algonquin Books).

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4 Weird Causes of Chest Pain

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I sometimes feel a sharp pain when I take a deep breath. What could be wrong?

It depends on how frequent and bothersome the pain is. If you notice it only after strenuous exercise or exposure to cold air, your lungs might just be sensitive to the cold or the fast flow of air from heavy, deep breathing during your workout. Sipping a warm liquid may help ease the discomfort.

If the pain occurs more often, it usually means that something within the chest cavity is irritated, and you should talk to your doctor. You might have inflammation of the lining of the lungs (a condition known as pleurisy) or heart (pericarditis), a bruised rib, asthma or a lung infection, like pneumonia. If it’s an infection, your doctor may prescribe you an antibiotic and perhaps an anti-inflammatory drug to help reduce the pain.

Health‘s medical editor, Roshini Rajapaksa, MD, is associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine and co-founder of Tula Skincare.

RELATED:

7 Weird Things That Can Mess With Your Heartbeat

12 Mental Tricks That Fight Pain

Scary Symptoms You Can Relax About

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3 Mouth-Watering Veggie Recipes That Are Perfect for Fall

You know you’re supposed to eat your veggies, and you do, but sometimes they can get a little… boring. Not anymore: Michael Anthony, executive chef at celebrated NYC restaurants Gramercy Tavern and Untitled, gives them the star treatment in his new book, V is for Vegetables ($28, amazon.com). Read on for easy yet fabulous takes on some of the healthiest items abundant right now in your local farmer’s market.

RELATED: 31 Quick-and-Easy Fat-Burning Recipes

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Photo: Maura McEvoy

Serves: 4

2 large unpeeled sweet potatoes, cut lengthwise into 6 wedges
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Put the potatoes in a deep baking pan large enough to fit them in one layer, then add the oil, salt, and pepper. Over medium-high heat on the stove, cook the potatoes until well browned, about 10 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the potatoes are tender inside and crispy outside, about 20 minutes. Broil them for a few minutes to crisp the skins.

PER SERVING: 146 Calories, 10g Fat (1g Sat.), 0mg Chol., 2g Fiber, 1g Pro., 13g Carb., 181mg Sod., 1mg Iron, 20mg Calcium

Cauliflower Curry in a Bowl

Photo: Maura McEvoy

Serves: 6

3 Tbsp. olive oil
Florets from 1/2 head cauliflower
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed
¼ cup raisins (mix of golden and black)
¼ cup minced shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 thick slices fresh ginger, minced
2 small hot pickled peppers, like jalapeno, seeded, skinned, and chopped
1 ½ tsp. turmeric
½ tsp. mild curry powder
Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper
1 14-oz. can coconut milk
1 cup freshly cooked chickpeas (or canned, drained and rinsed)
Fresh lime juice
Handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower and cook until golden brown in places, about 5 minutes. Transfer the cauliflower to a bowl, add the squash to the pot, and cook for a few minutes. Add the raisins, shallots, garlic, ginger, pickled peppers, turmeric, curry powder, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, and cook until the garlic and shallots are softened.

Add the coconut milk and 1 cup water, bring to a simmer, cover, and cook about 10 minutes. Add the cauliflower and chickpeas and simmer, covered, for another 10 minutes. Add lime juice and parsley and serve.

PER SERVING: 288 Calories, 22g Fat (14g Sat.), 0mg Chol., 4g Fiber, 5g Pro., 23g Carb., 283mg Sod., 4mg Iron, 66mg Calcium

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Maple Syrup

Photo: Maura McEvoy

Serves: 4

3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp. minced onion
1 small clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
Fresh lemon juice
Olive oil, for drizzling

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Heat the oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium heat, add the Brussels sprouts cut-side down, salt, and pepper, and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and roast until the Brussels sprouts are tender, about 15 minutes.

Return the skillet to the burner over medium heat. Scatter the onions and garlic over the Brussels sprouts, drizzle with the maple syrup, then turn the sprouts over and let the syrup bubble and caramelize a little. Remove from the heat, drizzle with lemon juice and oil and serve.

PER SERVING: 197 Calories, 14g Fat (2g Sat.), 0mg Chol., 4g Fiber, 4g Pro., 18g Carb., 175mg Sod., 2mg Iron, 61mg Calcium

RELATED: 8 Delicious Brussels Sprouts Recipes

V IS FOR VEGETABLES recipes courtesy Little, Brown and Company
Copyright © 2015 by Michael Anthony and Dorothy Kalins, Ink, LLC

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‘Green’ Office May Boost Brainpower

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Workers in “green” offices may think better, a new study suggests.

Offices with enhanced ventilation and low levels of chemical air pollutants were linked to better employee performance, researchers found.

“These results suggest that even modest improvements to indoor environmental quality may have a profound impact on the decision-making performance of workers,” said lead author Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at Harvard University’s Center for Health and the Global Environment in Boston.

Allen and team members from SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University, both in Syracuse, N.Y., assessed the mental performance of 24 people — including architects, designers, programmers, engineers, managers and creative marketing specialists — while they worked in a controlled office environment for six days.

Participants were subjected to various simulated office air conditions, including: conventional conditions with relatively high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from common materials in offices; green conditions with low VOC levels; green conditions with enhanced ventilation (green-plus); and abnormally high levels of carbon dioxide.

Although the study couldn’t prove a cause-and-effect link, mental performance scores were two times higher for people working in the green-plus setting and 61 percent higher for those working in green environments, when compared to those working in conventional conditions.

In both green and green-plus settings, tests of crisis response skills, strategy and information use showed dramatic score improvements. For example, scores on information usage were 172 percent higher in green conditions and 299 percent higher in green-plus, the study found.

The researchers also found that average performance scores fell as carbon dioxide levels increased to levels that commonly occur in indoor settings, according to the study published Oct. 26 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

“We have been ignoring the 90 percent. We spend 90 percent of our time indoors and 90 percent of the cost of a building are the occupants, yet indoor environmental quality and its impact on health and productivity are often an afterthought,” Allen said in a university news release.

More information

The American Lung Association has more about indoor air quality.

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Singing Better Than Talking for Soothing Cranky Babies, Study Finds

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — Singing keeps babies calm longer than talking, a new study says.

Researchers found that 30 infants, ages 6 to 9 months, remained calm for an average of nine minutes when listening to singing, even if it wasn’t in their own language.

That compared with just over four minutes when the infants heard baby-talk, and just under four minutes when they heard normal adult conversation, according to the research team at the University of Montreal.

“Many studies have looked at how singing and speech affect infants’ attention, but we wanted to know how they affect a baby’s emotional self-control,” Isabelle Peretz, a psychology professor at the Center for Research on Brain, Music and Language, said in a university news release.

“Emotional self-control is obviously not developed in infants, and we believe singing helps babies and children develop this capacity,” she added.

The study was published recently in the journal Infancy.

People are naturally responsive to music, and older children and adults display this so-called “entrainment” by actions such as foot-tapping, head-nodding or drumming, according to the researchers.

“Infants do not synchronize their external behavior with the music, either because they lack the requisite physical or mental ability,” Peretz said.

“Part of our study was to determine if they have the mental ability. Our finding shows that the babies did get carried away by the music, which suggests they do have the mental capacity to be ‘entrained,’ ” she explained.

The findings might lead to new ways to prevent child abuse, Peretz suggested.

“Although infant distress signals typically prompt parental comforting interventions, they induce frustration and anger in some at-risk parents, leading to insensitive responding and, in the worst cases, to infant neglect or abuse,” she said.

At-risk parents could be encouraged to play vocal music to their babies or, better still, to sing to them, Peretz said.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has more about infant health and care.

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Breast-Feeding May Reduce Risk of Aggressive Breast Cancer: Study

FRIDAY, Oct. 30, 2015 (HealthDay News) — A new study finds a link between breast-feeding and a woman’s reduced risk for an aggressive form of breast cancer called hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer.

This type of cancer accounts for about 20 percent of breast cancer cases in the United States and is more common among women younger than 50, black women and those with the BRCA1 gene mutation, the researchers said.

The large international study found that women who breast-fed were up to 20 percent less likely to develop hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer than those who did not breast-feed. Researchers observed an association but they did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.

The findings were published Oct. 26 in the journal Annals of Oncology.

“Further evidence to support the long-term protection of breast-feeding against the most aggressive subtypes of breast cancer is very encouraging and actionable,” said study co-author Dr. Marisa Weiss in an American Cancer Society news release. Weiss is president and founder of Breastcancer.org and director of breast health outreach at Lankenau Medical Center in Wynnewood, Pa.

“Breast-feeding is a relatively accessible, low-cost, short-term strategy that yields long-lasting natural protection,” she noted.

The findings show the need for more public health programs that directly inform women about the benefits of breast-feeding, and for removal of obstacles to breast-feeding in the home, community and workplace, the researchers said.

Dr. Paolo Boffetta is associate director for population sciences at Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He said in the news release, “Pregnant women and young mothers are highly receptive and motivated to make healthy choices. We need to encourage women who are able to breast-feed to do so for their breast health, in addition to the health of their children.”

Further research is needed to learn more about how breast-feeding reduces the risk of hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer and its effect on other types of breast cancer, Boffetta added.

More information

The U.S. Office on Women’s Health has more about breast-feeding.

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It’s Back to Standard Time This Weekend

FRIDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) — When the clocks slide back an hour this Sunday, some people may have trouble adjusting to the change.

Those most likely to struggle with the switch to standard time are so-called morning types, who tend to wake early in the morning and are sleepy early in the evening, experts say.

But for night owls, this weekend can be a boon.

“Every fall, when we set our clocks back, people with late sleep schedules have an opportunity to make their bedtimes one hour earlier,” said Saul Rothenberg, a behavioral sleep psychologist at the North Shore-LIJ Sleep Disorders Center in Great Neck, N.Y.

“For those of you who like your usual bedtime, but have difficulty falling asleep, [standard time] will make it easier for you to fall asleep, if you stick to your usual bedtime after we set the clocks back,” Rothenberg added.

The National Sleep Foundation offers some tips to help you adjust to the time change:

• If you want to enjoy an extra hour of sleep, go to bed at your regular time on Saturday night, and wake up at your regular time on Sunday morning.
• Give your body three to four days to adjust to the new time schedule.
• Keep your bedroom as dark as possible and reduce the amount of light that will enter your room when sunrise occurs an hour earlier.
• Reduce or avoid consumption of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine, all of which can make it more difficult for your body’s internal clock to adjust to the time change.

Rothenberg noted that the time change isn’t as dramatic as some might think.

“Remember that switching to [standard time] is like flying from New York to Chicago, not usually a difficult transition for most people,” he said. “The less you worry about it or think about it, the faster you will adjust.”

More information

The U.S. Institute of General Medical Sciences has more about sleep patterns.

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We Tried This ‘Miracle’ One-Minute Hair Styling Cream and Here Are Our Results

Most of us at Health have pretty low-maintenance hair routines. While we don’t begrudge anyone for spending lots of time on their ‘do, it’s just not realistic for many of us—and we’re willing to bet, many of our readers—to perfectly blow dry and style our hair on the daily. So, when Colorwow’s One-Minute Transformation Styling Cream came across our desks we were intrigued. 

The formula is made with a blend of humectants (moisturizers) that penetrate hair to replace the natural oils you lose from heat styling or other stressors (brushing, washing, etc.). It can be used to smooth frizzy areas or with a blow dryer to quickly restyle your ‘do.

But could this really tame your mane in a minute? Two Health staffers with different hair types tried it. Here are their one-minute-later results.

RELATED: Tricks for Beautiful, Low Maintenance Hair

MaryAnn Barone, social media editor, wavy hair

Maryann’s before (left) and after. Photo: Chelsea Burns

My hair is very thick and naturally wavy. I am easily prone to frizz and therefore I’m always looking for smoothing products, but so often these can leave my hair looking greasy rather than sleek. So I was pretty skeptical, but this product actually left my hair feeling and looking healthy with a natural gloss.

The first thing I noticed was how shiny my hair became. After applying the cream all over, I brushed it out and my hair became smoother. I usually only brush my hair when it’s wet post-shower, so I was pleasantly surprised my hair didn’t turn into a huge fluffball (usually I look like this rabbit).

I liked that it didn’t straighten my hair, but rather seemed to highlight my natural waves and give them more definition. It’s a lightweight cream that didn’t weigh my hair down, either. I would definitely use again for a night out when I want to look more polished without putting in the time.

RELATED: 11 Ways to Make Your Hair Look 10 Years Younger

Chelsea Burns, associate beauty editor, straight hair

Photo: Chelsea Burns

When it comes to my hair routine, I like to keep it pretty simple: shampoo, condition, blow-dry. On this day, I let my hair air-dry and put it in a bun so I could see how well the product smooth out the kinks my bun had made.

As someone with naturally oily hair, I tend to stray away from putting extra product in my strands. But this lightweight cream went on smooth without leaving my hair in clumps. Because of my oily nature I made sure to keep it on the ends of my strands where my hair is the most dry.

Since my hair is pretty straight on it’s own, I can’t say I’ll be using this every day. But if you’re someone who has hair that likes to put up a fight, this cream will help you tame your strands fast – and leave them looking (and feeling) silky smooth!

RELATED: 15 Hair Products for a Shinier, Healthier Mane

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The Neuroscience of Anorexia Reveals Why It’s So Hard to Treat

Photo: Getty Images

Most of the anorexia patients Dr. Joanna Steinglass sees in the inpatient eating-disorders unit at the New York State Psychiatric Institute have been to treatment before. While in the hospital or a residential treatment center, they generally gained weight and began to eat a wider variety of foods. But after they left, their old anorexic habits returned. They began skipping meals again or returning to their extreme exercise routines. All too soon, it seemed, the gains made in treatment and the hope for recovery that went along with it began to evaporate.

According to the conventional wisdom around eating disorders, these relapses were really a misguided search for control. Or maybe the patients just weren’t ready for recovery yet. Or perhaps these were signs of self-control gone awry, spurred on by friends who marvel at their seemingly endless willpower. Interesting theories, and yet Steinglass disagreed. “Even when people show up at our hospital and want to make changes, they find it tough,” she said.

Now a new study in Nature Neuroscience — which Steinglass co-authored — reveals why people with anorexia often struggle so much to integrate new ways of eating into their lives. In the brain, the behaviors associated with anorexia act a lot like habits, those daily decisions we make without thinking. And habits, according to both the scientific evidence and the colloquial wisdom, are phenomenally difficult to break. This new finding helps explain why anorexia has historically been so hard to treat: Anorexic patients are essentially fighting their own brains in an uphill battle for wellness. But more important, the new research may also point toward new and better ways to help those with the eating disorder overcome it.

Relapses among anorexic patients are all too common; about half of patients who initially respond well to treatment will eventually go back to disordered eating, according to some estimates. “We have little in the way of proven effective treatments for anorexia,” said Walter Kaye, director of the Eating Disorder Treatment and Research Program at the University of California, San Diego. (Kaye was not involved in this new study.) “If we had a better understanding of the cause of anorexia, this would aid in developing better treatment.”

Typically, Steinglass said, when patients are admitted, they tend to frequently eat only small amounts of a very limited variety of low-calorie foods. Part of the recovery process, as recounted in a 2008 study in theAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is helping them enlarge that variety, and also getting them to include more energy-dense foods (that is, foods that are higher in calories). What Steinglass wanted to know was why so many anorexia sufferers found that step so difficult. In her mind, helping people with anorexia make better decisions about food was a key goal of treatment. But when she searched the literature to find out more about this decision-making process, she came up empty-handed.

To fill that gap, Steinglass and her colleagues at NYSPI decided to conduct a study of their own to figure out how people with anorexia made decisions about what to eat, and whether those findings could provide new ways to help them get well and stay well. Steinglass recruited a group of women recently hospitalized for anorexia (although men do get anorexia, the researchers excluded them from the study to prevent any sex or gender influences on the results) and a similar number of healthy controls. First, she had them rate a series of 76 foods on healthfulness and tastiness. After the participants made their ratings, the researchers took one of the items that they deemed neutral on both qualities. With that item serving as a kind of baseline, the researchers then asked each participant to choose between that food and two other foods, a low-fat option (like carrots) and a high-fat option (like chocolate cake) while their brains were being scanned by fMRI. To make sure the decisions were as accurate as possible, the researchers then required each person to eat the food they had chosen as a snack.

Not surprisingly, the women with anorexia were significantly less likely to choose the cake than the healthy controls. But the brain-imaging data were much more striking. Individuals without eating disorders typically evaluate a variety of criteria when deciding what to eat, such as how hungry they are and how much they like the foods on offer, and their brain-imaging data reflected this. Those with anorexia, however, showed increased activity in the area of the brain called the dorsal striatum, which plays a role in decision-making, reward, and, importantly, habitual behaviors. “It seems that once people get sick, decision-making shifts to a different part of the brain that makes it more difficult to make a nuanced choice. Instead, you see the food and you automatically make a specific choice,” Steinglass said.

These findings confirmed Steinglass’s clinical hunch: Anorexia may be more about decision-making than some form of extreme willpower. When her patients left treatment, they often returned to their old environment, which was filled with cues related to eating-disorder behaviors. These cues, then, triggered the behaviors that her patients had struggled so hard to break. That these behaviors had become habitual on the neurological level was a key finding, since it meant that many with anorexia were making these decisions without being aware of it. However these habits started (and no one really knows exactly why), they became cemented in place. People with anorexia automatically searched the restaurant menu for the lowest-calorie option without even thinking about it. They cut their food into tiny pieces because it was just how they ate. There was nothing deliberate about it. Their routines had become entrenched and remarkably resistant to change.

Steinglass emphasizes that calling anorexia a “habit,” such as a headline did in the New York Times, doesn’t capture the full story. It’s not just a habit, like biting your nails. Instead, she likes to think of the disorder as being supported by these entrenched routines that must be changed for recovery to occur. And to start helping nudge her patients toward positive progress, Steinglass has begun working with them to change something tiny in their eating routines, like using different cutlery or eating in a new location. These simple switches help shake up the old anorexic routines and make it easier for them to try something new.

Over time, the goal is for the newer, healthier routines to take the place of the older, disordered ones. “It takes time and lots of practice of eating enough to replace the ingrained behavior of restriction. This is critical for understanding why short-term treatment models predicated on insurance coverage are inadequate for creating lasting behavior change,” said Lauren Muhlheim, an eating-disorders therapist in Los Angeles. Ultimately, Steinglass says, the goal of treatment is to make recovery and wellness habits of their own, so that one day returning to the illness will be as incomprehensible as recovery once was.

More from Science of Us:

What It’s Like to Have Anorexia and Autism

Anorexia Sometimes Brings Its Sufferers (Misguided) Happiness, and That Makes It Harder to Treat

The Neuroscience of Being a Selfish Jerk

What It’s Like to Be Allergic to Water

How Food Porn Hijacks Your Brain

When a Kid’s Picky Eating Isn’t Just About Food

Science of Us is a smart but playful window into the latest science on human behavior, with the goal of enlightening, entertaining, and providing useful information that can be applied to everyday life.

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I Always Wanted a Tattoo, But Now I’m Getting Mine Removed

Image: Courtesy of Popsugar Beauty

It’s a strange feeling to get a tattoo and realize immediately that you hate it. I got my tattoo two weeks after I graduated from college. In retrospect, it was so clearly a bad idea. I came up with the design a few months earlier: while I knew I wanted an infinity sign, I never actually found a drawing of what I wanted it to look like. I just walked into a tattoo parlor on the beach, paid the man, and walked out 45 minutes later with what I can only describe as a serpent-like infinity sign on my wrist. I don’t even have any photos of the original version to share.

I tried for months to convince myself and others that I liked my tattoo. I even got it touched up at a much nicer shop with the hopes that a slight variation on the design would fix the problem. After three years of hiding it with a watch, I decided that the only option that would make me happy was to get it removed.

The Tattoo

Although the day I got my tattoo was not well thought out, I had been considering the idea for a long time. I’ve always loved tattoos. I’ve seen so many beautiful and inspiring tattoos, and most have a story behind them. I knew that I wanted a tattoo and that I wouldn’t get one unless it had meaning to me.

When I was 19, one of my dear friends was killed in a car accident. I wavered about getting a tattoo to memorialize her. Three years later, I somehow happened upon the infinity sign as the perfect tribute. To me, it represents that your past will always shape you, but time continues to move forward, and it’s important to move with it.

While I love having that reminder, there are a couple reasons I am removing the tattoo. Not only have I never liked the way it looks, but also, when you have a tattoo on your wrist, people ask you about it. I quickly learned that my tattoo is just something I don’t like talking about.

So three years after getting inked, I started the process of removal. Once again, I did not plan well. I chose a laser business a block from my apartment (convenient!) and it only cost $20 per session (cheap!). I went there twice and left the second time with various scars throughout my tattoo, which is not supposed to happen if it is treated properly. I now drive an hour away and pay much more for my treatment, but I feel so much more confident in my care and the results.

How Does Tattoo Removal Work?

I asked Dr. Rick Noodleman of Age Defying Dermatology, where I am treated, to give me a simplified explanation of the science behind tattoo removal: “The laser breaks up the pigment particles, and then your body digests them [through your bloodstream] and gets rid of them.” Newer lasers break up the ink particles into smaller pieces, which allow them to be more easily digested. In the past, certain colors were more difficult to remove, but as lasers advance, more tattoos are candidates for removal.

While getting my tattoo removed, I picked up some interesting advice from the nurses, as well as theories on what can affect tattoo removal success: namely, that tattoos closer to your heart are easier to remove because there’s more blood flow, that the extra ink in my tattoo may require more sessions, and that a diet high in antioxidants could aid the process. While Dr. Noodleman was quick to refute these as minor to non-factors in aiding removal, I figure taking this dietary advice certainly can’t hurt.

Does It Hurt?

For a typical appointment, you can ice the area for a few minutes before treatment or apply numbing cream about 30 minutes in advance. Because the ink is actually below the surface of the skin, numbing isn’t 100 percent effective, but it does help. The removal is more painful than getting the tattoo, but it is over quickly: my tattoo is a little larger than one square inch, and each session lasts under 30 seconds. After the appointment, it’s important to ice the area and let the tattoo breathe, because covering or wrapping the tattoo can trap the heat from the laser and lead to scarring. It is also important to protect the area from the sun and any physical trauma for a few days after each treatment.

Thinking About Getting Your Tattoo Removed?

Do your research. Choose a place that is reputable, and ask them about the lasers they use. Right now, the best laser available is the Picosure. It’s not necessarily mandatory that an office use this laser, but you want to make sure that they use something modern, as the technology is constantly advancing. The average cost for each tattoo removal session is $40 to $100 per square inch, and most tattoos are removed within four to six sessions. Though this certainly adds up, it’s unwise to choose a place below that price point.

It is important to be more committed to your tattoo removal than you were to your tattoo. The process can take a while and costs a lot, so it can be tempting to give up and try to redo your tattoo. Be sure that it’s the right decision for you and that it’s truly what you want.

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from Health News / Tips & Trends / Celebrity Health http://ift.tt/1NdksqY