Household Health and Beauty: The Magic of Vinegar

Vinegar is some seriously powerful stuff, and most people have it in their own homes. A few weeks ago, The New York Times printed a report about a highly effective cervical cancer screening method whose secret is vinegar. The procedure, developed by experts at Johns Hopkins in the 1990s, was endorsed last year by the World Health Organization. In this procedure, vinegar is brushed on the cervix and precancerous cells turn white. Quicker, easier, less expensive, and more accessible than the traditional Pap smear, the vinegar treatment is simply amazing!

p2But vinegar isn’t just useful in gynecologists’ offices–you can also use it right in your own home! And no, I don’t mean in only in the kitchen. Vinegar is a fabulous ingredient to use for BEAUTY and WELLNESS too. Here are a few vinegar tips:

  • Add apple cider vinegar to your bath and soak for 15 minutes to help with itchy skin or aching muscles.
  • Use vinegar as a facial toner or astringent. Mix together equal parts vinegar and warm water and apply to a clean face.
  • Mix equal parts vinegar and hand cream to soften dry, chapped winter hands.
  • Make nail polish last longer by soaking fingertips for one minute in 2 tsp. vinegar mixed with 1/2 cup warm water before applying polish.
  • To condition hair and improve cleanliness and shine, rinse hair with 1 tbsp vinegar after you shampoo.
  • Add one tablespoon of white vinegar to a gallon of warm water and soak your feet for 20 minutes nightly to cure toenail fungus.  You will know the fungus is gone when  your cuticles grow back.  Cuticle growth only occurs after the nail fungus is gone.  Magical!
  • Mix equal amounts of white vinegar, rubbing alcohol and warm water (cold water will cause dizziness!) and apply one dropperful into each ear after swimming to prevent swimmers’ ear.  NOTE:  Do NOT do this if you have previously broken your ear drum, think you might have broken your eardrum, have had a recent upper respiratory infection, have sudden hearing loss, or note liquid draining from you ear.  In those situations, or in any other situation of concern, be sure to see an Otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat specialist) first to be certain that this treatment is safe for you to use.

Vocal Aesthetics & the Male Magnet

p1Mufasa of The Lion King. Darth Vader of Star Wars. Lt. Zogg of Dr. Strangelove. James Earl Jones’s famously low, chest resonating rumbles are undoubtedly memorable.  But, it’s now been clinically proven that women tend to remember things better when they’re spoken by deep male voices.  Dr. Yagoda calls this phenomenon the male magnet principle and believes there are strong implications about the role of the voice in attractiveness–or vocal aesthetics.The phrase “vocal aesthetics” might be puzzling to you. After all, we can’t see the voice. But it’s human nature to talk to others, and the sound of your voice can definitely effect the way that others perceive you. Imagine a telephone conversation, for example. The way that the person on the other end of the line speaks allows you to form an image of that person in your mind, which is purely based on his or her voice.

In fact, as it turns out, the pitch of your voice can actually make you more or less attractive to others. The new study, published in the journal Memory & Cognition, suggests that women prefer the sound of a deep male voice more than a higher-pitched voice. In fact, test results show that women are more likely to remember the name of an object when it was spoken by a lower-pitched male voice. So, ladies– when you find yourself irresistibly drawn to a magnetic, deep voice, you’ll know why!