8 Old Wives Tales: Which Should You Believe?

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, to me, blow-drying dries my scalp worse than air-drying. My current hairstyle doesn't require blow-drying, so I almost never do.

OT, but maybe she's just got sensitive skin. My DH had awful dandruff, for decades, until he switched to SLS-free shampoo.

[MommyBird]

CHOCOLATE:
Acne is a genetic issue at its core.
My son went to bed in January 08 with a couple of minor zits and woke up with a chin covered in acne. Over the next few days it spread up his face and I called the dermo. A month and a half later(it takes forever to get in) the doctor diagnosed him with deep scarring acne before he had even crossed the exam room to the table. It was that bad. Acutane and cortisone shots for scarring were his only options. According to the doc, diet, nor lack of cleanliness is ever the cause of true acne. It is 100% genetic and inescapable.

Now, a nasty zit here or there may be caused by diet but you cannot blame true acne on the unlucky sufferer's habits.

[Miranda]

CHOCOLATE:
Acne is a genetic issue at its core.
My son went to bed in January 08 with a couple of minor zits and woke up with a chin covered in acne. Over the next few days it spread up his face and I called the dermo. A month and a half later(it takes forever to get in) the doctor diagnosed him with deep scarring acne before he had even crossed the exam room to the table. It was that bad. Acutane and cortisone shots for scarring were his only options. According to the doc, diet, nor lack of cleanliness is ever the cause of true acne. It is 100% genetic and inescapable.

Now, a nasty zit here or there may be caused by diet but you cannot blame true acne on the unlucky sufferer's habits.

Hey... this was truly educational! Thanks for that info (coming from someone who part of the time feels like part of my face is still going through puberty, and the other part of it is going to the old folks home). For your DS... that sux it takes SO long to get into the doc. We have some specialists in our lives as well... crimony, it does take forever to get into a good doctor... but, they are worth their weight in gold when you do. Good Luck.

[MommyBird]

One of the dad's at the forensics tournament I was at last week swore by onion skin tea with honey for a sore scratchy throat. Yuck! His son was an LDer with 5 speeches so he drank a ton of the stuff over the 3 day tournament.

[VeloVT]

I know you're not *supposed* to put ice on a burn, but it works wonders for small kitchen-type burns on your hands. It can be the difference between getting a painful blister and not getting one. My two cents.

I'm a big fan of juice (orange, grapefruit, or cranberry) cut in half with hot water for colds. My boyfriend sometimes makes me "orange juice tea" when I'm sick: black tea, made with about 2/3 water and 1/3 orange juice, finished with a little sugar or sweetener and a sprinkle of cinnamon. I don't know if any of this makes any difference other than just the benefit of taking in extra fluids, but taking lots and lots of extra vitamin C supplements really seems to help.

I like ginger tea. I don't know if it helps my stomach feel better, but it feels "healthy" in general.

[Crankin]

+1 on the ginger tea. I have a very "fussy" stomach and I use this remedy quite frequently.
I know nothing about wet hair and dandruff. I recently cut my hair very short again, after 2 years of having to blow dry it. I go out with it damp quite a bit.

[Selkie]

I swim every morning before I head off to work and I don't have the motivation/time to dry my hair. Therefore, I've been outside with wet hair year round---and we had a very cold winter. No colds/coughs/viruses until this week, when I caught an awful upper respiratory bug from my DH (my hair was dry at the time!!!).

[sarahspins]

OT, but maybe she's just got sensitive skin. My DH had awful dandruff, for decades, until he switched to SLS-free shampoo.

I would honestly wonder if this isn't the case for a lot of people... I have never had dandruff but I can't use anything with SLS or I break out in hives all over and eventually developed an excema like rash over my arms that just wouldn't go away. I struggled with it for YEARS before someone clued me in. Once I switched it all went away.

Now I use special shampoo and make my own soap... and couldn't be happier

I'm not discounting that some people have dandruff and it is an actual fungal issue, but I think there has to be some that are simply reacting to the SLS's in the shampoo.

[Catrin]

I'm not discounting that some people have dandruff and it is an actual fungal issue, but I think there has to be some that are simply reacting to the SLS's in the shampoo.

What are "SLS's"? I've psoriasis on my scalp - was born with it - and the only thing I've ever found that helps it is to dye my hair! Yep, you read that right. I figure the chemicals shock it into remission for a time Hey, whatever works and it gets ride of that aggravating mixture of gray that just sucks all of my color away.

[tulip]

Sodium laureth sulfate. It's a very common ingredient in soaps and shampoos. Check the label for non-SLS products.