Shahnaz Husain

We see too much hair damage nowa-days. When I say "hair damage" I meanhair that is dry and brittle and tends tobreak off easily, or acquires split ends.Sometimes the splits extend almost halfway up the hair shaft. Actually, dam-aged hair is weak and can eventuallylead to hair loss. The most commoncauses of hair damage are hair stylingtechniques that employ chemicallotions, or direct heat applications, likecolouring, dyeing, bleaching, straight-ening and waving. The hair loses itsshine, natural elasticity and resilience.The chemical lotions disrupt the nor-mal acid-alkaline balance of the scalptoo and leave it prone to problems.According to U.S. Trichologist, David

Kingsley, "Too much styling and color-ing can lead to loss of volume, break-age, dullness, and split ends." He rec-ommends "an easy detox," discontinu-ing the procedures for some time.

Damaged hair is in a fragile condi-tion, so treat it gently. Avoid brushesand use a wide toothed comb withsmooth edges. To heal damaged hair,have detox treatments to help nurse thehair back to good health. First of all,have the hair trimmed to remove splitends. Then start with hot oil therapy.Mix one part castor oil with two partscoconut oil. Heat and apply on the hair.Remember to apply on the ends too.Then dip a towel in hot water, squeezeout the water and wrap the hot towelaround the head, like a turban. Keep iton for 5 minutes. Repeat the hot towel

wrap 3 or 4 times. This helps the hairand scalp absorb the oil better. Avoidvigorous massage and rubbing whenyou apply oil. Keep the oil on overnightand wash hair the next day, using a mildherbal shampoo. Avoid very hot water.After shampoo, wrap a towel aroundthe head and allow it to absorb excesswater. The best way to disentangle thehair or comb wet hair is to use a wide-toothed comb, starting at the ends andworking upwards. Avoid hair dryersand styling rods for sometime and allowthe hair to dry naturally.

For oily and limp hair, apply a hairpack once or twice a week. Make a claypack by mixing Fuller's Earth with aloevera gel and apply on the hair. Wash offafter 20 minutes. Multani mitti absorbsoil and dirt, while aloe vera softens andmoisturises the hair. Or, soak a cup ofbroken "moong" dal overnight. Thengrind it in a mixer with enough water,to make it into a smooth paste. Part thehair in sections and apply, so that theentire hair is covered. Keep it on for halfan hour and wash your hair well withplain water. These packs cleanse andrevive the hair.

Hair conditioners, rinses andserums help to soften the hair and addshine. They also coat the hair and helpto protect it. Apple Cider Vinegar makesan ideal hair rinse. It detoxifies and alsorestores the natural balances. Add 2tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar to amug of water and use as a last rinse.Both hot and cold infusions can bemade from hibiscus flowers and leaves.For hot infusions, add the flowers andleaves to boiling water and keep for 10to 12 hours. The infusion is strained andthen used as a last rinse after washingthe hair. For cold infusions, the flowersand leaves are allowed to standovernight in cold water, in a ratio of oneto six. The flowers are squeezed and thewater is strained before use. Such infu-sions can be used to wash the hair andscalp, or applied on the scalp with cot-ton wool. The paste or juice of the flow-ers can also be applied on the hair.

Have herb and spice tea to detox.Add spices ginger, cardamom, cinna-mon and pepper to tea. Ginger boiledin water can also be had as ginger tea.Chamomile tea, which removes toxinsand induces relaxation, is available astea-bags.

If you have a detox programme fromtime to time, you can restore the healthand beauty of the hair. Also, the hair islike a delicate fabric, so learn to treat itthat way.

Time to detox your hair

SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2016 (PAGE-4)

BEAUTY TIPS

PERSONALITY

HEALTHLINES

Why does one see you less frequently inBollywood films than in Bengali films whereyou often have back-to-back releases?

There are many reasons. I do not care for audi-tions and never go for them. I do not have a P.R. per-

son, a manager or even a secretary that is manda-tory if you are working in Mumbai. I never had

these people managing my career. I am nota go-getter and perhaps lack the killerinstinct needed to breast the tape first.Basically, I am very lazy.

Then how do you land films inBollywood at all?

The most surprising thing is that Istill work in Bollywood and am calledfor good assignments in significantfilms. I never go out of my way to getroles or films. Besides, Bollywood is amuch larger industry than the Bengalifilm industry. So, my Hindi film releas-

es happen once in a while. For example,Children of War released 18 months back

and Kaagaz Ke Phool released a year back.Now you have Bollywood Diaries that iswhy you see me less frequently than you see

me in Bengali films.What kind of actress would you say

you are - a spontaneous actress, a direc-tor's actress or a trained actress?

I am a director's actress. I need the direc-tor to guide me. My work shows excellentresults with good directors. Fortunately, I haveworked with some of the best directors both inMumbai and in Kolkata ranging from RituparnoGhosh through Vinay Shukla, Aniruddha RoyChoudhury, Anjan Dutt, Sandip Ray, SrijitMukherjee, Koushik Ganguly, Reema Kagti andKalpana Lajmi. I have learnt from each of them.I really work well if there is a good director whoknows how to draw the best out of me.

You have played a prostitute in Bolly-wood Diaries. How did you find the expe-rience?

It was a lovely role because it was full of hope.The red light area does not feature in the film.Sonagachi, the famous red-light area in Kolkata,is the backdrop I belong to and this is just a frame

of reference. I loved to work with K.D. Satyamand I also loved the story. Bollywood Diarieschronicles three separate stories about three dif-

ferent individuals who never meet. What they have incommon is this desperate desire to make it big in Bol-lywood. The character I play is ready to bend everyrule in the book, to bend over backwards to pay anyprice to find her place in Bollywood.

How do you react to comparisons withyour grandmother Suchitra Sen?

I consider it a great honour when people point outhow closely I resemble her. So far as comparison inacting styles go, I do not feel any pressure or take iteither as an advantage or as a disadvantage becausethings are very different now in terms of the kind offilms that are made, the kind of acting that these filmsdemand, the directors who make different kinds offilms and their approaches, etc. So there is no pointin comparisons. The style of acting is very differentfrom what it used to be when my grandmother wasleading lady. She was a great actress in her time.

Which of your grandmother's 60-and-oddfilms you love watching?

Harano Sur (Bengali), Aandhi (opposite SanjeevKumar, Hindi) and Saat Pake Bandha (a Bengali filmthat won her international award). The films are eter-nal and incurably romantic and she is just so beauti-ful and brilliant in all these films. So far as my moth-er's (Moon Moon Sen) films go, I love Andar Baharin Hindi and Tumi Kato Sundar in Bangla.

When you are offered an assignment, whatcriteria do you use to say 'yes'?

The role is the top criterion and the rest come lat-er. The character must be significant in terms of itspositioning and visual presence, not necessarily interms of the footage. An intelligent director and a goodscript come next. An intelligent director can work ide-ally with the script and can draw the best out of hisactors. I have just done a film directed by Kamalesh-war Mukherjee and I believe he is a fabulous directoralso because he is a brilliant actor. It is an untitled filmof triangular love where I play Prosenjit's sophisticat-ed wife and Paoli Dam plays the other woman.

If asked to pick your personal favouritesfrom the films you have already done whichones would you mention?

Among my Bengali films, my favourites are -Chokher Bali and Noukadubi directed by RituparnoGhosh, Bastushaap and Shobdo directed by KoushikGanguly, The Japanese Wife directed by Aparna Senand Abby Sen directed by Atanu Ghosh. So far as myBollywood films go, I would tick Honeymoon TravelsPvt Ltd directed by Rima Kagti, Mirch, directed byVinay Shukla, Children of War directed by Mrityun-jay Devrat, Parineeta directed by Pradeep Sarkar andBollywood Diaries.

What are your current assignments inMumbai?

One is called 3 Days with a multi-starcast withKunal Roy Kapoor, Ravi Dubey, Karan Grover, TiscaChopra, Kay Kay Menon and Prosenjit. It is sched-uled for a May release. Another film which marks thedirectorial debut of Rana Bhatia called Ishq KabhiKariyo Naa in which I have a significant role.

Which directors do you look forward towork with in the near future?

Mani Ratnam, Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Basuand Anurag Kashyap. (TWF)

Raima Sen Dev Burman is setting a recordof sorts with her balancing act between

Bollywood and Kolkata. Where does she find her comfort zone? How doesshe pick and choose between andamong films? On the eve of therelease of her Hindi film BollywoodDiaries, she talks about her careerwith Shoma A. Chatterji.

BOLLYWOOD BUZZ

Dr Kshitiz Murdia

When Sameera (38) had experiencedmultiple IVF failures, her gynecologistadvised the couple to opt for IVF alongwith preimplantation genetic diagnosis(PGD). In fact, preimplantation geneticdiagnosis (PGD) is being usedincreasingly at the fertility institutesto improve and maximise the chanceof a successful IVF pregnancy,especially among couples where priorIVF failures have remained unexplained.

It has been estimated that over half of all IVF failures areblamed on the poor embryo "quality". But what exactly is PGDand how is it different from standard IVF? "PGD is a sophis-ticated scientific technique to determine any genetic or chro-mosomal disorders present in embryos produced through invitro fertilization (IVF). The only difference is that during thePGD, embryos are screened before they are transferred to theuterus so that couples can decide accordingly about their nextstep in the IVF process.

The problems with IVF are pretty well known: pregnancyrates are not as good as they should be. If some reports are tobe believed, then approximately 25-30 per cent of embryoscreated, either via natural conception or IVF don't survive thefirst 3 months of pregnancy and many don't achieve implan-tation because of either genetic or chromosomal abnormali-ty. "This is where these embryonic screening tests act like asaviour as they are performed while the embryos are develop-ing in the IVF laboratory. A few cells are removed from eachembryo and tested to ensure a healthy baby.

So, if a woman is in her late thirties and especially if shehas a history of recurrent miscarriages or if either partner hasa history of heritable genetic disorder or any abnormality theyshould definitely opt for this embryonic screening test. "Thistechnology can be utilized in the field of assisted reproductionfor aneuploidy screening and diagnosis of unbalanced inher-itance of chromosomal abnormalities, such as translocationsor inversions. It's through these new genetic tools, doctors andmedical experts have come to learn that some embryos thatappear on the surface to be of the highest quality may carry agenetic code that makes them "poor choices" for attemptingto establish a healthy pregnancy. And, to the contrary, theembryos that might have been classified as less than optimal,based on their appearance, may in fact be of the finest quali-ty and have ten or twenty times more chance of producing ahealthy pregnancy than those that would have been selectedwithout the use of the remarkable new PGD tools.

Genetic testing is the future "In the last four-five years,genetics has progressed a long way. Apart from the highimplantation rates, high rate of singleton pregnancies, andability to eliminate the effects of age on a pregnancy and thedecreased miscarriage rates, there are a range of over 600 dis-eases which can be now detected by PGD and PGS, thatincludes numerical chromosomal abnormalities and singlegene disorders."

There is an increase in the number of people who want togo in for genetic testing. Much similar to PGD, PGS ( preim-plantation genetic screening) is used for testing the overallchromosomal normalcy (chromosomal numbers) and not any

specific disorder. "The accuracy of PGD in determining genet-ic abnormalities exceeds 98 per cent. These tests have empow-ered the doctors to save the couple from getting into a difficultsituation like termination of pregnancy, which can have severeimpact on a woman, emotionally and psychologically as theseembryonic tests provide a true scientific basis for understand-ing how and why IVF fails repeatedly in some couples.

Though these screening tests save young and hopeful cou-ples from any kind of mental agony or emotional breakdownthat may be caused due to abortion or miscarriage, there area few concerns related to the technique. "While these testsprove to be beneficial, both for doctors and couples hoping tohave a healthy baby, a few medical practitioners may misuseand exploit the technique for gender selection purpose whichis totally prohibited.

Despite their positive results, these screening tests havenot yet reached to the level of common men as the awarenessfor these tests is very low. "These tests are limited to the high-er strata of the society, more because of its cost, which is a lit-tle steep. Other techniques like blastocyst culture are wellknown to increase chances of pregnancy by choosing anembryo which has higher chances of being euploid.

Most couples going for PGD should have one of the follow-ing conditions:

Prior unexplained IVF failure Recurrent miscarriages Maternal age over 38Polycystic Ovary Syndrome History of Ovarian Hyperstimulation SyndromeHeritable medical condition of haemophilia Premature ovarian failure or premature menopause Conception of a chromosomally abnormal child or foetus (The author is Fertility expert, Indira IVF Clinic and Test Tube Baby Centre, New Delhi)

Embryonic screening for detecting genetic disorder

Adrija Shukla, Nidhi Nagpal

A thread and a needle can create mil-lions of designs together on a cloth. Eachof them begins with a stich. ‘Kachcha Dha-ga’ comes from the concept of this stitchthat is formed by amalgamating thethreads of passion and dreams. The organ-isation comprises of people who weavetheir destinies by filling lives with happi-ness.

Kachcha Dhaga is a social enterprise ofJammu that is a confluence of passion andart, which empowers many women fromthe far flung areas of Jammu Villages.There is something unique about theapparels of this organisation. The weavingdone on each piece speaks volumes aboutthe amount of efforts that goes into itsmaking.

Elegant colour combinations with enig-matic patterns on the clothes make the view-er curious to see the design closely. But theseideas come to Bhisham Sethi, who is an NRI,out of the simplest things of daily life. Suf-fering from a rare spinal cord disease, thatdoesn’t have a cure, he is on a wheel chair.His passion for fabrics and love for colourstakes him into another world. “My pocketsgot torn by getting entangled into this wheel-chair, so, I have come up with the idea ofpockets on front side of Kurtas”, he said.

Mr. Sethi says that you can cherish whatyou wear when you feel free in it. “Duringthe time of light breeze when wind blows

into the jacket, what appeals to eyes is adesign inside it.”, he says. People feel thesedesigns are one of their own kind. Herecalled the time when someone wrote invisitor’s book, “each piece says so much.”

Kachcha Dhaga currently providesemployment to 30 women from the vil-lages of Tindi and Chakrohi. The womenassociated with the organisation mainlycome from the lower income groups. Theyalso organize workshop to teach their styleto the women. Renu, who Mr. Sethi’s part-ner coordinates these workshop, is defi-nitely the backbone of this enterprise. “Wewant to make their lives better”, she said.

The garments produced by KachchaDhaga are high end products. That hap-pens because each piece takes days to com-plete. “People don’t believe the productshave been made by hands. We never com-promise on the quality of raw material”,said Mr. Sethi. An admirer of Kantha art-work, Mr. Sethi believes in the magic thatsimplest form of handmade stitches createon the cloth. He says that to preserve anart, valuing artist is equally important.

Kachcha Dhaga is Mr. Sethi’s dreamproject that took shape of a social enter-prise. His love for work was visible in hisshining eyes when he showed his creations.This thread of aspirations has woven thedreams of Mr. Sethi and many women ofJammu villages together. In 5 years downthe line, he aims to transform his organi-sation into world class trendsetter.

Weaving high hopeswith ‘Kachcha Dhaga’

""GGrreeaatt hhoonnoouurr ttoo bbee ccoommppaarreedd wwiitthh SSuucchhiittrraa SSeenn""