Q: My daughter suffers with hives – red lumps over her body – when she overheats. Her doctor prescribed an antihistamine, which takes out the itch but not the lumps.

A: I used to get similar weals from monosodium glutamate, which is often added to Chinese and Thai foods. If she doesn’t suffer from any food sensitivity, pharmacist Shabir Daya advises that she uses Stinging Nettle Extract by Swanson, £14.95 for 120 capsules. Nettles are excellent at detoxifying the bloodstream, inhibit the formation of histamine and have an anti-inflammatory effect, he adds.

SKIN SAVIOUR

Jane Iredale, founder of the eponymous mineral make-up range, tells me she has seen good results on the faces and bodies of acne- and rosacea-prone adults with a course of Skin Accumax. This supplement contains vitamins A, C and E and a nutrient complex found in broccoli.

MY HEALTH: SARAH PARISH, 44, ACTRESS

I never go on the scales: doing the right exercise and eating good food is the key to being in great shape.

I fell in love with barre exercise classes in Vancouver, when my husband [actor James Murray] was filming there in 2011. It was so different from the gym and it worked muscles I didn’t know I had.

I was at the age where everything drops a few inches. The barre exercises are fantastically toning for trouble spots – bingo wings, bottom, waist, tummy and tops of thighs – giving you the lifting and firming you never get on a treadmill.

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Age-related macular degeneration is the gradual loss of central vision in the over-50s. With a combination of minerals and antioxidant vitamins, the research-based supplement Nutrof Total can help maintain healthy eyes. £14.99.

A SUPER-SPICY SOLUTION FOR PMS

When you have PMS symptoms such as tiredness, low mood, headaches and cramping, eating usually involves grabbing the sort of carb- and/or caffeine-laden goodies that give you a fleeting comfort hit but can often make you feel worse.

Food can, however, be an effective way of treating PMS and other everyday ailments, says award-winning chef and nutritionist Gurpareet Bains, whose fans include Goldie Hawn and Gwyneth Paltrow (below). The answer is to use spices and herbs in abundance, as he explains in his book Indian Superspices, which offers recipes to help with PMS, colds, hangovers, allergies and insomnia.

The recipes are described as ‘lab-inspired’ because the beneficial effects of the ingredients have been verified by research. For example, fennel: in a study of girls with severe period pain, 80 per cent of those taking fennel experienced complete pain relief, compared with 73 per cent of those taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

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Spring is peak time for chicken pox (nhs.uk/conditions). Although a mild and common childhood illness, the spots can be very itchy. Pharmacist Shabir Daya recommends PoxClin Cool Mousse (£10.80), which promises fast relief from itching, helps to prevent scars and promotes healing. Or try all-natural multipurpose Kiddy Balm (£4.05), which one mum reports calmed her three-year-old: ‘For the first time in three nights he slept through without scratching and crying.’ Both from Victoria Health, tel: 0800 3898 195, victoriahealth.com.

AND RELAX…

We store tension in our faces, particularly our jaws, which can be painful and ageing. Simply massaging your face and scalp with your fingertips helps relax muscles and dispel tension. Work in circles over your head from hairline to nape. Then stroke some facial oil (such as Argan Organics Regeneration Anti-Ageing Face Serum, £15.99, from Victoria Health, see above) on your face, working upwards, and see your rosy relaxed reflection beam back at you in the mirror.

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Welcome to the May newsletter and I need to tell you that I have been skipping round the office in a state of over-excitement because we have the exclusive global launch of a new product from Phylia de M and I have THE most perfect eyebrows in the world, which trust me is a big deal. I will write about my eyebrows after I’ve told you about Phylia and we also launch some new products from This Works, Famous Dave’s, Margaret Dabbs and Color Wow. Throughout the newsletter there are some special treats, including a fabulous gift from HealGel, so please read very carefully because I wouldn’t want you to miss out! Additionally I jump onto The Podium to write about an extraordinary treatment and Shabir takes a look at two big health concerns, haemorrhoids and cataracts. Finally, we have some great new articles in our editorial section. Right, let’s go:

Re-Connect by Phylia de M

It is exactly a year since we launched Phylia and what a year it has been; as I have written regularly, the feedback from the three step kit, Clean, Condition and Connect, has been completely phenomenal and this includes many testimonials from people who have suffered hair loss or thinning hair through critical illness. Following on from this, we launched Fulphyl late last year, which I wrote about in the last newsletter, so if you missed what I wrote, read here because I believe this is one of the most important health products to have launched in the past decade.

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I always feel a bit penned in towards the end of March. Spring hasn’t quite arrived on our doorsteps and, feeling cooped up after what seems like months of snow, sleet and rain, I like to make a list of all the places I’ll visit when the sun comes out. A Little Glamorous Black Book of places to see and things to do. This May (and YES Spring has finally arrived!) I, the Headline Colors Spy, shall be taking my new collection of SS13 Headline Colors out with me. So here it is – my definite list of things to point your brightly colored fingertips at this season:

Catwalk:

This year marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the “father” of modern fashion photography, Norman Parkinson. To celebrate, the National Theatre is exhibiting a collection of his life work stretching from his war time photography to his later iconic images of beauty icon, Jerry Hall and David Bowie. The vibrant colors in his later photographs are inspiring to say the least – my favorite image is the Girl in the Red Hat – a model sporting a rich red beret and a soft focus, matching red lip (if you could see her nails no doubt they would be painted elegantly in Catwalk!) As for Jerry Hall, well, she would never have been seen dead without a matching red nail and lip in the ‘70s.

Poolside Party:

Coachella, the last word in music festival chic, obviously screams out for a little Poolside Party nails – no better way to cool off an outfit than with some aqua tipped toes peeking through your Miu Miu sandals. You will be the envy of Kirsten, Alexa & Grimmy – no need for VIP tickets (although that would be fun too!) Can’t take the heat (or perhaps more realistically, can’t take the time off…)? Don’t panic – I have a list of stay home London music events that Poolside Party would be the perfect companion to. Snap up your tickets to the see the Electro Swing Correspondents at the Brixton Jam, the annual carnival in South London on 27th April. The lead singer, who I met gigging in Chamonix last month, is notorious for his wild and obscure outfits – turquoise blue fingernails certainly won’t be too much for him!

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There can be no doubt that the positives of an active lifestyle far outweigh any negatives, but unfortunately with any training and exercise comes a risk of injury. We’ve written articles in the past on combating low energy and motivation levels but there is surely no obstacle more frustrating than injury.

There is never a good time to pick up an injury, but more often than not it strikes you down just as you’ve begun to start enjoying yourself. You’ve found the motivation to get active; you’ve tweaked your schedule to accommodate regular workouts, you are three weeks into your fitness programme and just beginning to see results when crash, you’re icing your knee, making doctors appointments and seeking out the best physiotherapists. There are endless causes of injury but we’re not writing this to talk about preventions or cures. The focus here is on the psychological stress that comes with injury. The often ignored, but ever-present ugly side effect.

Having recently been in a bike accident that ended with me needing surgery on a broken collarbone I feel in the perfect place to talk about this. It comes as no surprise that I spend the majority of my life being active, whether it’s with clients or by myself keeping fit, so it’s fair to say that this has come as a major blow. I regularly find my concentration slip from the task at hand to feeling frustrated that my latest health and fitness goals are slipping further away with each week, or the fact that day to day annoyances and lethargy cant be worked off in the gym or at the park. The only thing that gets regularly exercised at the moment is my will power to avoid overdoing my rehab or pushing my recovery too hard or too fast.

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Hay fever, or seasonal allergic rhinitis, can severely affect the quality of an individual’s life. Occurring mostly during spring and summer, the symptoms of hay fever include a runny nose, sneezing, itchy and watery eyes leaving the person often drained of energy and generally feeling a bit under the weather.

The causes of hay fever are widely known. It is an allergic response to pollen and other airborne allergens such as fungal spores, and the reaction is further heightened by pollution. When airborne allergens such as pollen enter the body, the immune system produces just the right amount of histamine, which sends signals to complex structure of blood cells and chemicals that help to protect the body. In the case of hay fever, the body produces far too much histamine than is required resulting in the inflammation of the tissues leading to a stuffy nose, watery eyes, wheezing and even headaches.

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Cataracts commonly occur in the elderly and are the leading cause of blindness worldwide affecting up to 40% of people over the age of 75. The astounding fact is that cataract formation is present in all adults over the age of 30. In an eye that has no cataract, the lens is clear and light can pass through the lens on to the retina so that a clear image can be seen. The lens in an eye with cataract is clouded and the image produced is not clear.

A cataract develops when proteins aggregate in the lens of the eye with a progressive loss of transparency. This is akin to what happens to the white of an egg when it is cooked. As the protein becomes oxidised, it hardens and loses its transparency.

Whilst the exact pathway leading to the formation of cataracts still remains unknown, there are some risk factors that predispose us to cataract formation. These include age (being over 30), diabetes, smoking, alcohol, high sugar intake, high blood pressure, genetics, diets deficient in antioxidants and exposure of the eyes to excessive sunlight.

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Haemorrhoids are badly swollen, inflamed veins located both around the anus and along the very lowest part of the colon in the rectum. The swollen veins that are external are commonly referred to as piles or external haemorrhoids. Haemorrhoids are unique to humans, no other animal has this problem. It is estimated that nearly 75% of all adults in the Western world will suffer from haemorrhoids at some point and that is why the causal factors are thought to be predominantly dietary and ageing.

The symptoms of external haemorrhoids, those that protrude outside the body, are typically itching, pain and bleeding. When faecal matter passes through the anal region, some of these inflamed veins cannot resist the pressure and hence rupture releasing their contents which causes pain in the region, itching and blood spots. External haemorrhoids can cause discomfort and disruption in your daily activity.

Internal haemorrhoids on the other hand are usually painless. Whilst you may see some blood spots or staining, the discomfort is significantly less, however one should go and visit your GP at the first sign of blood to rule out any possible links to other diseases.

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You would be utterly surprised at the number of “everyday” skin conditions which can affect the skin and nails of the feet and with this in mind I have been working on the formulation of a new Hygiene Cream for feet to address many of these everyday conditions.

The hygiene cream launch coincides with the celebration by Margaret Dabbs Clinics of ‘World Foot Health Awareness Month’ in May and is a must-have in any bathroom cabinet. It is particularly good for feet that suffer with bouts of Athlete’s feet, or feet that have damaged and discoloured nails. If hygiene is an issue it is an excellent tool as a treatment measure as well as helping to prevent recurrence of the Athlete’s Foot. For sweat prone or sports feet or for people that swim often and can be affected by the chlorine in the water it can be a great help. I have found that it is great for teenagers, and helps to prevent the occurrence of bacterial infections of the skin.

I have found that females especially can be afflicted on the skin of just one foot – with the skin of the other foot being absolutely perfect. This can be the result of medication, injury or illness affecting the circulation, alcohol intake or just purely hereditary.

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