Beauty and the best gadgets
MANILA, Philippines – Is there something women wouldn’t do for the sake of beauty? They’d have their armpits, legs, and body hair in the front, back, and in between waxed (ouch!). They’d have their nipples, tongues or belly buttons pierced (double ouch!).
But did you know that the world has always been obsessed with beauty? The ancient Egyptians were suckers for exfoliants, depilatories, and anti-wrinkle creams. Cosmetic implements, such as tweezers and razors, were unearthed from ancient graves. I guess Queen Nefertiti and Egyptian Pharoah Amenhotep IV didn’t want to look unroyally scruffy in the next life.
Cleopatra VII bares it all in a book she wrote on the best-kept beauty secrets of the era. Did you know that the legendary queen of Egypt bathed in milk and honey?
The ancient Egyptians were so obsessed with incenses and scents. They used fresh incense as deodorant. For them, having body odor was a sign of impurity. In the same breath, they cursed bad breath to the heavens.
Beauty transcended gender lines as both men and women used cosmetics and body oils — metrosexuals, a neologism of the 2000s, already existed back then. Very popular were beauty aids for men to stimulate hair growth or to eliminate bald spots.
Fast-forward to the 19th century: While our great-grandmothers must have resorted to crude, painstaking procedures to look beautiful, today, being beautiful — and staying beautiful — is a breeze.
For instance, there’s the Philips multi-styler, your virtual do-it-yourself mini salon. No need to make an appointment with your hair stylist, battle traffic or other customers waiting in line at your favorite salon. Of course, you’ll probably miss out on the most hair-raising gossip in town as dished out by your favorite tattler, I mean hair cutter, while he’s doing your hair.
But let’s forget about other people’s hairy tales and concentrate on our hair. This mini 10-in-1 salon wonder says a lot about Philips’ Sense and Simplicity philosophy. Consider its state-of-the-art features: ceramic coating for ultra-shiny styles, even heat technology for effective results without hot spots, long-lasting perfect results, quick heat-up time (two to five minutes), unlimited versatility and creativity with an assortment of unique hair styling attachments, and a neat travel pouch for portability and easy storage, and, of course, hairclips. Makes sense. It’s as simple as that.
Easy does it — the Philips multi-styler can create the latest styles for every occasion: straight and sleek, crimps for added texture, textured waves, triangular twists, large voluminous curls, soft and silky curls, spiral curls, tight curls. Curls just wanna have fun!
For frizz-free hair, try the Salon Straight Jade from Philips. With super-smooth jade ceramic plates combined with professional styling temperature, it closes the cuticles of the hair to lock in nutrients for maximum shine and protection. It’s got an adjustable temperature setting to suit one’s hair type. You will also love its heat-resistant pouch.
And hair’s another one from Philips: Satin Ice Epilator. Through the eons, there have been faithful followers (or victims?) of the epilator method of hair removal. No pain, no gain, right? Dead wrong. You don’t have to put yourself through so much torture because now, there’s the Satin Ice Epilator for waxing. Simply put the water-filled ice attachment in the freezer and it will numb the area about to be plucked. Surely, plucking has never been this painless. But the question that forever boggles the mind is: Why, oh why, do we grow hair and lose hair where we shouldn’t?
Ever heard of spa power in the shower? The Philips and Bliss Bikini Perfect Deluxe spa edition spells pure bliss. It helps get rid of stray hairs without having to submit yourself (or endure) a bikini wax. This de-fuzzing, hair-razing, skin-smoothing spa-at-home grooming system is great for the swimsuit season. But for those who love the water, every season is a perfect reason to don one’s teeny-weeny bikini. This spa-tial gadget comes with six heads for all your bikini and brow grooming needs. It’s simply perfect for in-between spa appointments and for travel. It’s so spa-tial it comes with a Bliss drawstring travel bag. Plus, you have the Bliss lemon and sage body butter, lemon and sage body scrub, and ingrown hair eliminating peeling pads.
No doubt about it, Philips is the electronic grooming guru. Hair ye! Hair ye!
