Month: December 2018

December 05, 2018 at 05:30AM So you’ve just been handed a dirty little pink slip (no, unfortunately not the slinky, silky version you might find at the likes of La Perla). It quickly dawns on you that, you’ve just been let go—told to pack your file folders and your ficus and to leave the building, like, now. What’s your next step? If the voice inside your head is screaming “PANIC!,” with flashes of an eviction notice and moldy bread for dinner and essentially unpayable medical bills crossing your mind, that’s totally normal. But, it’s also completely unnecessary. Even if you hadn’t been financially planning for a rainy day, with some smart, in-real-time strategizing, you can feel solid about your financial security and overall well-being until that next steady paycheck comes along. Here’s how. Here, a complete checklist of things to do if you lose your job: Photo: Getty Images/PK Photos 1. Make a budget (no, really—you need to do it this time!) Regardless of whether you’ve been carefully counting your pennies since the fourth grade or you’ve never so much as glanced at a bank statement, now is the time to update (or create from scratch) your monthly budget. And while it can seem daunting, even demoralizing to do so given that the income column may now amount to a big, fat zero, that’s all the more reason to get a handle on your spending, says Kristen Euretig, a certified financial planner and founder of the financial planning firm Brooklyn Plans.

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December 05, 2018 at 04:00AM In wintertime, every extremity is pretty much under attack (see: cracked hands, thirsty lips, and super-stripped strands). But on those mornings when you leave accidentally leave your cozy hat at home (nooo!!!), one more body part will fall prey to the wind chill: your ears. “Ears are often sensitive to the cold because of a very large network of nerves that provide sensation to the ears. In fact, the ear canals are of the most sensitive parts of the body,” says Jason Abramowitz, MD, at New York and New Jersey’s ENT and Allergy Associates. And because your ears are already so sensitive, very cold air can be super irritating to them, he says. “[Cold air] can directly reach the ear drum, which is also highly sensitive,” he adds. Hello, painful, sore, burning ears. If it seems like your ears are extra-prone to Jack Frost’s mayhem, you’re probably right—it is a thing. “People who are more sensitive to the cold than others likely have a different variation of the nerves in the ear canal,” the doc explains. Lucky you. Your ears are also a source of warmth retention in your body, says Dr. Abramowitz. “When they are exposed to the cold, it can contribute to cooling of the body temperature,” he says—meaning that if your ears are cold, the rest of your body will soon be, too. And on top of that, Dr. Abramowitz says that having a cooler body temperature can decrease your blood flow, which can increase the potential for

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December 05, 2018 at 04:00AM In wintertime, every extremity is pretty much under attack (see: cracked hands, thirsty lips, and super-stripped strands). But on those mornings when you leave accidentally leave your cozy hat at home (nooo!!!), one more body part will fall prey to the wind chill: your ears. “Ears are often sensitive to the cold because of a very large network of nerves that provide sensation to the ears. In fact, the ear canals are of the most sensitive parts of the body,” says Jason Abramowitz, MD, at New York and New Jersey’s ENT and Allergy Associates. And because your ears are already so sensitive, very cold air can be super irritating to them, he says. “[Cold air] can directly reach the ear drum, which is also highly sensitive,” he adds. Hello, painful, sore, burning ears. If it seems like your ears are extra-prone to Jack Frost’s mayhem, you’re probably right—it is a thing. “People who are more sensitive to the cold than others likely have a different variation of the nerves in the ear canal,” the doc explains. Lucky you. Your ears are also a source of warmth retention in your body, says Dr. Abramowitz. “When they are exposed to the cold, it can contribute to cooling of the body temperature,” he says—meaning that if your ears are cold, the rest of your body will soon be, too. And on top of that, Dr. Abramowitz says that having a cooler body temperature can decrease your blood flow, which can increase the potential for

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December 05, 2018 at 03:08AM I’ve been acutely aware of body hair ever since I decided to start shaving my arms in middle school (I’ve since embraced that hair, thank you very much). However, I have hawk-like eyes when it comes to that one rogue chin hair that I get; nipple hair happens now-and-then, and I’m on it; and having not yet embraced the full bush, I’ve made the choice to stay diligent about the upkeep of my bikini line. Despite my guard-dog-esque tendencies for strands that inhabit the body, however, there’s one frontier that I haven’t paid much thought to: the hair on the buttocks. Yes, that’s right—I’m here to talk about butt hair and how to, well, deal with it. I asked a derm for answers on this and, though she couldn’t find a statistic for it, she noted that butt hair is totally common. “This is a normal finding,” says Estee Williams, MD, a board-certified dermatologist. “It’s not a cause for concern. Patients with thick, dark hair are more likely to have buttocks hairs than those with fine or lighter hair.” “[Butt hair] is a normal finding.” —Estee Williams, MD In fact, it’s so common that salon centers get the request to tend to those hairs quite often. “A butt strip is actually included in the Brazilian, which is one of our most popular services,” says Melanie Coba, national brand ambassador for European Wax Center. “A lot of guests upgrade to a full butt wax to ensure all

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