My Chi arrived yesterday so I had an opportunity to use it on my hair before coming to work this morning. I love it! It's so easy to use! It seems to glide down the hairshaft much more smoothly than my old flatiron did and quickly and easily takes out the residual "bend" from my hair that I'm usually left with after blowdrying. I haven't yet invested in thermal protectant, but I'll pick some up at Ulta or Sephora this weekend. I also haven't yet mastered the skill of using the Chi on my bangs (which are long and sideswept) -- it makes them a little too sticky-outy for my liking, but I would imagine there are some flick of the wrist tricks I can practice using when I have more time. I've heard of the straightening process you mentioned, Ann, and will admit I'm intrigued! But since I like to sometimes wear my hair curly/wavy I think I'll just stick to flatironing for now. I hope your daughter loves her hair after having it done! :-)

I've been doing a LOT of research about this - I've been having some awful symptoms for the past 2 years (since turning 40) -- some of which are typical menopause related stuff and some are not, but I suspect all are related to hormonal decline. I've been getting bloodwork and basically, my estrogen and thyroid are both circling the drain --- my last bloodwork showed the estrogen level of a 60 year old (I'm 42! WTH!) I am pursuing bioidentical hormone replacement via cream. I don't have it all figured out yet (I get the feeling that there's a lot of experimenting on yourself til you find the right combo) but from the reading I did, I am pretty confident that this is what I need. Those of you saying you can't take HRT because of pre-existing tendency to blood clots or migraines or whatever might want to investigate the bioidentical stuff via transdermal cream. Blood clots are only an issue when estrogen is taken orally and passes through the liver -- if you are delivering it via skin or patch, there is no increased risk of blood clots (and in fact, your risk of other heart issues goes way down). Migraines are also one of the things that estrogen can help. And even the connection between estrogen and breast cancer is not as cut and dried as I thought -- I feel safe taking the bioidentical estrogen. I have read probably 20 books on the subject of menopause and HRT and the one I found most clear ad helpful is called Screaming to Be Heard by Elizabeth Vliet. I would recommend reading it - it pretty much debunks a lot of the things that I had heard about HRT including the results of that women's health study that caused everyone to abandon HRT -- did you know that whole study was done with synthetic hormones, not bioidentical? And that none of the horrible side effects found in that study have been found in studies that use bioidentical hormones? They are all related to the synthetic stuff like norethidrone and premarin. Because the pharmaceutical companies can't patent a naturally occuring substance and therefore can't make big bucks of bioidentical, there have been few efforts to educate doctors or do controlled studies on bioidentical hormones, but the studies that have been done show amazing benefits without the scary side effects. (Of course, the pharma companies don't want you to know that, because they want you to keep taking your premarin....)

Hot Flashes, HOT FLASHES...............what's a girl to do? I'll tell you what to do. You look for alternatives that will help to lessen the symptoms that come out of nowhere to make your life miserable and crazy! I suffered with them for quite awhile and then I decided to try a few things to help alleviate the hot flashes and the night sweats or make them more bearable. Someone had suggested using a satin pillowcase, because they are smooth and the fabric is nice and cool. Trust me, it works, Especially when you flip the pillow over. The second thing I do and what I have to found to work best for me is an eye pillow, right out of the freezer. I keep it there so its ready at a moments notice. I use a peppermint scented one because it opens up my sinuses and that helps me to breathe a lot better and helps any sinus or tension related headaches. The cold flax seed inside the eye pillow surrounds my eyes, temples, forehead and cheeks. You will be amazed at just how much relief and comfort you will get. The weight of the flax seed applies just enough acupressure to soothe and relax your facial muscles so your not so tense and uncomfortable . The eye pillow also blocks out all light so you can truly relax and get some needed rest. I searched online and found several sites that had them. The one I decided to go with was A Touch Of Satin. I liked them because their ingredients were organic, and that was important to me. They had an unbelievably large selection of patterns and I like the feel of satin on my skin. They also had a page on their site that talked about the benefits of their aromatherapy scents. They had lavender as well and that is suppose to be very calming and they also had them unscented. It was very interesting. If you want to check them out, go to the link shown below. Well, I hope this helps you. Good luck! Here is a link that might be useful: A Touch Of Satin

Yes it does. I am 63 - menopause hit at 57. But last year I started spotting so I called my doctor and I had to go for the water-drinking horrible ultrasound. It revealed a thickened uterine lining and small fibroids so I had to go to a gyno. She did the biospy in her office - it really hurt and she couldn't get much but fortunately just enough for the lab to check for cancer. There wasn't any. She prescribed 2 prometrium pills of 100 mg a day for 4 months and that took care of the problem. Jump forward to Sept. of 2013 and the spotting was back so once again the horrible ultrasound and then the biopsy in her office. Again she managed to get just enough - although she was doubtful. Had the lab not had enough of a sample to check for cancer I would have had to go into the hospital for a biopsy - I expected it would be by a local, much like a cysto - but no, you are put under. I am one of those who do not sedate well - it has the opposite effect. A local that should last 3 hours will last maybe 5 - 10 minutes at most. A doctor can put me under but I won't stay under for long. So I was grateful that I didn't have to have that done. In your situation I think the test is required. People think that I have a higher tolerance for pain than the normal person - I don't - I just know what is going to happen. Actually the gyno was very impressed that I didn't say boo on her table. I hope everything works out for you, but if you don't take the test and you do have a major problem you will kick yourself later. Despite knowing what would happen to me in the hospital I would have been there in a nanosecond - or however long it took for the gyno to arrange the test - I live in Canada so probably a year.