The Cosmetic Lexicon

The trend of the Metro-sexual man is on the rise. They're everywhere like the plague in their skinny jeans, scarves and their artfully emo-banged hair. You'd think with all these guys walking around with more hair products than we use, the guys nowadays would have a better understanding of the sacred feminine. But then we have guys like the Reverend who doesn't even know what conditioner is. While some girls are thankful for hetero guys like the Reverend, we just can't help but wonder; who on earth doesn't know what conditioner is? Doesn't he use it on his super-fast-growing bionic hair?

So for all those manly souls out there, these are the basics that you definitely need to know
Shampoo: Cleans out your hair. The type of shampoo you buy can depend on the type of hair. If a woman wakes up with a craving for poker straight locks, she will reach for her cleansing shampoo that will bring her one step closer to having sleek hair. For luscious curls, its moisturising shampoos and the same goes for dry/damaged hair. That is the basic rule of thumb for shampoo buying for both guys and girls.

Conditioner: CONDITIONS your hair. It's like food for hair. After shampooing, it gives your hair the smooth, tangle-free shine. Again, you got to keep in mind the structure of your hair. Dry, damaged or curly locks DEFINITELY need the extra conditioning/moisturising whereas straight locks can survive the skips.

Leave-In Conditioner: is a fairly self explanatory hair care product. Unlike conditioners that you use in the shower, a leave-in conditioner is sprayed in after you shower for an extra, extra boost to curls and dry/damaged hair. It's a great product for achieving those much coveted beach-y waves as it gives hair a gritty texture for the style to be created.

Mousse: is a foam spray that gives hair hold for styles as well as amped up volume without the stickiness. It comes in aerosol sprays and is the best thing to use as a base for creating curls with an iron or hot rollers.

Hair Gel: is something everyone knows about. It's gross and sticky and gives hair a wet, oily look. It is what above mentioned metros use to 'spike' up their hair and give it the much-coveted electrocuted look.

Anti-Frizz: is the best thing ever invented for curly hair in a humid climate by preventing it from having an appearance similar to a lion's mane.

Shine Serum: The name is pretty self-explanatory. It is a shine boost.

Flat Iron: is a godsend. This device allows us to straighten our hair and achieve super sleek, shiny poker straight hair. It also allows us to style our bangs. Be warned, it is super hot when being used, so don't try to touch it.

Curling Iron: self-explanatory again and is used by those who aren't blessed with perfect ringlets.

Hot Rollers: Big, bouncy waves are the 'It' hairstyle for this year. Those down-to-there, loose curls reminiscent of a 'hippie-chic mermaid' meets 'boho-babe lounging around at the beach in to-die-for stilettos' is what every girl prays for night after night and it is only achievable through hot rollers.

Yep, that's about the basics every man needs to know to wow the ladies in their life with their in-depth knowledge of feminine hair products. Anything more than that and you're on the expressway to metro-city. And by now, you've probably realised, a lady prefers a man.

By Musarrat Rahman

Myth Box

Siblings of the Sky

Japanese myths tell of how the deity Izanagi who, after failing to retrieve his wife from the Underworld, was performing a cleansing ritual when the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu, was born from his left eye, Tsukiyomi, the god of the moon, was born from his right eye, and Susanoo, god of storms, was born from his nose.

The oldest tales speak of rivalry between sisters and brothers. In a challenge, Susanoo created five men from Amaterasu's necklace, and she created five women from his sword. Since his object created women, Susanoo decided he had won the challenge, and took the new goddesses as his possession. Amaterasu acceded, but the god of storms could stay restful only for so long. As he destroyed his sister's rice fields and killed one of her attendants, Amaterasu went into hiding, shrouding the world in darkness. Susanoo was punished with banishment from heaven. On earth, he met an elderly couple whose daughters were being eaten by an eight-headed snake. He saved the eighth daughter by slaying the serpent, claiming the girl as his reward. Inside the serpent's tail he found a sword, the Kusanagi. Stories claim it can cut through anything, and even control the direction of the wind. This he gave his sister in return for forgiveness.

Tsukiyomi had a worse relationship with Amaterasu. He was sent as her representative to a feast held by Uke Mochi, the goddess of food. She created the feast by spitting out fish as she faced the ocean, excreting meat by turning to the forest, and coughing up rice by looking to the paddy field. Tsukiyomi was understandably disgusted, but he really shouldn't have killed her. At least the food looked great. When his sister found out she was furious. She refused to look at him again and moved to a different part of the sky. Hence the reason night and day are never together.

Later versions of the story have Susanoo kill Uke Mochi, but that gives no explanation for the behaviour of the sun and moon, so the new version is generally rejected. Anime lovers will be surprised at the extent and degree of accuracy to which this legend is used in Naruto, all the way down to Uke Mochi's feast, the serpent, and Sasuke's sword.

By Professor Spork

The Unspoken Rules

Humans are mysterious beings. Well, not all of them, rather most of us, the Bangladeshis are the ones that exhibit a peculiar band of weirdness in our everyday activities. We have a hard time stopping our car when the traffic post signals red (which, incidentally, means 'stop', in case you forgot), dump everyday wastes exactly 5 metres away from the rubbish bin, or the place where it's supposed to be placed and bend the laws at every chance we get. Not everyone is like this, of course, but they are far too overshadowed by the ones that are at wrong. These written rules and regulations can't bind our free spirits, yet there are times when we are astonishingly ethical and regular. Nobody talks about these, but everyone (again, almost) knows it and follows it. Here are the unspoken rules, or unwritten for that matter:

Splash the pedestrian: I hate when it rains and I have to walk during and after the pour. If there is the slightest hint of a puddle somewhere in the street and you happen to walk past it and a car happens to run nearby, you can be certain that it will run full speed over the water and splash you. This doesn't happen only between pedestrians and vehicles, but between the vehicles too. The big will splash the smaller ones - iron rule of driving in Bangladesh.

Give a man his privacy: when he is doing his 'business' on the footpath. Every decent Bangladeshi knows to step out of the footpath to get to at least ten feet away from the peeing man. Whether it is because of the smell or not, is questionable. Talking about peeing, have you noticed there are dedicated places for doing it on the footpaths? Otherwise you wouldn't notice the puddles on rainless days.

Can't see, can't hear, and can't comprehend: this is the chief rule of being in the vicinity of a mugging. Don't look in the eyes of the victim, take out your cell phone to message your wonderful experience of seeing someone being mugged to a friend or become extremely interested in the billboard, or the model whichever you prefer. Remember, you have never been near that area. If you are able, break into a run.

If there is an incident, assemble all around it: By incident I mean virtually everything, starting from a squabble over rickshaw/CNG fares to serious hand-to-hand fighting and from a white-skinned foreigner to a new car that has been scratched and the owner is out of it to do a thing or two to the one who scratched it. Gathering a crowd is no big deal, since it's in our genes to huddle for unnecessary reasons.

No gossiping about your friend's sibling:
Especially in front of him or her, if you don't want to offend them in some way. Seriously, well-mannered people don't do this kind of stuff.

The puffers' agreement: If there is a person going by, hold the stick in lest he should get burnt. And thankfully, they don't release all over your face.

Actually, there are no rules. You just have a feeling to do something. And then you do it. If your heart is not in the right place, no constitution, no guidebook, no police force will be able to make you civilised enough so that others are not harmed by you. Pretty heavy words for an article as silly as this, weren't they?

By Jawad