Your hair is your crowning glory. Look after it and it will shine for all the world to see. You don’t always need expensive treatments, or visits to a hair salon to manage your hair professionally. There’s so much you can do yourself.

1. For shiny, healthy hair think first of your body’s intake. Your hair is really just a reflection of what you are inside. A good balanced, nutritious and healthy diet will do more to make your hair shine than any shampoo or conditioner. And drink eight to ten glasses of water a day too; hair is 25% water, so don’t let yours go thirsty!

2. Dry your hair after washing in the ambient temperature of your room after using an absorbent towel to soak up the excess moisture, but don’t rub hard. If possible, don’t use blow-drying, flat irons, curling irons or hot rollers. Artificial heating will leave your hair brittle and damaged in time. Be natural whenever you can.

3. Prevent unnecessary hair damage by using the right kind of hairbrush. Only comb wet hair with a wide-tooth comb, combing from end to root, but avoiding touching the root. Detangling wet hair with a hard steel comb can create a lot of damage, so don’t!

4. Remove trichoptlosis, or split ends, like this: take small sections of your hair and carefully twist them in a gentle downward motion. The split ends will stick out. Using sharp scissors, carefully cut into the twisted section, but not right through, to remove the damaged cuticles and leave a natural layered look. Cut roughly the same amount from each twist to balance the effect.

5. Hair loss can be slowed, or even reversed by applying a few simple tips, though they probably won’t cure an underlying condition. Biotin can help to regenerate hair follicles: blend bananas with honey, yoghurt and low-fat milk, and drink it daily. Supplements such as Vitamin B6, zinc and saw palmetto will help too, but eliminating stress and getting plenty of sleep may work just as well.

We are all obsessed with our hair, whether we are 9 or 90, male or female. Look after yourself first and foremost and your hair will reflect that care and attention. The Biblical Samson’s strength lay in his fine flowing hair. Your hair reflects your strength too.

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Lucy Bryant is a hair specialist with her own website on all aspects of hair and hair styling. She lives with her family in rural Vermont.

At last, a real life insurance bargain - but as always there are strings attached!

If you take out a new pension policy after 6 th April 2006 and within the same premium pay for life insurance cover, then you can use your pension contribution tax allowance to reduce the cost of your life insurance. This means if you’re a standard rate taxpayer, you’ll receive 22% tax relief on your life insurance premiums and relief at 40% if you’re a higher rate taxpayer.

The combined premium you pay for your pension and life insurance will automatically be reduced by 22% by the pension provider. But if you’re a higher rate taxpayer, you’ll need to claim the balance to bring your relief up to 40%, on your year-end self-assessment tax return.

But there are three strings attached:

• The pension company must also provide your life insurance and be paid as one combined premium.

• The current value of your pension fund plus the sum insured by your life insurance policy must not exceed £1.5 million.

• Your combined annual premium for your pension and life insurance must not exceed £215,000.

In practice the savings on your life insurance will not be quite as big as you might otherwise expect. Its because the underlying premium for the life insurance cover will be a bit more expensive than a stand-a-lone policy with the same company and, in all probability, the insurance company providing your pension policy won’t be the cheapest on the life insurance market. Furthermore, you can’t buy a combined pension and life insurance policy online - so you’ll miss out on the Internet’s discounted life insurance prices.

Nevertheless, if you’re a higher rate taxpayer, your tax savings are bound to guarantee that your life cover is a real bargain! If you’re a standard rate taxpayer you’d be wise to do a little homework. Before you buy, you should get an online quote for life insurance to compare against the price you’d pay if you bought it alongside your new pension.

There are some other points you also need to know. Firstly we know you’ll ask whether you can convert your existing life insurance policy into a combined pension purchase. The answer is no! The tax relief is only available if from the outset, you take a pension and life insurance policy as one combined purchase.

Secondly, the life insurance cover can only apply to the owner of the pension policy - you can’t add in anyone else on the life insurance policy. Joint policies aren’t available as a pension/life insurance package.

And whilst many people also add critical illness cover to their life insurance, this is not possible when you have a pension/life insurance package. Critical illness cover pays out a tax-free lump sum if you are diagnosed with a specified serious illness which is listed on your policy. If you want critical illness cover, you’ll have to buy a normal stand-a-lone policy.

Finally, if you’re going to buy a pension life insurance package and replace your existing life cover, a few words of warning. You’ll obviously be older now than when you first took out your existing life insurance policy. This means that the premium rate on your new cover will be higher. Furthermore, the premium for your new policy could be loaded if you’ve developed any medical conditions since taking out your original life insurance. Remember, even if you’ve simply put on weight, your premium could be loaded. In extreme medical cases, the proposed insurer might even totally refuse to provide life cover. To avoid the possibility of being caught without life insurance cover or being forced to accept a more expensive premium, you should obtain written confirmation from your pension company that they will insure you. You then need to compare their proposed cost, net of tax, with your existing premium.

Brokers Online are a large uk based financial website. We specialise in providing upto date financial news which helps our readers make the right choices about their Life Insurance.

The Deck Building Ledger holds all the secrets to
successful deck construction because it is the essential
piece of wood that connects your deck to your home and
from which all other measurements are taken.

Choose the piece of lumber for your ledger carefully,
hold it up and look down the side of the wood to check
for irregularities like warping and twisting.

Choosing your Lumber

The ideal deck building ledger should be free of ingrown
knots and flaws, or at least only have very small knots.

The best flat board to pick out for the prestigious job
of becoming a ledger is a vertical grain board - this is
the wood which comes from the center of the tree and
will show the center circles.

Boards with an arc grain, known as a flat grain board,
are from the outer sides of the tree and are more prone
to warping or cupping over time.

If you are building a top quality deck made out of
only redwood or cedar then this doesn’t apply to
you, but otherwise, please make sure that you are only
using pressure treated lumber.

Many people who opt for a more expensive option in
lumber still use regular pressure treated wood for the
deck building ledger and the joists because these are
parts of the support of a deck that will NOT be
visible.

If this is the case, do remember to use the Redwood or
Cedar for the Outer Joists and End Beam, because
although they form part of the under support frame they
are visible when looking back at your deck from the
garden.

Once you have selected and seperated the best lumber you
should have choice pieces for both your ledger and for
your beams.

Positioning your Ledger

The first step in building a sucessful deck is finding
the right height at which to secure your deck building
ledger.

It is really important that you allow for a couple of
inches step down onto your deck from your door, this is
to help prevent rain water from running off the deck and
into your home.

Remember also, in the final part of construction, your
surface decking boards will be secured on top of the
side surface of your ledger and joists, so:

• Leave a 1″ — 2″ drop from your door

• Allow for the size of your decking boards - that
  will be another 2″

• So, measure 3″ — 4″ down from your indoor floor
  level

• And mark the wall showing the highest point of the
  ledger

A spirit level and a pencil are your next best friends,
you shouldn’t try to place a deck building ledger
without them.

Measure and mark along the wall, the full horizontal
length of exactly where you are going to place
your ledger.

Fitting your Deck Building Ledger

If your house is covered in siding you have to cut out
the exact size of siding to insert the deck building ledger AND
include enough at the sides to also insert the outer joists.

Flashing should be inserted up under the siding and onto
the top of the ledger, the join should be closed with
sealant.

If your home doesn’t have siding you don’t need to use
flashing but you should still use sealant to close any gap
between the ledger and the wall.

Galvanised four inch lag screws will secure your ledger into the wall and give you a level and firm foundation to build
your deck design onto.

Admire Your Work

You can now stand back and admire the ledger attached to
your house — if attached at the right level and
perfectly horizontal — you have the beginnings of a
great deck design for your home and it all starts with
your deck building ledger.

Arpad Nyikos has written numerous articles with
illustrations - dedicated to home improvement trends to
add value to your home or simply add quality to your
home life, plus improvement projects and different ways
that you can finance them. You can read more about deck
design here at HREF="http://www.home-improvement-and-financing.com/deck-design.html" rel="nofollow">home-improvement-and-financing.com A
great way to keep ahead with your home improvement
project is a FREE subscription to HREF="http://www.home-improvement-and-financing.com/home-improve-e-zine.html" rel="nofollow">Home Improve E-zine

Fact number 1: Kids in high school are making thousands of
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