We wish you a Merry Christmas and we’ll be delighted to see you again next year for 2008 !

On the roooooooad again…

Or maybe schapskas on? To keep yourself warm, you need to keep your head covered! As you probably know: you lose a lot off heat through this part of the body. And this winter, if you want to get a head, get a schapska! It’s been on the catwalks quite a bit (in the latest fashion shows), comes from the north, and has some pretty darn practical fur lining and ear flaps.

But where can you find them?

• On this site (Chapellerie Traclet) you can find this cotton and rabbit fur schapska for €49, this other schapska made of leather and rabbit fur for €89 and this style made of sheepskin for €100
• On eBay, you can find this schapska made of cotton and rabbit fur (and at the same price - 49€) and other styles according to availability.
• At other big stores such as the Galeries Lafayette, le Printemps or even le Bon Marché

Today we offer a special midwinter special with a nearly indispensible accessory: a pair of gloves! To choose a decent pair of gloves, you need to take the following into account:

• Your size. The size is generally given by a number: 7, 7.5, 8… A glove that’s the right size fits well around your fingers, protecting you from the cold, and allowing you to feel with your fingertips. If they’re leather, pick them a little tight, the leather will soon give.
• Their intended use. Don’t take big ski gloves if you are walking around town or for cycling. Choose fine leather gloves, which are more elegant and allow you to feel properly (so you don’t feel like you’re wearing mittens)
• The lining. The lining can be wool, silk, cachmire or fleece. Take the season and your sensitivity to cold into account. A cachmire or fleece lining will of course be warmer than silk.
• The look. While you’re at it, choose gloves you like, whose style (shape, finishing and colour) go with the clothes (coat, shoes etc) you’re going to wear them with. Note: A fastener on the wrist can be attractive and practical for beating the cold.

Our glove selections:

• €34.90 from La Redoute for leather gloves with a cachmire and wool lining
• 59.90€ from Isotoner for leather gloves with fleece lining and a fastener on the wrist
• €107.10 from Forzieri for leather gloves with a cachmire lining
• and other styles on eBay

And today we’re back to boots! And, as promised, compared to previous articles, when we’ve been dreaming about relatively expensive boots, these ones are really rather reasonable! They are, in fact, the cheapest out of the ones we’ve seen up until now. A classic style, black or brown leather, with will give easily (just like you! You won’t be able to resist opening your wallets!)…

€101.91 from La Redoute

And to finish off nicely, here’s an accessory that we don’t speak of often enough, which is a mistake, as scarves are very practical when it’s cold, and can even be rather attractive! -Yes!

And to prove it, here’s a brown one with contrasting stripes from Superdry (the English brand with the vintage style that doesn’t just make polos and t-shirts !).

As they say: Keep warm and eat porridge (it’ll stick to your bones)! -And porridge is pretty old school, man…

£14.99 from Cult

Looking for the killer belt? This is one of the hot topics on the french forum. I found a belt on there that I had already seen during the sales: a croc-style leather one from Bill Tornade. It’s really classy with its rectangular metal buckle!

And in the same style there is another, thinner one, to wear with smart trousers.

€56 reduced from 80 on Le Bazar Parisien.com

Ok, I’ve made my decision, today I’m going to talk to you about Levi’s! It’s a mini-event, because in three years it’s the first time! Well, at least in the articles, because I had mentioned it in a section on the French site, called which jeans?

Now, it’s not that I’m boycotting Levi’s, but through the years, I’ve concentrated more on other brands of jeans. So much so that my last pair of Levi’s dates back to my college days…

Since then, it’s worth noting that Levi’s offer several collections: Vintage, Engineered, Blue, Red Tab (it’s actually very well explained on this French site). There are many different, more modern, styles such as the Levi’s 504, a semi slim, shown above! Note the the full slim style exists too, the Levi’s 511!

And we’re back to boots with a brand that shoe lovers know well: Fratelli Rossetti. As you may have guessed, it’s an Italian brand. These smooth leather boots are really classy! I particulary like the shape of the toe and the buckle. And budget-wise, they are offered at a reasonable price given the quality and finishing. Happy days!

€242 from Sarenza

It’s time for a few more words on the subject of hair removal. My last article on the subject (in French) was nearly 2 years ago. So today I’m going to explore permanent hair removal, with an interview with Dr. Ludovic Rousseau, a dermatology expert and webmaster of a site devoted to dermatology, and in particular laser hair removal.

- Hello doctor, is permanent hair removal really permanent?

Hello. We prefer to call it long-term hair removal, because although the hair the laser treats is destroyed, it is possible that other, unaffected hairs (lighter and downy hairs) may become darker (due to hormonal stimulation, for example).

- What are the current solutions offered for permanent hair removal?

Several techniques allow the hair to be permanently destroyed. Among them, the most well known and the most widely used are lasers and pulsed light. Lasers are beams of photons with the same wavelength. Some wavelengths are absorbed by melanin (the pigment found in hairs and skin) and destroy it using heat. This is called “selective photothermolysis”. The lasers used to destroy hairs use photons with these characteristics and intense light pulse lamps use photos with different wavelengths, some of which have these characteristics.

- Are there particular recommendations for different skin types?

- For pale skin: laser and pulsed light are not particularly or not at all effective on light hairs, as of course they destroy the hair’s pigment. And light hairs contain little or no pigment.
- In dark-skinned people, the skin contains a lot of melanin and they have a higher risk of seeing lighter patches after laser hair removal. There are, however, lasers that pose less risk of creating light patches on dark-skinned people and doctors who perform these operations will also adapt the settings of his machine to the patient’s skin type.
- In all cases, lasers are not advisable for people who are tanned after sunbathing as their skin contains a lot of melanin, which risks being destroyed by the laser, leaving them with lighter patches. What’s more, sun exposure is not recommended for several weeks after laser hair removal as the redness caused by the laser risks being coloured by the sun and leaving brown patches. It is therefore preferable to carry out sessions during winter. Moreover, lasers are not advisable for children and pregnant women, in individuals with certain conditions that render the skin sensitive to ultraviolet and sunlight, called photodermatoses, or if taking medication that increases photosensitivity. Finally, areas of skin that have anomalies such as beauty spots are generally avoided when performing laser hair removal

- What happens during a session?

As we have seen, sessions normally take place in winter, on untanned skin that has been shaved around 3 days before the session. The doctor and patient wear protective goggles. Each impact produces a prickling and burning sensation that is normally reduced by a cooling technique, or the application of an anaesthetic cream on the area for hair removal 1 to 2 hours before the session. After the session, the destroyed hairs are inflamed, and fall out within a few days.

- How much does it cost?

That’s a difficult question: prices vary from one clinic to another and are defined according to several criteria: the equipment used, the area for hair removal etc. The best solution seems to be asking for advice before making a decision. At any rate, it costs hundreds or thousands of euros depending on the size of the area to be treated (especially on a large area such as the back, for example). It takes several sessions (on average between 4 and to remove hair from the entire area: lasers and pulsed light destroy hairs that are currently in a growth phase (melanin rich), which only make up 15-20% of hairs on average. Only around 15-20% of hairs are therefore destroyed after a session, and it is necessary to separate the sessions by 2 to 4 weeks on average to obtain a new set of hairs in their growth phase.

- Which body parts do men most frequently have hair removed from?

Men usually want hair removing from the torso, back or even armpits and groin.