Cold water is an excellent skin toner for summer. In morning apply fresh squeezed fruit or berry juice all over your face and neck. If your skin is dry or irritated, follow with sour cream or oil (olive, sunflower, almond). Now wash your face with cold water. Ice cubes will feel great on normal and oily skin, however if you have visible capillaries, ice can make them worse.

Fruit masks is another easy summer treat. If you do not have allergies, they can be used everyday. Active ingredients in fruits will freshen and clean your skin. For best result use fresh fruits and berries and make just enough juice or mixture for one application. There are some general guidelines to follow:

1. Clean skin first. 2. If your skin type is dry, apply a thin layer of light cream while skin is still wet. 3. Soak a piece of cheese cloth in mashed fruit or juice and leave it on your face for 10-15 minutes (cut out holes for eyes in cheesecloth to avoid eye irritation caused by fruit acids).

The mask can also be made with egg yolks, powdered oatmeal, or sour cream. For oily skin mix fruits with egg whites. If your mask has a thick consistency, you may not need a cheesecloth.

Fruits you can use:

- For dry skin - apricots, grapes, melon, plums, bananas. You may add carrot juice to your mask, it is great for dry skin. The orangy color will disappear pretty fast. - For irritated skin or if you have visible capillaries - parsley is answer to your problems. - For oily skin and enlarged pores - cabbage, cranberry, red currant. - Tomato, cucumber, watermelon and orange juices will do good for any skin type.

After removing a fruit mask, it is not necessary to wash your face with water - wipe it with a cotton ball soaked in tea, herbal infusion or cucumber juice.

When using masks, don't forget about your neck - it needs just same attention as your face.

Have fun!

(C) Natalie Katsman, 2003

And if other woman is not as beautiful as you? Do not worry! He will find something else with which she can compete and win you - perhaps she is good at jokes? Perhaps she is Spanish?( Think Penelope Cruz!); Perhaps she looks like his mother? (think Camila Parker!); perhaps she is a cartoonist he met again in Paris (think Sally-Ann Lasson!); And who knows, perhaps she was married to his best friend; she even could be your best friend , which should translate automatically to a better you - you know. Yet, you could be one of those very lucky few. He would leave a model for you, give you a cocaine addiction then hang himself in a hotel room (think Michael Hutchinson!).

What are men good for? Tough question. They could open doors, carry heavy shopping bags, pay bills, give you a fake orgasm when you are dying to feel like a porn star, give you a name to use for rest of your life, grant you a divorce settlement, bestow a title, and call you mother of their children out of respect to show eternal gratitude. And if most of above do not apply? They can paint walls, drain pipes, mow grass and arrange a troubadore life for you and children in anything ranging from a caravan to single-mothers homes. They can even leave a wedding picture to testify you were desired by at least one testosterone-infected creature so you would never be accused of being an old maid. Not even that? So we are talking gigolos; but then you must be filthy rich, horribly ugly and obviously old. If you are all that, you are a born winner. You can afford best human vibrators and pay nothing but cash for excellent services.

Did I say I was writing this to all men I loved before who were shown my back door? I said it when I only meant them to know what I say behind their back to all women they have in store.Sing please!

An Egyptian-born writer and poet who is mainly published in English.