Tretinoin cream and a sunscreen is all you need for the perfect skin (throw in a moisturiser if you have dry skin)

    Ditch all the expensive, fancy skin-care products you have in your cupboard now...EVERYTHING!!!

    Ditch the SK-II (it's way too expensive), ditch the Olay night creams and everything..

    For the most perfect skin, apply a high SPF sunscreen whenever you go out in the sun, and try putting some over-the-counter tretinoin cream (without all the other fancy ingredients in it) on your face at night before bedtime.

   Tretinoin is a form of vitamin A (more specifically, a carboxylic acid form of vitamin A). It works by causing our skin cells to divide and die more rapidly, increasing the turnover of our skin cells. This removes the damaged top layers our skin to expose the new, healthy-looking skin layers which constantly forms with the use of tretinoin. Therefore, a fresh and healthier-looking skin is what we get from using tretinoin.

    In other words, tretinoin causes the damaged, upper layers of skin cells to peel off to show the newer layer of skin cells underneath. You can see this from the peeling of skin which occurs with the use of tretinoin, which can simply be removed with a wet, clean cloth. The result is similar to what you get from exfoliating skin treatments such as microdermabrasion and chemical peels, without the hefty price tag.

    However, the skin can often be irritated, become dry and has a burning sensation to it for some time when using tretinoin cream for the first time. This can particularly be felt in the thinner skin areas of our face such as around the eyes. For some, using tretinoin cream for the first time can also make the skin appear worse in the beginning, such as having acnes.

    This often frightens first-time users of tretinoin cream and make them stop using tretinoin cream altogether. The trick is to to start by using a very small amount of low-strength tretinoin cream on the face once a week and slowly increase the amount of days we use the tretinoin cream in a week as our skin gets adjusted to the it. As for the dryness of skin which also often occurs in the beginning of using tretinoin cream, a simple moisturiser would solve the problem (or try rubbing some olive oil on your skin if it gets too dry).

     These first-time skin irritation and painful conditions WILL subside with continued use of tretinoin cream as our skin cells gets used to tretinoin. After a few weeks, a much clearer and healthier-looking skin can be seen, no matter at what age we start using the tretinoin cream. It is important not to give up on using tretinoin cream as our skin experiences worsening conditions as it gets adjusted to tretinoin.

    It is also extremely important for first-time users of tretinoin cream put on some high-SPF sunscreen before going out in the sun as tretinoin cream can also make the skin very sensitive to the sun in the beginning of using it, resulting in skin which is very prone to sunburn and sun-induced damage. The use of sunscreen is nevertheless recommended to everyone before going out in the sun regardless of whether one is using tretinoin cream or not.

WARNING : TRETINOIN CREAM SHOULD NOT BE USED BY PREGNANT WOMEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE SUSPECTED TO BE PREGNANT AS ITS USE DURING PREGNANCY COULD CAUSE FOETUS DEFORMATION AND BIRTH DEFECTS IN NEWLY-BORN BABIES.

Japan's penis festival (Kanamara Matsuri)

    There is a festival in Japan called the penis festival (also known as Kanamara Matsuri as called by the Japanese). The human penis is revered and celebrated in this festival by having giant-sized replicas of the human penis paraded around the city.

      There are also various types of penis-shaped objects displayed in the public during the festival, such as vegetables and wood pieces carved to the shape of human penis. People also suck on candies shaped as human penises in the festival. In short, the whole city would be filled with penis-shaped objects during the festival.

   What an interesting festival this is....

   To be more exact, the festival is held in the Kanayama Shrine in the city of Kawasaki, Japan.

   The legend which allegedly led to this festival goes like this;  a jealous sharp-toothed demon hid inside the vagina of a young woman the demon fell in love with and bit off penises of two young men on their wedding nights. After that the woman sought help from a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, which led to the enshrinement of the item (source from Wikipedia).

   The Kanayama Shrine was popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted infections. (source from Wikipedia).

    The exact date of the festival varies, the main festivities takes place on the first Sunday in April (source from Wikipedia).

    There's even a radish carving contest where radishes would be carved to look like penises by the contestants, the winner would be the one who carved his/her radish as closely to the anatomically-correct penis-shape as possible, I suppose.

    Below is a picture of a person in Batman costume who parades around with his erect penis in the festival (his penis seems to be have some sort of covering on it, so its not exactly exposed).

Do go to this festival and take part in its activities if you happen to visit Japan somewhere in April. Enjoy Japan!!