Blog Posts by Allure Daily Beauty Reporter

Lexi Novak, Allure magazine

Just because you retire your Havaianas and bikini when the temperature drops doesn't mean you should shelve the sunscreen, too. The sun emits harmful UV rays all year, whether it's 90 degrees outside or 19. Now I'm going to step down from my soapbox and make a confession: Even though I'm neurotic about sun protection in the summer, I do get a bit lax (OK, completely negligent) in winter. So I spoke with Debra Jaliman, a New York City dermatologist and author of Skin Rules (St. Martin's Press), about why SPF is still important during colder months.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

Why is sun protection necessary throughout the winter?
"First of all, sun damage is cumulative, so every day of your life, even if you're out for ten minutes, you're getting sun damage. Every morning, first thing, I walk my dog for literally three to five minutes. I wear sunscreen every day, but to walk my dog I didn't do it, and I was getting brown spots. So just

Getty ImagesCatherine Q. O'Neill, Allure magazine

This week, news spread like wildfire that Mad Men star January Jones was going bald due to multiple dye jobs. "I have been every colour and now my hair is falling out in clumps," Jones told fashion magazine Grazia. Naturally, the news freaked out quite a few people (especially the ones reading their Twitter feeds mid-double process). So, we called trusted colorist Kyle White to set the record straight.

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

Turns out, hair dye probably isn't the problem. "Hair color can dry hair, make it brittle, and even break the hair in extreme cases, but it doesn't make hair fall out," White says. "The only way to make hair fall out is to damage the root of the hair under the scalp." Because hair color doesn't go into the scalp, Jones is either referring to her hair breaking off mid-strand or there's something else at work. "Hair loss is a medical issue, not a hair-color issue," White says. "It can be caused be a variety

Getty ImagesElizabeth Siegel, Allure magazine

There's an internet rumor creeping around that we want to squash right now, before anyone else buys into it. Getting laser hair removal on your bikini area cannot cause infertility. We know your friend's sister's cousin's friend swears she knows someone it happened to, but it's just not possible.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

"The way laser hair removal works is by targeting pigment in a hair follicle," says Elizabeth Hale, a dermatologist and a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the New York University School of Medicine in New York City. "The lasers we use penetrate less than one millimeter into the skin, so there's no way they could reach your ovaries. But even if they did-which they never, ever could-they wouldn't do anything, anyway. They work on pigment and have no bearing on fertility."

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

What is risky, however, is getting laser hair removal from a spa tech instead of a

CN Digital StudioJoan Kron, Allure magazine

Need to touch up your Facebook photo? As the saying goes, there's an app for that. Worried that the discolored spot on your cheek might turn out to be precancerous? There's an app for that, too-but there's a big difference between the two. One app may get you more "likes" while the other may be meddling-dangerously, it turns out-in a life-or-death health matter.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

Medical apps for smartphones are proliferating, including ones that compare photos of your moles and skin discolorations with a database of known cancers to determine whether your spots are potentially dangerous. In a new study published last week on the website of the journal JAMA Dermatology, the results from four apps designed to assess melanoma risk were found to be disappointing. According to the study's authors, three of those apps tested "misclassified 30 percent or more of melanomas as benign."

The study by members of the dermatology

CN Digital StudioMadeline Donnelly, Allure magazine

I'm sure I don't need to remind you of this, but hot damn it's cold. Really cold. The type of cold that makes me turn on my space heater the minute I get home at night and vow to never go outside again. Call me dramatic…but I'll tell you who doesn't think I'm overreacting: my lips. They're far too busy clinging for dear life to the remnants of my last swipe of Palmer's Cocoa Butter to worry about name-calling.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

So while I can't really do anything about the Siberia-worthy temperatures outside, I can give you some tips and tricks from dermatologist pro Dr. Francesca Fusco to help keep chapped lips at bay. Here goes:

What are the main causes of chapped lips?
"During cold weather and in low humidity environments, moisture is lost very rapidly from or through the top layer of skin. A good visual I give my patients is how soil cracks in the uppermost layers during cold and freezing weather. And-because

Renee Trilivas, Allure magazine

We buff our feet so they're silky soft, take rotating brushes to our faces until they glow, and scrub our bodies smooth with sugar and salt, but where's the love for the skin above our hairlines? Recently, I took my dry, winter-battered curls to the Alex Anthony Salon in New York City for a little TLC and got the scoop on scalp exfoliation.

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

It may seem obvious that healthy hair starts with a healthy scalp. But as many of us now shampoo less frequently to avoid drying out our hair, that translates to serious buildup of oil and dirt. "Just like you exfoliate your skin to remove these from your pores, you should be doing the same for your scalp," says salon co-owner Alex Mnayarji. She gave me a sinus-clearing peppermint scrub treatment to stimulate blood flow and remove product buildup, followed by a vanilla-and-cinnamon deep conditioning treatment to repair and boost shine (and, yes, it did make me crave

Courtesy of whitehouse.govAlexandra Owens, Allure magazine

At Monday's inauguration, the Obama women made sleek, healthy hair in January look easy-but when it comes to frizz, frigid temperatures can be just as daunting as sweating it out at a mid-July picnic. We spoke with Chris Lospalluto from Sharon Dorram Color at Sally Hershberger Uptown in New York City about how to tame flyaways when there's no avoiding winter cold and winds. "It's all about prep," he says. "There's no one miracle product-you need to find the ones that are right for your hair type."

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

Condition. "Leave-in conditioner, like Alberto VO5 Detangle & Shine, creates a little bit of weight in your hair and keeps it nourished and moisturized. Even if you go outside and it gets blown around, it won't get superstatic-y."

Smooth. "Oribe Imperméable Anti-Humidity Spray is really good for static. Even if it's not humid outside, it still protects your hair from frizzing out. Anti-frizz serum, like Kerastase

Courtesy of SmashboxRenee Trilivas, Allure magazine

By now, I bet you know all about BB creams. (If not, here's a refresher course: they're supercharged tinted moisturizers, usually with anti-aging ingredients and SPF-and they've become a beauty-bag staple for women on the go.) But instead of just slathering it all over your face, try some of our favorite new ways to wear a BB cream.

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

Sheer your foundation. If you need coverage, but don't like the heaviness of foundation, use makeup artist Christophe Dachshund's trick to boost your foundation with a BB cream (he used it on Marion Cotillard at the Golden Globes). The cream will sheer out the texture without compromising coverage much-plus, it gives skin a subtle glow. Mix a pea-sized dollop of your usual foundation with an equal amount of BB cream like Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream (less if you need more pigment) and blend before applying.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

Diffuse your blush. To