The Homemade Homemaker

We spend a fortune on hi-tech beauty and cleaning products, often without really thinking about what's in the lotions and potions we slap on our faces and pour down the drains. Yet with just a little bit of imagination and forethought, we could easily make many of them ourselves. In this new regular column, we'll bring you recipes for everything from toilet cleaner to toothpaste.

One month of … no shampoo

Ruth Allan: I brushed my hair each night to draw the natural oils away from the roots, and was pleased to see a smoother, sleeker me in the mirror.

Beauty queen

Kathy Phillips: How to protect with sunscreens and tanning creams.

Eaten alive

Can the best way to treat dead or diseased skin really be to immerse yourself in a pool of ravenous creatures? Lucy Atkins on the rise of 'doctor fish'.

The great diet test

The new year brought a raft of new weight-loss books - but do any of the diets work? We asked eight Guardian readers to test 2007's most-hyped eating plans for a month, and a dietician to work out which were the healthiest ... with some surprising results.

What I see in the mirror

Chrissie Hynde: What I see when I look in the mirror bears little, if any, resemblance to my true self. The nervous-looking piebald staring back is more like Ginger from Black Beauty - compliant, broken, surrendered.

Doctor on the net

You can buy tests, a diagnosis and prescription drugs on the internet, but can treatment at the hands of a medic you never meet be safe? Diane Taylor reports.

What I see in the mirror

Liz Jones: I was six when I first realised how hideous I looked. My older sister Sue and I had our school photo taken together. My eyes are too close together, my skin sallow and my teeth crooked. She is smiling while I just look anxious.