Q. Hi Catherine,
I loved Angelina Jolie’s hair at the Oscars this year. What products does she use? How can I do this with my own hair?
-- Marnie, Toronto

Hi Marnie,
For the Oscars this year, Angelina’s hair was styled by David Babaii, a famous celebrity hairstylist whose celebrity clientele includes Kate Hudson, Scarlett Johansson and Sarah Jessica Parker. He has his own personal line of hair products called David Babaii for Wildaid. In interviews I’ve read about the Angelina Jolie hair-do, David stated that when the hair was damp he sprayed in his Volcanic Ash Root Amplifier around the crown to get extra volume and height, and also sprayed the Bohemian Beach Spray to get Angelina’s naturally straight hair to hold a better curl. After the hair was dried, it was then parted into three sections and curled independently with a smaller curling iron to achieve a "ribbon curl." To achieve this type of curl you must tightly wrap the hair around the iron and then pull downwards to get the spiral effect. The hair was then pinned and lightly hairsprayed to set. After the pins were removed, the curls were lightly brushed out to make them fuller. To conclude he used his extra-hold hairspray for an added layer of hold and additional shine. If you are looking to try out David’s hair care line you can find more information about it online at db4wildaid.com.

Q. Dear Catherine,
I am 6 months pregnant and really starting to get big. Is there anything I can put on my tummy so I don’t get as many stretch marks?
-- Jackie, Oakville

Hi Jackie,
First off, let me say congratulations! The best way to prevent stretch marks is to keep your skin hydrated and nourished with Vitamin E and essential oils. Two products I recommend trying are Elemis Japanese Camellia Oil which is rich in plant collagen to make skin more elastic and Body Shop Wild Cherry Body Butter which provides intense hydration and absorbs quickly.

Q. Hi Catherine,
I noticed you mentioned that an item was Paraben-free this week in your product pick. What does that mean?
-- Christa, Charlottetown

Hi Christa,
I have such attentive readers. This was my most popular question in the e-mail bag this week. Parabens are chemical preservatives found in shampoo and many other personal care products to help the product last longer on the store shelf. You can normally identify a paraben by reading the back panel ingredients listing; you will come across items such as butylparaben, ethylparaben, isobutylpareben. Anything that ends with "paraben", these are all preservatives. Paraben chemical structures are similar to hormone estrogen and by being absorbed into the skin are disrupting the endocrine system. Lately, many beauty companies have been removing parabens from their products because research has showed that there are possible links between them and breast cancer, fluid retention, weight gain and fetal abnormalities.

Send Catherine Main your beauty questions to counter_intelligence@hotmail.com