HELPFUL HINTS

DEAR READERS: Summer’s about to turn up the heat — are you ready? Do you know how to stay dry and odor-free? Let’s look at antiperspirant and deodorant.

Our bodies have an ingenious way to regulate temperature. This is by perspiring. Antiperspirant aims to create a barrier and block sweat ducts from releasing sweat. This is a ground-floor approach: preventing the problem before it happens. It’s difficult for underarm sweat to evaporate; it can stick around and mingle with the bacteria on your skin, which creates odor. Antiperspirant can help by preventing, or at least reducing, the amount your body sweats.

Deodorant, well, deodorizes. Once you sweat, deodorant conceals the bad odor associated with perspiration. Perspiration itself doesn’t smell foul, but when it mingles with the bacteria in your underarm area, look out!

Deodorant can help. Both antiperspirant and deodorant, unless labeled “fragrance-free,” have a light scent to them.

Some companies make a product that is both an antiperspirant and a deodorant. It’s important to read the labels and understand these products.

DEAR HELOISE: I had a mess on the walls inside my garbage disposal. I bought a new toilet brush in an effort to clean it up. I just added a little powdered cleanser and scrubbed it clean. I keep the brush handy under the sink.

— Mary, via email

DEAR HELOISE: Although I go to the grocery store once a week, I go less frequently to the mall, bookstore or large retail store. When I went, I often would forget to purchase something I’d been meaning to get.

Now I keep an index card in my purse with a list of non-grocery items so I won’t forget to purchase them.

If you prefer, you can keep a list in the “Notes” section of your phone and add and delete items as needed.

— Joan U. in Houston

DEAR HELOISE: I have several pills that I need to take every day, and there are some I take every other day.

Because they look alike, I take a small bowl and put in red food coloring. I dip a toothpick into the red food coloring and put a little dot of red on the pills that are not taken every day.

— Virgil P., Minot, N.D.