Fairlady October 2018

When Angelina Jolie opted to have a double mastectomy as a preemptive move against breast cancer, it seemed shocking (see the interview with Dr Kristi Funk, Angelina’s doctor, on page 26 – she has some fascinating things to say about diet). The point is that she made the right decision for her given her family history and genetic blueprint, although it may not have been the right decision for someone else… There are just so many variables. The future of medicine is becoming increasingly personal, which is excellent news. Being able to target disease more directly has to be better than the current spatter-gun approach, which sometimes seems to do as much harm as it does good. In June this year, researchers shared positive results from an experimental therapy that…

SUPA SANDWICH WRAPS How to store cheese properly has long been a debate in our house: paper, plastic or fabric? These pieces of shweshwe infused with beeswax seem to cover all three. You mould them around your cheese (or sandwiches, or whatever) and then simply wipe them down with a cloth damp with tepid-to-cold water (hot water will melt the wax) and reuse them. Ingenious! MOLLY’S GAME This film is based on the memoir of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-level skier who, after badly injuring herself, lands up running an exclusive high-stakes poker game. It has some great performances, especially from Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba and Michael Cera, who plays a particularly loathsome film actor (apparently based on Tobey Maguire). The script is pacy and unusual, and leaves out the boring…

✽ WINNING LETTER The warm and fuzzies What a powerful article ‘Giving is the new receiving’ [June 2018] was! It reminded me of two occasions when I enjoyed that warm, fuzzy feeling of giving. The one that stands out was when I was at my lowest. I had just left my husband and was struggling to make ends meet. One evening, on my way out, I glumly stuck my hands in my coat pockets – and found a R100 note. I could not believe my eyes: a gift from heaven. On our way home, I took that note and bought ice cream for the kids and their friends whose parents had been so kind to us. It’s possible one of the parents had put the money in my pocket –…

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Insta find Ah, the things you find on Instagram – it isn’t doing my wallet any good. These quirky Lichen & Leaf earrings by local artist Cynthia Edwards are made from polymer clay, and I love how bold and colourful they are. Cynthia says the Proluo series has been a hit (those are the ones with the ‘O’ sitting atop an upside-down ‘U’), and the Chandeliers (with double and triple half circles) and Ortu styles (think ‘man in a boat’) are also popular. They go for between R300 and R450 a pair. I don’t have a pair yet, but that’s mainly because I can’t settle on which ones I want. The bananas are fun, but I think I’m leaning towards a more muted pair; I like the marbling and terrazzo…

‘When we make these products, the lab is filled with amazing aromas and the products look good enough to eat, like whipped cream.’ Start-up costs: ‘I got a loan from a family member, and from there we grew steadily over the following three years.’ Size: ‘We’ve outgrown our first factory and now have a lovely two-storey factory on the farm Klein Joostenberg near Stellenbosch, where we employ 10 staff members. Our range consists of 20 products, but we have exciting new ones in the pipeline.’ Staying true to the promise of its name, SKOON. (‘clean’) strives to develop toxin- and paraben-free skincare products. According to founder and director Stella Ciolli, it’s an activist brand at heart. Stella, a qualified engineer, launched the innovative brand in 2015 after reading an article…