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beautiful neck always adds charm and sophistication to a woman - it is no coincidence that Nefertiti has become the standard of beauty for centuries. Her neck is strong, slender and surprisingly feminine, even today it is an object of imitation for many women. The shape and length of the neck largely depends on genetics, but if you follow our advice, you can slightly improve nature. How to make your neck longer?

Neck in many cultures - important detail female attractiveness, and it is not by chance that the Russians call it a swan, because this particular bird is considered royal, equal in stature and beauty to crowned heads.

The swan neck is a combination of flexibility, length, slenderness and soft skin, and this is the kind of neck women dream of.

By virtue of physiological structure, a woman’s neck, before the face and other parts of the body, gives in under the pressure of age - wrinkles become deep, osteochondrosis forms the so-called “scruff”, and a double chin makes you forget about the once youthful contours of the face and neck. The trouble is that an old neck cannot be disguised with cosmetics, and it always reveals one’s true age, upsetting and driving one to despair. So is there really nothing that can be done if the neck has already lost the contours of youth?

How to make your neck longer and younger?

First you need to understand that the neck needs daily care, more gentle and careful than the face. When washing your neck, do not forget to nourish it with creams and masks, clean only by gentle means and apply nutritious cream based on kernel oils and wheat germ oil.

When choosing neck masks, you should give preference to those designed for dry skin, as they are more moist and nourishing; for example, make oil wraps and rolled oatmeal masks with milk, applied under insulation.

You can also improve the condition of the neck with the help of contrasting compresses from herbal decoctions, such as linden or mint, and the herbal composition should be hot and the water should be cold. Should be applied alternately to the neck soft cloth, soaked in infusion or water, leaving for several minutes. It is enough to make five applications, starting with hot and ending with cold.

Perfectly cares for the skin of the neck and application healing ice– freeze herbal infusions and apply ice cubes to your neck in the morning and evening.

Gymnastics for neck rejuvenation

With the help of cosmetics and home remedies, you will certainly improve the condition of the skin on your neck, and the next step will be strengthening the muscles, which can only be achieved with the help of special exercises performed daily. In order for no one to disturb you, because you need to perform the exercises with concentration and attention, it is best to choose a time and place so that you are left alone.

While standing or sitting, slowly tilt your head back while trying to lower lip get your nose. Then lower your head to your chest - repeat the exercise about 6 times.
Sitting with a straight back, slowly but straining your neck, turn your head first to the right and then to the left, gradually accelerating, the number of slow turns is about 6, and fast 10-12.
Straining your neck and stretching it forward, at the same time pull your head into your shoulders - repeat 10 times.
Place the palms of your hands on your chest and, as if pressing your chest, counteract this movement with your chest, straining your neck. Repeat 12 times.
Sitting opposite the table and resting your elbows on it, first pull one side of your neck up, then the other, 10 times each.
Slowly turning your head to the right, finish the movement by smoothly raising your head to failure, repeat 5 times, and do the same in the other direction.
Slowly turn your head to the left and touch your chin to your shoulder without lifting the shoulder itself. Do the same in the other direction. Repeats 10 in each direction.
Tilt your head so that your ear touches your shoulder - to the right and left, repeat in each direction 10 times.
Cross your palms at the back of your head and lower your head to your chest - overcoming the resistance of your hands, jerk your head back in several steps. Repeat 10 times.

After you complete the initial course of exercises for two weeks, make them longer, bringing up to 40 repetitions.

After classes, be sure to do contrasting rubdowns, including the décolleté area. It will not be superfluous salt massages- in strong saline solution you need to wet the towel and literally whip yourself with it on your double chin and cheek line. This needs to be done for 10 minutes and quite sensitively - this is how you can tighten the skin of your neck and bring it into proper shape.

You can also use old recipe, according to which it is prescribed to apply honey to the neck, lightly patting it (cannot be done with a problematic thyroid gland). Honey greatly tones the skin, and a nourishing cream applied afterwards will soften the skin and make it youthfully soft.

Improving appearance and the condition of the neck, do not forget to sleep in a comfortable but correct position for the neck - on a high pillow placed under the neck, then the neck does not become deformed and remains beautiful for a long time!

Photos. Photos of strange, long-necked women adorned with metal rings and spirals stared back at me from the pages of books and magazines about travel and distant lands. They sat against a background of colorful stripes and weaved with concentration. Their heads, supported by their necks in brass rings, seemed to hang in emptiness. With their incredibly long, giraffe-like necks, these women seemed no more real than the inhabitants of some fairy-tale Narnia or Middle-earth, and maybe even less. I certainly never thought that one day I would come face to face with them.

Tribal connection

The state of Myanmar occupies a large area in South-East Asia and many live in it different nations and nationalities that are the source of cultural wealth and enormous political problems. The restive Karen people have been at war with the government for almost 60 years. It was not until January 12, 2012 that representatives of the Burmese government and the Karen National Union shook hands during peace talks. Perhaps now, after amendments are made to the current Constitution, they will receive the much-desired autonomy and calm will reign within the country.

The number of this people is about 7% of the total population of Myanmar, that is, approximately 4 million.

Karen live in the southern and southeastern parts of the country. This is not a homogeneous group, a community of five closely related tribes, whose names come from the color of national clothing: black, white, red Karens... It’s the red Karens that interest us. They, in turn, consist of several Kayan subgroups, one of which is Kayan Lahwi. Phew, we barely got to the right one. This tribe also has several other names: “padaung”, “long neck Karen”, “giraffe women”, “tribe of long neck women”, “long neck women”, but they call themselves Kayan.

But what is beauty?

What women don’t do in the name of beauty! They wear high heels and act very dangerous operations for breast enlargement or painful piercings and tattoos... But all this pales in comparison to the ideal of beauty with an almost 30-centimeter neck and brass rings on it, from the collarbone to the chin, weighing ten kilograms... Not only the necks are decorated, but also heavy bracelets are put on the hands, and on the legs, below the knees, they also wear metal spirals.

The Kayan Lahwi tribe or the tribe of long-necked women (“Long Neck”) are the inventors of that incredible and exotic beauty that for me was somewhere between pygmies and cannibals. The number of this ethnic group in Burma is very small, and about 400-500 of them moved to Thailand and live there in three villages. But interestingly, this tribe has a closely related group called “ Long ears” (“Long Ears”), for which all female beauty consists no longer in long necks in women, but in elongated ears. The ladies of this tribe insert pieces of carved elephant tusk into their pierced ears. At first the pieces are small, then larger and even larger. As a result, the hole in the earlobe grows and can reach 18-20 centimeters. Not weak, huh?

The women of the tribe are dressed in colorful costumes, the material for which they weave themselves. If a woman is wearing a white blouse with beads, then this is unmarried girl, and the red and blue outfit is supposed to be married lady. Purple and green headdresses complement this unusual beauty.

How the neck lengthens

But the neck doesn’t lengthen at all. This is impossible. Neck lengthening is optical illusion due to deformation of the collarbone under the weight of the worn rings. Therefore, calling women “long necks” is not entirely correct: after all, traditional brass coils do not change the size of the cervical vertebrae, but the weight and rigidity of these “decorations” force the collarbones and shoulder blades to move down and towards the chest, making top part chest lower and flatter. On done x-rays it was clearly visible.

Children from the age of five begin to wear one ring on their thin necks, and then, every year, an additional one is added to the neck. The weight of the copper pushes the collarbone down and compresses chest. And so they add pieces up to 20-25. Do they hurt? It doesn't hurt them, but there is still discomfort - not from the weight of the rings, but from their friction against the skin, so they put a napkin under them.

Women with long necks, just like everyone else, get married, have children, perform homework, weave and sew. Girls play volleyball. True, they have to drink through a straw.

Despite the fact that there is no actual lengthening of the neck, it is precisely this custom that gave rise to the name “giraffe women” for a lady with such an unusual appearance.

Origin of the tradition

The origins of its origin are hidden in the depths of thousands of years. There are only more or less probable assumptions about the origin of this tradition:

Cultural identity
Long and slender necks make them more beautiful and attractive in the eyes of men, this is a sign of well-being
Ugliness, from the point of view of representatives of other tribes, protects them from kidnapping and slavery
This is protection from evil spirits
Hint of resemblance to a dragon, which is an important figure in Kayan folklore
Protection from tigers, who are known to grab their prey by the scruff of the neck
A kind of family bank of precious metals.

Choose according to your taste. I adhere to the first, as it seems to me, the most plausible version.

What happens if you remove the rings from your neck?

They say that a woman's long neck will break under the weight of her head. That the poor thing from the tribe of long-necked women would certainly die if she took off the rings. Legends report similar cases of tragic deaths of women who died slowly and painfully from suffocation after the rings were removed from their necks. Like, this is how adultery is punished mercilessly and severely in the tribe.

The present and future of this tradition

It is very difficult to predict the future of this custom. On the one hand, women with long necks are uncomfortable with disrespect for their privacy, their culture and traditions. They are also annoyed by the restless and unceremonious curiosity of tourists. On the other hand, this is no longer so much a way of life as a business that brings them a very good income, which they do not want to give up. Like in the cartoon: Crocodile Gena in a suit and hat comes to the zoo, where he works as a crocodile. He carefully takes off the attributes of civilization, carefully places them on a hanger and, in a negligee, goes to his workplace depict a crocodile.

I have already talked about my impressions of meeting female giraffes in. Before the trip, reading reports from tourists, looking at photographs of these women, I kept wondering how similar all these women are to each other. Indistinguishable, well, like the Japanese or the Chinese. It turned out that the casket opened simply. It was the same grandmother in many photographs different people! An exposition for tourists sewn with white thread, a representative village, so to speak. Duty smiles, posing for photos, demonstrative work on weaving looms under the gaze of tourists, offers to buy souvenirs... But all this is not real.

Young women of this tribe began to strive to get an education, so most of them stop following the tradition of wearing rings and leave. There are a few middle-aged women and girls left.

On the other hand, is it necessary to preserve a tradition that is harmful to the health of women and girls? An analogy with the bygone Chinese custom of foot binding immediately suggests itself. In Burmese society, opinions on this matter are very mixed.

Finally

At the beginning of the 20th century, a man named Bertram Mills traveled around Europe with his circus, which featured Karen women among human wonders and anomalies. It’s great that those times have sunk into oblivion. But female giraffes, of course, remain the most famous brand Asian region. For many tourists, these long-necked women are the only reason to travel to Myanmar. But don't forget that even though they have spirals of copper rings around their long necks, these are not aliens, but people. Ordinary people, the same as the rest of us! And the beautiful country of Burma, a country with friendly people, exotic culture, rich nature and incredible sights, has something to show and besides this!

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