Categories
Beauty

Skin and hair care for Holi

We wait for Holi all year, don’t we? This year, celebrate Holi hassle-free with some skin and hair care tips.
by Deepa Mistry | @MissTipsytoes on Twitter

Holi, a festival of colours, brings everyone closer. We all start preparing way in advance for this festival, but along with other preparations, we should take care of our skin and hair as well.

In the riot of fun and colours, we end up ignoring our skin and hair. Hair exposed to chemical colours can become dull, dry and brittle. If your skin is acne or dandruff-prone, you need to take a lot of care as these colours can cause severe damage. Holi is the time when the skin loses it natural oils and softness, owing to the chemicals contained in colours, which can cause redness or rashes. Naturally, taking proper precautions cannot hurt. Start with using only organic or natural colours.

Care before Holi begins:

playing HoliIf you ordinarily wear lenses, don’t wear them while playing. Wear a pair of spectacles or sunglasses.

Remember what grandma always said: apply oil before you soak yourself in those colours. Apply generous amounts of coconut oil on your skin and hair, especially on your hands, elbows and legs. Castor oil is another alternative as well.

30 minutes before heading out to play, apply sunscreen on your face and hands. The colours and the heat can cause severe damage. If you suffer from acne, make sure you moisturise your skin well with a cream containing SPF. Make sure you apply lots of lip balm.

Wear dark clothes and preferably of a light material, and full sleeved to cover maximum skin to keep it protected. Avoid wearing jeans as they become heavy once soaked. Apply dark nail polish as light shades or no nail polish tend to let colour settle on your nails – this then becomes difficult to get rid of.

Don’t leave your hair open; tie it up in a ponytail. Wear a scarf or bandana or a cap to cover your hair and still look chic.

Avoid any salon treatments like waxing, threading, facials etc. 2 to 3 days prior to Holi.

Drink lots of water to keep your body hydrated at all times.

Care after playing Holi:

It is very difficult to get rid of colour instantly, hence rinse your hair with cold water as hot water tends to make colour stick to your roots.

Condition your hair with coconut oil or olive oil mixed with 1 tsp vinegar and rinse. If you have dry hair, follow the hot oil and towel treatment for the next following days for softer hair and to prevent hair fall.

Use raw milk and besan pack on your skin to make it smooth to remove all dryness and harshness caused by colour.

Soak fenugreek seeds in four tsp curd and apply it on your scalp. Keep for 30 minutes and then wash away with shampoo.

Keep washing off the colour whenever possible to prevent skin irritation. It might be difficult to carry rose water or cucumber juice with you, but keep it handy. It will soothe your skin.

If you suffer from any acute skin or hair troubles consult a physician.

We wish you all a safe and happy Holi!

(Pictures courtesy venues.meraevents.com, mattersindia.com)

Categories
Wellness

Holi hai!

Heading out to play Holi? Presenting some before and after-the-revelry tips for you to remain safe from Holi’s ill effects.
by Dr Ajaya Kashyap and Dr Abha Kashyap

Part III of III

It is Holi today, and if you’re reading this, chances are you’re looking for safe ways to play Holi. Or it’s possible that you’ve got colour all over yourself and nobody, including yourself, recognises you.

Either way, we’ve got some tips that will help.

Try to dissuade people from applying colour all over your face with their hands. If you fail to do so, be especially careful in keeping your eyes and lips tightly shut. Always request the person not to smear the colours near the eyes.

Apply cold cream around your eyes and make a thick coating of it over there. This would ensure that the colours can be easily removed when you wash your eyes. When trying to remove the colours around your eyes, keep your eyes tightly shut and use warm water.

You can cover your hair with a dupatta/bandanna and a polypeptide-based gel can be applied to partially repel colour.

Caring for your eyes is equally important while playing Holi. People wearing contact lens should take them off before they begin to play with the colours. When somebody is spraying water colours on your face, keep your eyes shut to prevent damage to the pupil, cornea and iris.

After you’re done playing Holi:

– Don’t sit in sunlight after playing Holi. It makes colours difficult to remove and harms the skin as well. Sit in the shade even when playing outdoors.

– Don’t remove colours by scratching your skin with your nails. Use a granular scrub on the body and face to get rid of the colour.

– Wash off colour from your hair two to three times with shampoo and remove the colour completely. Apply a lot of moisturiser on the body and face after taking a shower.

– Wash the colour off your body at the earliest. Use a basic body wash and if the colour doesn’t go off after the wash, try the aforementioned remedy.

– Make a paste of gram flour (besan), juice of lemon and heavy cream or some milk and apply it on the stained area, let it sit for few minutes and then remove it by taking it off with olive oil.

– Hair should be deep conditioned after the wash. Make sure your hair is clean. Apply a hair mask after two-three days to cure the damage.

– Remove the colour from your face by using a light oil like jojoba or grapeseed. Wash off with face wash and lukewarm water. Follow up with lots of moisturiser.

– Do not bleach, shave, wax, go for facials or clean-ups the following week. Give your skin and body some time to recover from the damage.

Have a happy and safe Holi 🙂

Dr Ajaya Kashyap is Chief Surgeon in Cosmetic and Plastics from Fortis Hospital; Dr Abha Kashyap is an aesthetic image consultant, MedSpa.

(Picture courtesy theatlantic.com)

Exit mobile version