Unlike earlier, when colour was made from flower and herbs, Holi these days is all about harmful chemicals like mica, engine oil, etc. Hence, it becomes essential to have a proper before and after Holi skin protection care:
Before you drench yourself in the colour, apply sesame or almond oil on your face and exposed parts of the body. Oil your hair and tie it into a braid. For lips, you can use Vaseline or lip-balm to keep them moisturised throughout. Dry skin causes the pores to open wide, keeping them tinted and moisturised will do you good.
While playing Holi avoid sitting under the sun with the colour still on your skin as it makes it more difficult to get rid of.
Skin and hair usually become extremely dry in the process of colour removal, so apply coconut oil to deeply moisturise your skin and use face masks and hair masks in the following weeks to repair the damage caused. You can prepare your own hair mask by mixing amla, shikakai, methi powder, curd and leave it for 60 minutes. Then wash it off with chemical-free shampoo. Similarly, a face mask can be prepared by adding herbs like turmeric, sandalwood, neem, green gram, almond and honey.
The author is the in-house consultant at Kama Aryurveda
