Keep Your Skin & Hair Healthy after a Colourful Splash of Holi

Planning to make a colourful splash on Holi, and also little scared assuming the ill-effects of colours on your skin and hair!! No need to worry. By taking little precautions while selecting the right colour and by following some beneficial skin care and hair care recommendations of derma experts, you can enjoy Holi, submerged in different shades of gulals, water colours and pastes of your choice.

Holi can be enjoyed in a most lively manner with great vigour and fervent only if we remain cautious towards post Holi effects on skin and hair, in advance, says Dr. Sachin Dhawan, Director, Clinical & Aesthetic Dermatology (Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon).
On the request note, Dr. Dhawan has suggested some of the most effective skin care and hair care tips to enjoy a safe Holi.

In a questionnaire organized by us, Dr. Dhawan gave his expert overview on the below mentioned queries.

We asked: ‘What precautionary steps should be taken to protect skin & hair on Holi?
Dr. Dhawan stated: “Protect your hair by applying oil before playing Holi. For skin care, apply a thick coat of vaseline petroleum jelly or coconut oil all over your body to avoid harsh effect of Holi colours. Also, use good sunscreen to safeguard your face and hands, as Holi is mostly played in open. Avoid use of highly toxic permanent colours which contain heavy metals like lead, arsenic and mercury that have tendency to cause allergies. Instead, use natural colours made out of flowers, turmeric, and indigo.

Along with skin and hair, we must also take proper care of our eyes and nails. For protecting nails, Dr. Dhawan suggested, “Coat your nails properly with nail enamel before playing Holi.” For eyes, he recommended, “Be cautious that colour does not get into your eyes and cause problem. If, in any case, colour does get into your eyes, wash them repeatedly with clean water and if the irritation still persists, see a doctor.”

On our query regarding, ‘How to pamper our skin & hair after Holi?’ Dr. Dhawan suggested some easy steps to revitalize skin and hair after Holi. He added, “Using natural home based skin care remedies helps a lot in removing Holi colours from skin. While for cleaning hair, we should select some mild shampoo followed by a good conditioner.”

A step-wise ways to make your skin supple and smooth & your hair shiny and healthy is detailed below:

• Wash the Holi colour off using besan and malai instead of strong soaps and detergents.
• Apply paste of besan and yoghurt pack as it is also highly effective in removing colour and revitalizing skin.
• Follow it up by a deep moisturizing agent like almond oil or a moisturizing cream.
• Use a mild shampoo to wash off hair colours and condition them using a pH balanced conditioner.
• A hydrating and detanning facial is also a good option to pamper the damaged skin, post Holi.
• Go in for a manicure and pedicure to cleanse the colours off the nails.
• If possible visit a dermatologist post Holi to get a microdermabrasion or a peel treatment done to strip off the damaged layers followed by a hydrating mask to make the skin soft and supple.
• Mesothreapy (Mesoglow) is another option to regain the lost charm of skin. In this therapy superficial injections of vitamins and other skin brightening agents are imbibed in the skin with a gunshot.

As Holi ushers during severe climatic change so this is another major reason it is recommended to be extra careful towards skin and hair in Holi. With emerging dry season, the skin and scalp faces excessive dryness which leads to conditions like dandruff in hair, dry skin problems, etc. So, use of adequate moisture and sunscreen for skin and proper conditioning of hair using mild natural oil like olive oil or almond oil is suggested to keep both skin and hair healthy during Holi season.

Be little conscious and get on colourful water, pastes and gulals to enjoy a memorable Holi this season.

10 Must Have Beauty Essentials for Summer

Summers are back and will stay for the next couple of months. As we simplify our wardrobe and strip away extra layers of clothing, summer calls for a stronger focus on fabulous skin. Guardian Health Chronicle suggests 10 must have products in your beauty kit.

1. Tame Your Skin with Toners. In winter, we didn’t have to bother about the greasy look on our face. It stayed well behaved, spotless most of the times and shine free. But your skin saga will be changing in the coming months and you better equip yourself with an alcohol free toner to keep your face hydrated and shine free. Dr. Shehla Agarwal imparts a bit of knowledge on toners and astringents. Astringents should be swiped on the oily areas of your face with a cotton ball, never with finger tips. It helps close pores and controls acne. On the other hand toners are to be used with fingers on your face for a quick swipe after cleaning it (with a mild face cleanser of course) to help it return to its natural pH state. Rose water is a good toner.
2. Don’t Go Out Without Sunscreen. Ideally, you should not go out in the sun without a sunscreen. Dermatologists concur that almost all age-related damage on your skin results from the UV rays of the sun. For Indian skin tone a minimum protection of SPF 15-20 is required and you should wear sunscreen at least half an hour before you go out. Buy sunscreens that offer broad spectrum protection and check the label to see if it has zinc and titanium-di-oxide as ingredients. Stay indoors between 11 am to 3 pm when the rays of the sun are the harshest. If you plan to go to hilly areas then get sunscreens with higher SPF. The golden rule with sunscreens is reapply, hence tote a bottle with you when you go out.
3. Resolve Skin Woes With Aloe Vera Gel. It’s normal for your skin to develop rashes, zits, acne and sun tan. Aloe Vera gel works well to soothe the inflamed skin. Venturing out in the sun without a sunscreen will give you sun tan, which is nature’s way of increasing melanin production to protect your skin. Apply Aloe Vera gel on the tanned skin for instant relief.
4. Polish off Your Skin With Body Scrubs. There is more of skin show in summer. Buff your body with body scrubs and show off the smooth skin with panache. You could also use orange- peel powder with ‘good-old’ besan and milk to get a homemade body scrub to exfoliate your skin.
5. Get Home Oil Free Moisturisers. Many of us think that our skin doesn’t need moisturizer in summer because it’s already greasy. This isn’t true. When the skin feels dry and parched, the oil glands go on overdrive to produce oil in order to keep the skin moist which can make it greasy. You need to provide nourishment to your skin with oil-free moisturisers that don’t clog your pores. In fact, many sunscreens and moisturisers are rolled in one and help you seal in the moisture and ban the tan at the same time.
6. Feel Fresh With Fragrances. While deodorants are good for banishing body odour perfumes and EDTs move a step ahead in helping you smell fresh throughout the day. You could even try the good old atar (perfume) available at select stores in old Delhi to the get the old-world feel.
7. A Quick Swipe With Wet Wipes Does a Miracle. Wet wipes are a must have ingredient in your vanity kit, purse or even in the office drawer. The makeup worn in the morning begins to melt in humid summers. Just before an important meeting wet wipes can be used to refresh your face or repair smudged makeup. Keep it handy and you’ll never have a bad-makeup day.
8. Invest in a Good Quality Shampoo and Conditioner. You sweat a lot in summer, which means you’ll wash your hair more frequently. Then you go and take a dip in the chlorinated pool water. Moreover, rays of the sun can deprive your precious tresses of moisture and fade your hair colour. Naturally, you need to buy a good quality shampoo and conditioner for your hair. You could also buy conditioners that come with UV protectant features. Hair masks become kind of mandatory in summer. Use it once a fortnight or after you’ve coloured your hair or touched the roots. Yves Rocher offers hair products suited for every hair type. Go ahead and try these.
9. Beat Prickly Heat with Calamine. Prickly heat is a painful summer ailment which happens because of excessive sweating and clogged pores. To keep prickly heat at bay you should bathe twice a day and put baking soda in your bath water. This will soothe the skin inflammation. Apply calamine on the affected area to control the itch.
10. Exfoliate Feet with Foot Scrub. Until now our feet were covered inside socks, but as the socks come off, your feet face the world. Cracked heels, unruly nails will spoil your style statement. Use foot scrubs especially designed for your feet to get rid of dead cells. Book yourself for a pedicure at least once a month. While soaking your feet in warm water drop a couple of aspirins in it. The salicylic acid in aspirin will soften the dead cells. Now use the foot scrub to get ultra soft feet.