The festive season is round the corner and again it’s that time of the year when the busy working women fret about their unkempt looks and scour for some last minute tips to salvage the situation. Are those freckles on your face or dull hair giving you the nightmares? Well, fret not. Indulge has advice from beauty queen Shahnaz Husain to put your best foot forward during the festivals.
“Looking beautiful during the festival season is not merely a matter of make-up and dress. It needs weeks of care. If a skin and hair care regimen is followed a month in advance, it can really pay good dividends. Neglected hands and feet can really mar the entire effect, no matter how beautiful your clothes and jewelry, or how skillfully your make-up has been applied. Here are a few tips, which might be of help. Most ingredients are from the kitchen shelf but you may have to find a shop selling essential oils, or dry herbs, for some of the ingredients,” says Husain.
For glowing skin:
For your daily care routine, cleanse your skin twice a day.
For normal to dry skin: Take half a cup of cold milk and add five drops of any vegetable oil. Choose from olive oil, sesame seed oil or sunflower oil. Put this in a bottle and shake well. Cleanse the skin with it, using cotton wool. Keep left-over mixture in the fridge.
For oily skin: Mix rose water, cucumber juice and lemon juice in equal quantities. Wipe the face with it, using cotton wool. Or, apply it on the face and wash it off after 10 minutes with plenty of water.
For oily / combination skin: Take one-fourth teaspoon lemon juice and add one teaspoon each of cold milk and cucumber juice. Wipe the face with this, using cotton wool. Rinse with plenty of water.
Moisturising Lotion: Add one teaspoon pure glycerin to 100 ml rose water. Shake well and keep in a jar. Apply a little daily on the face. This lotion helps to moisturise oily and acne prone skins too. Apply it if there is dryness.
For dry skin, use a nourishing cream. To make your own nourishing oil, take 50 ml pure almond oil as base oil and add five ml wheat germ oil and two drops geranium essential oil. Put it in a bottle and shake well. Take a little of this oil and massage it on the skin every night with outward and slightly upward movements, for two minutes. Wipe off with moist cotton wool. Make this in small quantities, otherwise it may turn rancid.
For eyes take pure almond oil and apply sparingly on the skin around eyes. Massage lightly on the area, using only the ring finger, for one minute around each eye. Leave on for 15 minutes and wipe off with moist cotton wool. For lips, apply pure almond oil daily and leave on overnight.
Scrub once or twice a week
For normal and dry skin: Take one teaspoon each gram flour (besan) and almonds and add one teaspoon olive oil and powdered milk.
For oily and combination skin: To one teaspoon each gram flour and lemon juice add one teasprice flour, two teaspoons yogurt and pinch of turmeric.
Apply on the face and leave on for 15 minutes before washing off with water.
Apply face pack twice a week
Mix ripe papaya pulp with three teaspoons oats and one teaspoon each of honey and curd. You can also add egg white to this mixture. Increase the quantities of these ingredients to get the right consistency. It should be a thick paste, which does not drip. Apply on the face, avoiding the lips and area around eyes. Wash off after 20 to 30 minutes.
Eye brightener: After applying face mask, soak two cotton wool pads in rose water and use them as eye pads. Lie down and relax.
Daily care for hands and feet
Mix three tablespoons of rose water, two tablespoons of lemon juice with one teaspoon honey or pure glycerin. Apply on hands and feet and leave on for half an hour. Wash off with water.
Scrub your hands every three days
Take lemon juice and coarse sugar. The grains of sugar should be large. Mix them just before use. Apply on the hands and rub gently till the sugar dissolves. Leave on for 5 minutes and wash off with water. Pierce fresh orange peels with a fork and rub them on the hands. To soften and nourish the cuticles and nails, mix almond oil and honey in equal quantities and massage it on the hands, nails and cuticles.
Scrub your body twice a week
Traditionally, Ayurveda recommends “ubtan” for body care, to cleanse the skin. You can mix together wheat bran (choker), besan (gram flour), yogurt or cream of milk and a little turmeric. Other ingredients can also be added. For example, you can add orange and lemon peel powder, or almond meal. Apply the paste and wash it off after 20 minutes, while bathing. Apply body lotion immediately after bath, while the skin is still damp. This helps to seal in moisture.
For your crowning glory
Give your hair a quick conditioning treatment before each shampoo. Mix one teaspoon each of vinegar and glycerine with one egg. Beat them together well. Massage the mixture into the scalp. Then dip a towel in hot water, squeeze out the water and wrap the hot towel around the head, like a turban. Keep it on for five minutes. Repeat the hot towel wrap three to four times. Leave on the mixture for half an hour and wash your hair.
Weekly henna treatments will help to condition the hair and add body and shine. Add four teaspoons each of lemon juice and coffee, two raw eggs and enough yogurt to the henna powder, mixing it into a thick paste. For dry hair, add two teaspoons hair oil. If you do not wish to use egg, add more curd. Apply on the hair and wash off after an hour.
If your hair is oily, give yourself a lemon rinse. After washing your hair, add the juice of a lemon to a mug of water and use it as a last rinse. It helps to reduce oiliness and discourage dandruff. Egg white is a wonderful natural cleanser for oily hair and its protein content helps to add body. Apply egg white on the hair about half-an-hour before your shampoo.
To nourish dry hair, massage egg yolk or mayonnaise into the scalp. Leave it on for half an hour and then wash the hair.