Skin Care for Holi

The joyous, riotious, festival of colors, Holi, is around the corner. Everyone wants to enjoy it and wants to dance in clouds of gulal and to get soaked in shower of colored water. It's one of the most enjoyable of all Indian festivals provided you take care of yourself, especially when it comes to your skin.

Now-a-days, the colors used to play Holi with contain industrial dyes, heavy metals, acids and powdered glass that can cause serious harm to your skin. This damage can range from extreme skin dryness to allergic reactions like rashes and skin burns. But if you follow the below ‘before and after' skin care tips, you can always enjoy Holi without any fear of damaging your skin:

Before Holi

• Wear clothes that can cover maximum part of the body. A swimsuit or waterproof tights under your clothes would protect your body from the harmful effects of chemicals in colors.
• Apply a thick layer of a good quality moisturizer or oil (mustard oil is best) to your skin. Let the skin absorb it for 15 minutes. Then apply waterproof sunscreen. For the hair, use oils or gel to reduce the harmful effects of colors.
• Use Vaseline under and over your nails. This will prevent color clogging and undesirable permanent staining.
• Use water-soluble organic or herbal colors or the ones made by reputed companies using natural products and stay away from industrial colors because they contain cheap dyes that cause reactions. Also, avoid metallic colors, like gold and silver.
• Use a lip balm to protect your lips from getting stained.

After Holi

• For taking out color from skin use a mild moisturizing soap and lukewarm water. Refrain from using removers, kerosene, petrol or strong soaps to remove it. These can also cause skin irritation. Apply moisturiser on the entire body immediately after the bath as the skin gets dehydrated and dull after washing off the color.
• Do not rub your skin with any rough and hard brush as this can make your skin itchy.
• To lighten the color, rub lemon wedges and then apply wheat flour and oil mixture.
• To take out traces of color left, apply a paste of gram flour (besan) or soyabean flour mixed with milk on your skin.
• If you have acne, wash your face clean with Cetaphil cleanser and apply an antibiotic gel like Clindamycin gel.
• Later, apply a mixture of glycerin, sea salt and a few drops of aroma oil or almond oil on skin for healing the bad effects of chemicals in color.

Follow these tips and you are sure to have a Skin Happy Holi!