Your Must-Know Tips Before Playing Holi This Season

Some Easy Ways To Make Organic Colours At Your Home

Holi, the festival of bright and gorgeous colours, water balloons, glorious gujiyas and catchy Bollywood songs, is one of those Indian festivals people look forward to months in advance. It’s not only celebrated in India with great fervor, but also all over the world.

But, most of us girls are concerned about all those chemical colours which may have serious implications on our hair and skin while playing Holi. Here with us, is our very own expert Aakriti Kochar, hair and skin care expert, Oriflame, India who answered our queries in easy simple steps.

Ms. Aakriti Kochar, beauty and makeup expert

Here Spectralhues.com is sharing what all you need to do before stepping out for Holi! Do upgrade your knowledge, ladies! Read on..

1. Give us some tips to protect skin and hair from Holi colours before/while playing and after enjoying this  festival.

Ans. Holi is not the best time for one’s skin and hair. The dry “gulal” and colours are generally not derived from natural sources. They contain chemicals, shiny particles of mica and even lead, which not only irritate the skin, but also collect on the scalp. Follow these steps to ensure that you have a safe, fun and memorable Holi:

• Apply a good sunscreen and a rich moisturiser like Oriflame Sun Zone Face and Body SPF 15 at least 20 minutes before going out to play with colours. Use of sunscreen of minimum SPF 15 and above is a must. If your skin is prone to pigment patches, select one with a higher SPF.
• Generously apply copious amounts of olive oil, coconut oil, almond oil or mustard oil on your face and body which is a good option for extra nourishment.
• Massage your hair well from scalp to hair tips with coconut, olive or castor oil, such as Nature Secrets Hot Oil for Dry and Damaged Hair Wheat & Coconut. This oil gives your hair a protective covering and shields it from harmful chemicals, dust and dirt.  This will help the colours come off easily later.
• Cover your lips with a thick coat of lip balm like Oriflame Tender Care Protecting Lip Balm to protect them from colour damage. This also prevents your lips from getting chapped.
• Protect your nails from the colours by using transparent nail polish, such as The ONE Base & Top Coat. The Base and top coat for nails prepares, protects and perfects and also works as a shiny nail polish. Use it under colour coat to prime and protect and apply over colour coat to prolong wear by up to 3 days. It also protects nails against chipping.
• While playing, try to ensure a safe and skin-friendly Holi by using herbal or natural colours: henna or spinach (green), turmeric or marigold flowers (yellow), tomatoes or beetroot or kumkum (red) & tea leaves (brown).
• Make sure that even if you use organic colours, you do not overdo with it as well. Too much of a specific ingredient like turmeric or sandalwood can cause irritation to one’s skin. Also rubbing these colours unless properly powdered can cause rashes. If someone has very sensitive skin, choose the ingredients accordingly like sandalwood is for oily skin, for someone will extreme dry skin it can have side effects like rashes, redness, irritation etc.
• After playing with the colours, remember not to use harsh soaps to get rid of colours from your skin. Do not wash your face with soap immediately, because soap is alkaline and causes further dryness. Instead, use a cleansing cream or lotionwhich soothes the skin while cleansing. Massage on the skin and then wipe off with moist cotton wool
• Sesame seed (til) oil can also be used to remove colours by massaging it on face and body. This not only helps to remove the colours, but gives added protection to the skin.
• While washing your hair, first rinse them with plenty of plain water to wash away the dry colours and tiny particles of mica. Apply a mild natural shampoo which deeply cleanses the hair without causing any further damage. Work it into the hair with your fingers, massage the scalp gently and rinse thoroughly with water again.
• Add the juice of a lemon to a mug of water and use it as a last rinse. This helps to restore the acid-alkaline balance of the scalp. Beer can also be used as a last rinse to soften and condition the hair.
• You can also apply a hair pack made of fenugreek seeds,amla powder, boiled shikakai powder and water. Another homemade recipe for hair pack that works is a mixture of henna powder, four teaspoons of lemon juice and curd. Apply on hair and wash after an hour.
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2. If possible can you please tell us about how to make organic/ natural colours for Holi which are harmless and protects skin?

Ans. Playing Holi the Indian way means getting blasted with colours from all angles, but when those chemically loaded colours come in contact with your skin, they tend to react adversely and leave behind major skin damage. That is no reason to keep away from this fun and lively festival. So the best solution for you is to opt for homemade/organic colours that are safe for one’s skin. Making your own colour also adds to the joy of the festival. One can easily follow the below mentioned steps to make different colours at home.

• To prepare red colour, you can get some red sandalwood, which is easily available in the market. The best part is that normally this sandalwood is used as a face pack, so it’s got healing properties. Another way to prepare the colour is to dry red hibiscus flowers or rose petals, grind them and voila.
• Go green. Take some henna leaves, dry them and grind them for a dry version. To make a wet green colour, soak the leaves overnight and your colour is ready. Alternative: You can also use coriander leaves or spinach to make this.
• For blue, use petals of blue hibiscus flower, grind them and play. Another option, you can use indigo, commonly known as neel (also a whitening agent).
• To make yellow at home, you can use turmeric or haldi powder or go with kasturi instead of the normal one as it has a soothing fragrance as well. Even better? Take petals of marigold flowers (genda), dry them and grind them to make a herbal paste.
• To derive a violet hue, use beetroot juice and add water to it.
• Go black by using black grapes, grinding them and separating its pulp before adding water to it. Another option is to take a steel bowl, clean it and polish the inner surface with mustard oil. Place a candle and on top of it put the steel bowl (oil side) on the candle overnight. Kohl or black dye will be formed next morning.
• For brown, you can boil tea leaves and cool it down. Add water to increase its quantity and then play away! 

Have a happy and safe Holi!

• About the Author

About Toshi Vijay

From past some years writing for me has turned all about interaction with new people, writing is one of the sources one can show the love for creativity and enjoys experimenting with words, and I hope I can share lot of resourceful information, quotes and provoking thoughts through this ahead.