The festival of colours, Holi, is right around the corner and while it is a fun day out to celebrate with your family and friends, a lot of people avoid the festival in fear of ruining their skin. Many of us have started being careful around this time and use safe organic gulaal to smear on each other but most people are still not conscientious enough to understand the damage that chemical colours may do to our skin.
Too much exposure to these chemicals may lead to rashes, skin eruptions and even long term damage like chemical burns and discolouration. But, there are a few ways you could save your skin from damage through simple home tricks.
Drink lots and lots of water
This is good advice any time of the year, but drinking lots of water will keep you hydrated as most of this festival is celebrated outdoors. The gulaal and the colours tend to dry out your skin and chapped skin will be worse affected by chemicals. Drink lots of water to keep your skin naturally hydrated. Carry some drinking water if you can and sip it in between enjoying it all.
Apply lots of oil
Coconut or castor oil will keep your skin pores from absorbing too much of the chemicals. Apply oil liberally on the exposed and the unexposed parts of your body before stepping out in the sun. Even a simple petroleum jelly can do the trick if you are not fond of the smell of oil. The colours will wash off in a jiffy after you finish playing. Make sure you don’t forget your feet and your neck as you apply the oil.
Olive Oil Mask (Photo: Dreamstime)
Use Sunscreen
Before anything else, use a lot of sunscreens to keep yourself safe from sunburn. You can buy a small tube of an SPF 35+ for the day as the exposure would be much higher than your normal days.
Nailpolish
Believe it or not, a simple coat of nail polish will keep your nails from discolouration or damage. Keep your nails as short as possible and if you don’t want to cut your nail paint the inside of it as well. After the nail polish dries off, apply lots of petroleum jelly all over your hand.
Wear covered clothing
No, we are not trying to moral police here. Wearing covered clothes will mean that you have ket yourself safe from most of the exposure to the sun, dirty water, and harmful colours. Try wearing old cotton clothes that you can discard as synthetic or silks tend to sling to the body and make it uncomfortable.
Cleaning up
Before stepping into the shower, first, shake off all the excess gulaal and dirt from your hair and body. Next use a soft cloth to clean out any excess greasy colours on your face, arms and neck etc. Clean out your ear with a cotton bud but without excessive force. Have a warm water bath, and shampoo twice. After the bath use a generous dose of moisturiser to rehydrate your skin.
