Hyderabad: Playing Holi with wet and dry colours is one of the highlights of the festival, but generally these colours are made from chemicals, lead, metal and even pesticides! Playing Holi with such chemical-induced colours has harmful effects on your skin and hair. These colours can also cause allergies, rashes, skin burns and a lot of hair damage in some people.
Nandita Sharma, a beauty expert and founder-CEO of a natural skincare brand from Bangalore, says that the heavy chemicals present in the colours of Holi can have a very bad effect on our skin, hair as well as eyes. She says that though organic, herbal or natural colours are easily available in the market these days, their fragrance and brightness of colours are less than usual. Also, they are a bit more expensive than the normal 'Gulal'. Therefore, most people buy cheaper, chemical-mixed colours, or use strong paints on Holi. These colours can cause skin burns, infections, allergies, inflammation, rashes and itching.
Also read: Holi 2023: Know the significance, time, rituals of Holika Dahan
Nandita Sharma provides us with some tips and precautions that can be helpful during the festival of colours:
- Use natural, organic or herbal colours as far as possible.
- Before playing with colours, if there is any injury or wound on the body, apply a bandage on it.
- Avoid wearing contact lenses while playing Holi, and wear glasses instead, so that the colour does not enter your eyes.
- One night before Holi, massage your body well with oil.
- Apply oil on your skin, neck, hair, hands and feet before playing Holi.
- Apply sunscreen with 30+ SPF or more on face, neck, hands and feet.
- Apply dark-coloured nail polish on the nails before playing Holi, to save them from discolouring.
- Wear clothes that fully cover you, but are slightly loose, because tighter clothes cause more irritation after getting wet.
- Apply lip balm or petroleum gel on the lips to save them from damage.
- Apply coconut, mustard or olive oil to the hair thoroughly before playing with colours.
- Girls can tie a scarf around their hair to protect it from damage.
Nandita Sharma explains that equal amounts of precautions are needed after playing Holi, i.e. at the time of getting rid of all those colours. She gives us some important tips to keep in mind while removing the colours, which are as follows:
- While playing with colours, do not wash your face repeatedly with soap or face wash, as this will remove both, the oil and sunscreen applied on the face.
- To remove the colour from the face, clean the face and neck with a dry cloth with a light hand first.
- Use Ubtan on the face and leave it on for 7 to 10 minutes. Then rub it gently to take it off, and get rid of most of the colour.
- Clean your face with a mild facewash after applying Ubtan.
- Do not wash your hair immediately using shampoo and water.
- Wipe your hair with a dry cloth first, to get rid of as much colour as possible. Massage your hair with lukewarm oil from root to tip.
- After about 15 minutes to half an hour, wet your hair, massage it with a shampoo and wash thoroughly.
- After this, lightly massage the hair with aloe vera gel or conditioner and after 10 minutes wash it with clean water.
- If the hair has become dry due to the colours, then apply a fruit pack, curd-lemon pack or any other pack according to the nature of the hair.
Nandita Sharma further tells that if there is a lot of discomfort on the skin after playing with colours, then one should not wait for the problem to get cured on its own. Rather, a dermatologist should be consulted immediately, because some problems can be treated only with medical help.
