It’s the week of celebrations in India. The vibrancy of colors is something that brings in a lot of positivity in our lives and Holi being the festival of colours is actually a day worth rejoicing. The festival of Holi is predominantly a festival of fun. People spend a lot of their time during the festival days engaging in smearing colour on each other. With the country gearing up to celebrate the festival of colours, Holi, the festivity and jubilation takes its toll on our skin and hair and urges us to re-think our plans to celebrate the festival this Thursday.

Dr. Madhumita Bhattacharya, consultant, department of dermatology, CK Birla Hospitals-CMRI shared effective tips to avoid the side-effects of the colours. Here are some tips to help you prepare yourself accordingly:

PRE-HOLI

How to care for your skin as it’s very important to prepare your skin for Holi?

The amount of colours and water one ends up playing with on Holi can have a serious toll on your skin unless you are well prepared in advance. So, here’s what you should do before venturing out:

Rub ice cubes on your face

Doing this helps close pores on your skin and ensures colours don’t seep into your skin and cause breakage.

Apply oil on your face

For those who have dry or normal skin, one should apply oil on their face and body.Oil will act as a barrier between your skin and colours while keeping your skin moisturised all along.You can opt for coconut oil, castor oil and olive oil. Also, you shouldnot forget to moisturize to ear lobes and neck.Also,use a waterproof sunscreen to protect your skin from sun damage.

Paint your nails

Let’s face it, we don’t want to be stuck with ugly nails at the end of it all. To avoid the ugly circumstances, paint your nails beforehand so that the colour can be easily removed later.

Hydrate yourself

Drink lots and lots of water before playing Holi. It keeps you hydrated and you can feel energetic and refreshed. Dehydration causes your skin to dry and combined with harsh chemicals of the colour.

Protect your eyes

Wear sunglasses and remove contact lenses before venturing outdoors. If colour enters the eyes immediately rinse them with cold water.

WHILE PLAYING HOLI

One should avoid scented or perfumed colours as they might cause fragrant allergy.

Clothing

Wear dark full sleeves cotton clothes which will cover your whole body and can protect you from direct harm of colours, unless organic. Synthetic would seem to be sticky on your skin when you will get wet and denims would be heavy once you have bucket full of water splashed on you. The rule you must follow during playing holi that the more you cover your body, the higher are the chances of saving your skin from colour harm directly.

Select organic colours

Nowadays, colours comprise of harmful content like engine oil, grease, diesel, acid, glass powder and alkalis which can damage your skin badly. This can result in serious skin conditions like eczema, redness, and flaking of skin. Ingredients like lead oxide is present in black colour, mercury sulfide in red, aluminum bromide in silver and copper sulfate in green. These can easily penetrate the skin to cause various health problems. It is recommended to use herbal colours to avoid any kind of skin allergies. Herbal colours can easily be prepared at home by the extracts of the flowers and food colours. These are eco-friendly and have no side-effects on your skin.

Avoid sitting in the hot sun with the colours still on your body or face

This makes the colours even more difficult to wash off later. Encourage children to play in the shade and not in direct sun. Children should be guided not to play with water or oil base colours. Try to use mild colours like yellow, pink or red which can be easily washed off. Gaudy colours like purple, green, blue have more harmful chemicals and should not be used as far as possible.

Use bandanas

If you want to protect your hair from every bit of colour, wearing a bandana would be a great option. It is very much in trend and enhance your look for the occasion. Hold your hair together and make a low bun then tie a bandana covering your complete head. This way you can protect your hair and can play safe Holi with your love ones.

The official drink of Holi, bhang, when consumed in large quantities can lead to increased blood pressure and a hike in heart rate. Drink in moderation and avoid mixing it with alcohol.

POST HOLI

Avoid using harsh soaps and shampoo

Use a mild soap to get rid of the colour from your skin and baby shampoo followed by conditioner for your hair. Avoid using kerosene, petrol and spirits to remove stains, as they will further dry the skin.

Replenish and rejuvenate your skin

Post the celebrations, apply lots of moisturizer or a homemade face pack of gram flour (besan) and curd or cream (malai). An oil massage (coconut oil), plenty of water and a good amount of rest is important.Go out and buy some rose water. After you’ve scrubbed yourself clean of the Holi colours, and before you soak yourself in post festival body lotion, take some time to apply a generous amount of rose water everywhere (including the face). It acts as a real soothing agent and will totally calm down the skin after the ordeal that it has been through.

To protect your hair

To avoid the dire consequences of synthetic colours and harsh chemicals, give yourself a thorough head massage with a coconut based hair oil.  Coconut oil achieves up to 90 percent hair penetration right through to the cortex, thus forming a protective layer around your hair, preventing it from the damaging effects of not only colour, but heat and dirt, because the molecules are arranged in a linear fashion and light chained. Therefore, it can pass through the outer cuticle.

About the author- Dr. Madhumita Bhattacharya, consultant, department of dermatology, CK Birla Hospitals-CMRI