Celebrate Holi With a Bang! All-Natural Solutions That Keep Your Skin & Hair Safe

As celebrations end for you, the struggle begins for your hair, skin, lips and nails. This year, play a safe, happy Holi

By Tanvi Patel

February 21, 2020

Holi is around the corner, and we’re excited about the colour and sweets that the festival will bring to our lives.

But somewhere, while we’re having fun—our skin and hair take a beating. The hours we spend rubbing off the harsh colours, take away all the moisture and essential oils, and sadly, even after all these shenanigans, you are left with streaks of silver and red on your body.

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Pre-Holi face care:

An aloe vera gel is a wonderful solution to keep your skin hydrated and protected before chemical colours are smeared on your face. About half an hour before you step out, wash your face and apply a generous amount of the gel on your face. Do not forget your neck and ears (especially the inner part of the ears).

Lips and eyes need extra protection:

Apply copious amounts of lip balm before you head out, to ensure that they will remain supple even after hours of playing with colours. Also, make sure you keep drinking water every half an hour, so you don’t dehydrate yourself.

For your eyes, apply a soothing eye cream or coconut oil to your eyelids. The coloured powder is likely to sit stubbornly on the delicate lids, so it’s best to maintain precaution.

A champi session:

I know that stepping out with hair that’s drenched with oil doesn’t make you feel pretty. But its admittedly a much better option than spending hours (not an exaggeration) trying to wash out the colour from your hair and scalp.

Protect yourself with a robust champi using an effective hair oil. Better still, wear a hat or drape a bandana to protect your hair further.

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Don’t forget your nails this Holi:

Done prepping your hair, skin and eyes? Let’s focus on the nails, which also attract colours that refuse to budge no matter how much you scrub them.

Rub coconut oil on your cuticles (fingers and toes!) and if possible, even apply nail paint. Wipe off the polish after playing colours and voila! The colour will also vanish!

Precautions to take while playing Holi:

holi collection

Wear a full-sleeved cotton top and full pants to protect your skin. Wear sunglasses to protect your eyes.
Keep drinking water or thandai throughout (no colas because they dehydrate you).
Make natural, chemical-free colours mandatory at your party. You can order them by clicking here.
As far as possible, keep the celebrations dry. India is suffering from a water crisis, and we need to celebrate responsibly.

How to bring back soft skin after Holi:

If you have used aloe vera gel before stepping out to play, this should be easy. Apply coconut oil to your face, arms, legs and anywhere else that you got colour on. Let it stay about 10-15 minutes. Take a warm shower and wash it away an all-natural body scrub.

After the bath, apply body butter or cream generously. For your face, follow the same routine but add a hydrating serum to further replenish the skin.

Don’t forget to follow the same steps for nails and eyes too. For your lips, use a lip scrub to take out all the colour, so you don’t ingest it accidentally.

For the hair:

Massage your hair again with some warm coconut oil- especially the scalp and the areas at the back of your head. It’s easy to miss the colour here.

Once the oil has settled in, take a warm (not hot) shower and let the oil flow away.

Shampoo, massage the scalp and the hair again and rinse off. You may want to use a chemical-free shampoo, so it doesn’t drain out the essential oils from your scalp. Apply conditioner and air-dry your hair.

(Edited by Gayatri Mishra)