Color This Season - Naturally - Safe Colors for Holi

Color This Season - Naturally - Safe Colors for Holi

Acute nail fold inflammation, Exacerbation of preexisting dermatoses, abrasion, discoloration, contact dermatitis!! Sounds scary?? Well, these, and irritation, itching, dryness etc is common after Holi. The degree may vary, but we all have been victims to it. The culprits are the synthetic and chemical laden colours that we use, and the damage is much more than we are aware of.

Did you know that most of the green, red and other colours you used during the last Holi are made using chemicals? Not many know that the brighter and cheaper industrial grade colours being produced in the dye industry is being used as Holi colours. Lead oxide, copper sulphate, aluminium bromide and mercury sulphite make up different colours. Mixed with oxidized metals, other industrial dyes, mica dust, powdered glasses and sometimes masked with fragrances, in the absence of a brand, we end up buying chemicals to celebrate Holi.

It is time to start playing safe Holi and the good news is that there are options and choices available. This Holi, celebrate Holi only with Rang de! - natural colours that are clinically tested and proven safe. Your decision to use natural colors could make the difference to you, your friends and the environment

Natural colours, naturally!

Rang de! uses colours extracted from natural spices and plants to produce Natural Play colours. Yellow from Turmeric, green from leaves, orange from Annatto and Pink from Black carrots ensures that no chemicals or synthetic elements spoil your celebrations. It’s customized water soluble blends is the safest liquid colours available in India.

Gentle on the Environment!

The synthetic chemicals or colours have negative impact on the air, water, soil, biodiversity and environment as a whole, whereas the Natural colours are eco and environment friendly, dispersing into the environment without harming it.

Soul Tree - Make It a Healthy Holi - Organic Integrity in the Health and Beauty Care

*Press Release

Soul Tree, India’s leading and only range of certified organic and natural beauty products recommends using its various organic skin care products which are safe to remove the festival colours.  Holi revellers must take note of the products to be used post using synthetic colours, which are available in abundance during the festival and contain chemicals like acids, and toxic alkalis in order to have a healthy Holi.  

Holi, one of the most celebrated festivals of colours, is also known to be the bringer of a wide range of skin problem. Most common problems are abrasion, allergies, rashes and itching. They arise as a result of the chemicals in the colour powders and failure to remove them from skin effectively.

Holi is indeed a source of great fun and joy. To ensure a safe and healthy Holi  with a splash of safety, Vishal Bhandhari, Managing Director, Soul Tree says “Soul Tree wishes all Indians a happy and disease free Holi and would request everyone celebrating to take the utmost care of their skin. Our mission is to provide the purest, most effective, premium quality skincare through natural, high performance formulations.”

How To Clean Skin and Hair After Holi

Yesterday I shared with you some tips on protecting your hair and skin from the harmful effects of chemicals present in colors that are used on Holi. If you missed that post you can read it HERE

Now after you are done playing with colors you must carefully cleanse your skin to make sure all the colors get removed and also to ensure that you have minimum left over stains after the color riot!

Though you will find several suggestions online on various forums I am sharing things that work for me.

image source: pushpaparvathy.blogspot.com

How To Cleanse Skin and Hair After Holi

When you are done playing with colors you will notice that some of the color will start  shedding on its own as the skin starts to dry up. 

The first thing to do is some preparation before you hit the shower. Take a bowl and add about 4 tablespoons of besan (chick pea flour). To this add the juice of one big lemon, half a teaspoon of turmeric powder, and some raw milk. If you suffer from very dry skin add a spoonful of almond/olive oil. Mix it well to form a smooth paste - if it is dry add some more milk.

Now hit the shower and just let the water wash away all the color it can. Try to make sure the water is cool or at the most lukewarm - the warmer it is the more dry it will make your skin. From head to toe just use your hands to wash off as much as you can. 

Now turn of the shower and take the chick pea paste that you made and gently start scrubbing over your body. Be gentle and rub it in circular motions. Let the paste sit on your skin for about a minute (don't let it dry completely). While the paste sits on your body, shampoo your hair with a gentle shampoo. You might need to shampoo twice in succession to get all the color out so make sure your shampoo is not loaded with sulphates. 

image source: http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/4-papaya-face-pack-tutorials-with-pictures-and-steps/

Complete your shower, towel dry the skin without any rubbing, and apply a thick moisturizer all over the body. Once the hair towel dries follow up your next hair wash with a pre-wash oil treatment.

image source: www.101hairsolutions.com

I hope you play a safe holi and that these tips that have helped me are helpful to you as well!

Important Tips On How To Protect Your Hair And Skin This Holi

Holi is round the corner but people all around have already started playing with colors. Holi is an Indian festival where people put color in the form of powder or colored water on each other. They soak in colored water, eat lots of gujiya (Indian sweet) and even throw water balloons at each other. It is one crazy day but the enthusiasm starts almost a week early.

image src happyholi2013.ind.in

I personally HATE playing with wet colors on Holi. The only thing I like is celebrating with dry colors and eating sweets. Holi is a mess when it comes to skin and hair. It is becomes imperative that we spend some time in the pre-holi preparation to save our skin and hair from the harmful effects of chemicals present in the colors (even if you are playing with all natural colors you don't want to be left with pink, or blue, or yellow colored skin afterwards!)

Here I am sharing with you some tips that you can use. These are things that I used to do as a child when I did play with all sorts of colors.

How To Protect Your Skin on Holi

1. If you have dry skin you are lucky - smother a layer of almond or olive oil all over your body not missing out on areas like the ears, back of the neck, elbows, knees, lips and even on the eye lids. Since almond oil and olive oil are also good for skin so it wont cause you any issues. Oil will help form a layer of barrier between your skin and the chemicals. It will also help you wash off the colors more easily.
2. Oily skinned beauties can try almond oil as well - almond oil does not cause breakouts unless you drench yourself in it. Another option is to use any petroleum jelly to coat your skin, but be careful around the eyes.