The Kitchen Cabinet – our Lockdown Beauty Parlour!

04 Jul The Kitchen Cabinet – our Lockdown Beauty Parlour!

With the Lockdown turning into total Unlock, all the services and shops are opening up including Beauty parlours, Salons, Spas and now the partial lockdown happening in certain parts of the country once again, all this indicates a situation which will stay on for longer than we initially assumed.

As advised by the administration, government, local bodies and every WhatsApp group in our phone – our safety is in our own hands now.

While I am sure that we all need a beauty touch-up after almost three months of dishwashing, brooming, wiping the floor, non-stop cooking (and planning to cook even more), running around the house with kids Or for kids Or both (parenting you know), late sittings in front of the screen(whether for Netflix or office work) and many more unnoticed and passing-by tasks that we all have been doing and will be doing for some more time to come; but  I am not sure how safe it will be to pay much overdue visit to the beauty parlour and hair salon right now.

Although I love my quarterly visit to the Parlour and semi-annual Hair Salon trip, but since the time I can recall, I have been a complete Miser when it comes to spending money on beauty and hair treatments and massages and all the hullabaloo that they try to sell me.

Also, thanks to my very sensitive skin, I have been a total bhakt of home remedies.

So as a result of all that, we have come up with a list of home skin and hair care recipes/tips – while some are Nani/Dadi ke nuskhe, some are my trials which turned successful and some are hybrid versions of age-old traditions:

1.Aloe Vera – The Legend.

My little one got a bad case of sunburn in Goa last year so the first thing I did was ran to a supermarket and bought Aloe Vera gel with peppermint (from a herbal brand I could lay my hands on) and it worked wonders in just 2 generous applications– that Aloe Vera gel has been on my bedside since that very day. And I have used that for my itchy scalp during summers, little one’s allergic rash, soothing her mosquito bites, an uncalled-for pimple, 15 minutes smothering before a bath, bedtime application before and after a make-up day and as leave-in hair serum during lockdown (only the gel available in the market because home extracted can get lumpy for leave-in use). That’s just me using it. It can be used in many other ways. It also has Anti-aging properties. Use it as an ad-hoc to existing products and regime or make it the main ingredient –the choice is ours.

Plant gel extraction is also not as demanding – just mildly tricky and one can ace it using a fork to scrape the gel before using a spoon to scoop it out.

2.Potato and Tomato juice – for naturally bleaching the skin, for tanned skin and works as natural Astringent for open pores.

The day we came back from our beach vacation and I looked at myself in the mirror, the horrifying sight reminded me of the cousin’s Engagement that was 3 days from now. Without any time at hand to visit a parlour, I turned to ‘heard from someone somewhere’ nuskha – Potato and Tomato. I literally smothered my face in a mix of freshly grated tomato and potato juice twice in the remaining one and a half-day. Not that all my tan was gone but the difference was noticeable.

3.Lemon juice –A guest called Dandruff visits me every year without fail since the time I can recall. And for the past 15 years, I have been winning over it with lemon juice in my oil throughout cold and moist months. Just need warm hair oil (not hot) and add 8-10 drops of fresh lemon juice to it before applying on the scalp with fingertips or cotton ball. A little tingling for a few minutes is expected and then wash after an hour or two.

Alert: Lemon juice might irritate the skin so one should do a trial with lesser quantity, to begin with.  If serious redness occurs, please apply an ice pack or cold aloe vera gel to soothe.

4.Coffee – A cup daily and half spoon weekly for an instant glow. Coffee helps to tighten, brighten the skin and fights ageing and cellulite.

Mix ground coffee with Aloe Vera gel or a choice of oil – Olive or Coconut, add granular sugar, homemade scrub is ready for instant pepped up skin.

5.Besan Ubtan – Besan is a natural Exfoliator, rich in anti-oxidants and gives instant fairness, mixed with age-old elixir Haldi, and curd (for oily skin) or milk (for dry to combination skin). This ubtan is a full-fledged ritual prior to the wedding day for brides and grooms in India, not without any reason. This pack is the sure-shot way to a golden glow and healthy skin in the long run.

6.Honey: Works as an intense moisturiser and is anti-bacterial so helps fight skin infections.

For the Face – Days when we just feel like cleansing our face for instant softness and glow, Lemon juice and Honey are perfect.

5 drops of lemon and 5 drops of honey – mix and apply on face and neck – massage in upwards circles for 10 min and leave for another 10 min. Wash off with regular water. Always perks up my sensitive, oily to combination, tired skin. Though it still irritates my facial skin in besan ubtan pack but with honey, it works well.

For Hair: DIY hair mask – Mix Aloe Vera gel, Curd/Banana and Honey, blend and apply for an hour before hair wash for a smooth and healthy mane.

7.Multani Mitti or Fuller’s Earth – Throughout our teenage, the only face pack that was not seen as a beauty pack but as a necessity of every teenager (girl or boy) and anyone with oily skin, combination skin, irritated skin, sensitive skin, dull skin, pimples- the magic pack is called Multani Mitti face pack. Just add some rose water to it, even better if the rose water is cold.

8.Haldi (Turmeric) – The magical herb since the days of yore. Haldi has all those anti-inflammatory, anti-septic, lightening, anti-ageing properties that make it an all skin types friendly potion.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Homemade beauty remedies have been the thing since ages and they still work wonders.

Share what all other kitchen treasures have you been using for flawless and healthy skin.

Happy Glowing!