New And Innovative Ways To Take Care Of Your Skin This Holi

The time of the year when all the dullness of our lives vanishes and a new rush of colour, hope and positivity sets in is almost here. Yes, we are talking about that one festival all of us have been looking forward to throughout the year; the festival of colours, the festival of Holi.

While this festival brings along unrestrained joy and promises of fresh start and new beginnings, it also ushers in a whole new set of problems. Yes, we are talking about skin care problems.

The reason for the same may be attributed to the fact that the colours that are used in Holi may result in a lot of allergies and irritations. While you may use the most organic and best-quality colours, the same cannot be said about everyone who applies colours on you.

Thus, it is your duty to ensure that you protect your delicate skin from all such toxic chemicals. While this may seem as rocket science, it is not actually so. By following these ten simple precautionary measures during Holi, one will be able to ensure that they take in all the festivity that surrounds this festival without compromising on the condition of their skin.

1. Wear Covered Clothes

By wearing full-sleeved churridar or salwar kameez (or in case of men, polo tees or full sleeved shirts teemed with old denims), you are ensuring that only the bare minimum amount of your skin is exposed. This ensures that a minimum amount of damage is caused to your skin.

2. Keep Yourself Hydrated

Dehydration causes your skin to become dry. When this adds on to the harmful chemicals, the colours seep deeper into the skin than what they normally would have and end up causing a greater amount of harm than what was normally expected. To avoid all of that, the best thing that you can do is to drink a lot of glucose, fresh fruit juice or water and ensure that you stay hydrated throughout.

3. Moisturize Your Skin And Lips

It is a well-accepted fact that your skin and lips are more sensible than other parts of your body. Hence, while drinking sufficient fluids is enough for the rest of your body, it may not be so in case of your ears and lips. Hence, make it a point to use petroleum jelly on your ears. Remember that it is the dry skin that leads to the pores to open, which in turn causes more damage when subjected to chemicals. For the same reason, it is important to apply lip balm on your lips.

4. Use Sunglasses

While this may look like a very trendy thing to do, the fact is wearing of sunglasses will protect your eyes from coming in contact with the chemicals that is present in the colours. In case they still do come in contact with your eyes, make sure that you immediately wash off the same with cold water. If this is not done, it will lead to redness of the eyes and irritation and, in some cases, it may even lead to an allergy.

5. Stay Dry

Make sure that you do not remain in wet clothes for a prolonged period of time. Staying in wet clothes will invite a host of allergies and discomforts. You can consider playing Holi with curd. By applying curd on each other's faces, you make sure that the colour fades away and the skin remains moisturized.

6. Apply Nail Paint

It is a good practice to apply nail paints to both your finger nails and toe nails during this festival. In fact, try to apply multiple coatings if possible. This will protect your nails from the harmful colours of Holi. In order to blend in with all that festivity, you can also consider applying the darkest or the most vibrant colour that you possess.

7. Apply Sunscreen

Playing Holi without applying sunscreen is a strict no-no. If you are playing Holi for a prolonged period of time, make sure that you reapply the sunscreen every couple of hours once. Also, ensure that the sunscreen lotion that you are using has an SPF that is greater than 25. This will ensure that after all the festivity, you do not end up turning two shades darker than what you were prior to Holi.

8. Play A Dry Holi

In order to minimize the damage caused to your skin and hair, the best thing that you can do is to go for a dry Holi that is devoid of water and focus solely on powdered colours. This is because powdered colours do not stay on and it is easy to rub them off. In fact, it is a good practice to ensure that one washes their face once every couple of hours while playing Holi.

9. Apply Coconut And Mustard Oils

As cliché as it sounds, these age-old techniques go a long way in ensuring that the harmful chemicals that you play with do not penetrate into your body. Make sure that you oil your scalp and the area behind your ear as well.

10. Go Herbal

While it is not possible to dictate what colours others will use on you, it is always a good practice to go for herbal colours as much as possible. If you can start the bandwagon of using herbal colours, chances are that others will follow suit and a much greener and skin friendlier Holi can be ensured.

11. Removing The Colours

After you are done playing with the colours the way you would like to, then comes the important part of getting rid of the same. If you want to ensure that minimal damage is caused to your skin, make sure that you are not lazy about this part. Try to get rid of the colours while they are still wet. Colours are harder to get rid of if they have already dried.

12. Post Bath Care

Once you have had your shower and are done with getting rid of all those colours from your body, your responsibility does not end there. You must make sure that you apply sufficient moisturizers to all your body parts to make up for all the harsh chemicals that they have been subjected to earlier in the day.