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January 27, 2024
Pramod Pathak
We use hundreds of creams daily for our face. Shaving cream, shaving foams, shaving gels, face wash, face scrub, sun screen, fairness cream, anti-pimples, anti-wrinkle, cream for oily skin, cream for dry skin, antiseptic cream, multipurpose cream, magic cream......I can actually compile a separate dictionary for face creams. They all are anti-face creams due to chemicals used in their manufacturing.
The lust for such creams is so high that companies flood the market to fullfil our desires. Words like - Ayurvedic, patanjali, natural, organic and homemade are added to these products to fool us. There are a few genuine manufacturers too but the question is - Why do we require them?
Whenever a dangerous side effect of a product is occurs, we find that it is seldom reported and even if it is reported in India the money power suppresses such incidents. So the general public is always unaware of harmful side effects of such products.
Add to this the magical gimmick of chain marketing presented by these companies in the garb of women empowerment. I will not name the companies, we all are aware how housewives are targeted with buisness opportunities by these companies and offered discounts in the name of direct marketing. We end up buying such products from relatives or friends. Even if the product is bad we are unable to report it because we care and love our relatives/friends who sold us the product.
We all want to be beautiful and handsome. So what do we do.
Be smart and intelligent, stay away from chemicals laden creams.
Shaving Creams
We have been fooled since the advent of TV that a foamy and sweet fragrant shaving cream is liked by Kapil Dev to Virat Kohli. Hence the first choice of our shaving cream is those big brands in pressurised cans. These gels and foams are full of artificial scents of chemicals.
"दूधो नहाओ पूतों फलों।" This is the blessings of our elders since times immemorial and we in India have grown up hearing this. What it means - may you bathe in milk and be blessed with grand children.
Milk is the best shaving cream. Take two spoons of milk, add a pinch of turmeric powder and a teaspoon of cream or malai. Take this in a palm and using hands rub this milk on the face for one minute. You will experience the smoothest shave of your life.
You are Vegan and off dairy, take one spoon of edible coconut oil, add a pinch of turmeric powder and use this as shaving cream.
Don't use scented hair oils as they contain chemicals. Any edible organic oil can be used. Turmeric powder makes it antiseptic.
After shave take a piece of alum or phitkari and just rub it on your wet face. You will forget using those fancy after shave.
Start gradually and make your life chemicals free.
Chemicals: Face Creams
We all want baby skin. Baby's skin is soft, clean, glowing, beautiful, charming......I can use the complete oxford dictionary and still not be able to pen everyone's thought on good skin. We all love to be beautiful and handsome (mild sentence).
The face cream buisness thrives on this obsession. There is no harm in this obsession, but what is wrong is the quick fixes, indoctrination of our minds by TV, radio, banners, magazines, newspapers, etc assuring us magic in one to 15 days. One has to win over this first.
Babies possess the best skin because firstly they don't worry and secondly they are unaware of McDonald, KFC, Domino, etc. They don't worry about diets because mother's milk is a BALANCED FOOD naturally.
So the prime pre-requisites of good skin are happiness and healthy balanced lifestyle.
Our skin is the largest organ of our body. Healthy skin is sign of a healthy body. Our body eliminates toxins which are byproducts of food that we eat. Skin is one such organ which our body uses for toxin elimination. That is why our elders have always made us wash our face after an outing, before eating, before sleeping, after getting up and as often as necessary. Every celebrity has only one free advice for glowing skin - DRINK ADEQUATE WATER.
Due to the pollution our air, water and food has changed. We need to help our skin to enable it to perform it's prime function of toxin elimination. Now if we use a cream which has been purchased primarily due to the quality of fragrance, we would do more harm to our skin.
So what do we use.
1. Water. Drink 2.5 litres of water daily. Wash your face by chill water. Add 2-3 cubes of ice to a mug of water and wash your face. In winters too wash with cold water and warm water alternatively 2-3 times.
2. Breathing. Deep breathing for only 5 minutes will add a glow to your face instantly. Exhale completely and hold your breath for as long as you can, inhale for 3 seconds, completely exhale and again hold your breath for as long as you can. Do this for five minutes.
3. Milk. Pick up any cosmetic cream and check the ingredients. You will always find milk as one of the ingredient and the rest are some salts or fragrance or base to make it a paste. Why pay 100 times more for adulterated milk when one can use it directly. Take a cup of milk, add one spoon of coconut oil, one teaspoon of turmeric powder, mix it and you have your natural face wash and soap. Add the natural rose water, flower extract or your choice of essential oils. Dry skin - add more oils, oily skin - add a spoon of baking soda. Throw away your soap cases and get a soap tray about one feet by one feet with about six inches high sides. Place all these ingredients and make your soap daily.
4. Exercise. Incorporate aerobic exercises or morning walks in fresh air into your daily routine. Keep your skin breathing. The life of each cell in our body is three months. Every month one third of our face cells are changing. Identify these cycles, spare extra time during these days to your face. More exercise, more washing, more water.
I can list numerous things but wanted to keep it simple. This is to motivate you to make a beginning. Once you set sail on this natural path, you will find more options.
Don't throw away those expensive face creams, but pledge to stop investing in them for a month. Try this for a month and experience the difference. Give your face a break from chemicals.
We all want baby skin. Baby's skin is soft, clean, glowing, beautiful, charming......I can use the complete oxford dictionary and still not be able to pen everyone's thought on good skin. We all love to be beautiful and handsome (mild sentence).
The face cream buisness thrives on this obsession. There is no harm in this obsession, but what is wrong is the quick fixes, indoctrination of our minds by TV, radio, banners, magazines, newspapers, etc assuring us magic in one to 15 days. One has to win over this first.
Babies possess the best skin because firstly they don't worry and secondly they are unaware of McDonald, KFC, Domino, etc. They don't worry about diets because mother's milk is a BALANCED FOOD naturally.
So the prime pre-requisites of good skin are happiness and healthy balanced lifestyle.
Our skin is the largest organ of our body. Healthy skin is sign of a healthy body. Our body eliminates toxins which are byproducts of food that we eat. Skin is one such organ which our body uses for toxin elimination. That is why our elders have always made us wash our face after an outing, before eating, before sleeping, after getting up and as often as necessary. Every celebrity has only one free advice for glowing skin - DRINK ADEQUATE WATER.
Due to the pollution our air, water and food has changed. We need to help our skin to enable it to perform it's prime function of toxin elimination. Now if we use a cream which has been purchased primarily due to the quality of fragrance, we would do more harm to our skin.
So what do we use.
1. Water. Drink 2.5 litres of water daily. Wash your face by chill water. Add 2-3 cubes of ice to a mug of water and wash your face. In winters too wash with cold water and warm water alternatively 2-3 times.
2. Breathing. Deep breathing for only 5 minutes will add a glow to your face instantly. Exhale completely and hold your breath for as long as you can, inhale for 3 seconds, completely exhale and again hold your breath for as long as you can. Do this for five minutes.
3. Milk. Pick up any cosmetic cream and check the ingredients. You will always find milk as one of the ingredient and the rest are some salts or fragrance or base to make it a paste. Why pay 100 times more for adulterated milk when one can use it directly. Take a cup of milk, add one spoon of coconut oil, one teaspoon of turmeric powder, mix it and you have your natural face wash and soap. Add the natural rose water, flower extract or your choice of essential oils. Dry skin - add more oils, oily skin - add a spoon of baking soda. Throw away your soap cases and get a soap tray about one feet by one feet with about six inches high sides. Place all these ingredients and make your soap daily.
4. Exercise. Incorporate aerobic exercises or morning walks in fresh air into your daily routine. Keep your skin breathing. The life of each cell in our body is three months. Every month one third of our face cells are changing. Identify these cycles, spare extra time during these days to your face. More exercise, more washing, more water.
I can list numerous things but wanted to keep it simple. This is to motivate you to make a beginning. Once you set sail on this natural path, you will find more options.
Don't throw away those expensive face creams, but pledge to stop investing in them for a month. Try this for a month and experience the difference. Give your face a break from chemicals.
