Cleopatra did it with the milk of asses. Mughal Empress Noor Jehan, it is said, relied on the ittar of roses to do it. Actress Elizabeth Taylor’s way of doing it was typical of a fabulously rich Hollywood actress. She would have her bathtub filled with champagne to give her body beautiful a thorough soak. Beautician Shehnaz Hussain offers many inexpensive desi recipes for doing it. In short, skincare has been the prime concern of women down the ages.
The cynical observation that beauty is only skin deep has perhaps never much influenced those who set a great of store by a healthy glowing skin. In fact, the role played by a flawless skin in lending us a charming personality can be only ignored at our own peril.Come to think of it, don’t we form our impression of the people we meet in our daily life by first looking at their faces? When travelling by a Metro train we find that the girl sitting opposite us has a remarkably clean and unblemished skin, do we not take notice of her presence by more than just one casual glance?
How does one care for one’s skin? Most of us are apt to conjure up visions of a whole host of face creams, lotions, astringents, cleansing milks, herbal concoctions for facials and several other attractively bottled preparations that have flooded the market nowadays. But this is not the whole truth about skincare.In fact, the health of our skin has more to do with how we eat, sleep, bathe, work, and play than with the array of beauty aids on our dressing-tables. For a clean glowing skin, it is important to eat natural foods like fruit, fresh green vegetables, juices, milk, curd, cheese and honey. Besides, we should take care of the quality as well as the quantity of our daily intake of food if we do not wish to be embarrassed at our own reflection in the mirror. In short, healthy living is a must for a healthy skin.
The health of our skin is also related to the smooth and regular functioning of our bowels. Those who suffer from a constipated and clogged excretory system often have a faded and unclean skin. Dark circles round one’s eyes owe their origin more often to a ‘dirty’ stomach than to any vitamin deficiency.Adequate intake of green leafy vegetables is a must. Then, the best way to get rid of constipation is take for a few days flea-seed husk (sat isbgol) with a cup of hot, honey sweetened milk before retiring for the night. Light exercise is also necessary for keeping our system toned up.
Our daily quota of sleep also acts as a skin tonic. A sound sleep for six to seven hours not only soothes our tired nerves but also keeps the tiny natural bulbs on our cheeks illumined with the current of red corpuscles. Inadequate and irregular hours of sleep make our faces look tired, jaded and off colour.For sound sleep at night, a long walk after dinner should be a regular practice in one’s life. It is truly said that those who reach home dog-tired at the end of the day fall asleep for more easily than those who sit idle at home or who remain engaged for long hours in sedentary office work.
There is, however, a class of men and women whom Morpheus, the god of sleep, likes to keeps at an arm’s length. They are over-successful tycoons, power-hungry politicians who want to remain in power for ever, over busy stars of the silver screen, and the late-night revellers and merrymakers.The drug-induced sleep to which these people get accustomed with the passage of time does not improve their health, least of all the health of their skin.Our toiletry, of course, has a significant bearing on the condition of our skin. The soap we use should suit the requirements of our skin. Nearly all toilet soaps are based on tallow, coconut oil or glycerine and contain colouring and perfume additives. Sometimes additives harm sensitive skins. In such cases, a simple perfumeless soap should be used.
During July, August and September, the amount of humidity in the atmosphere increases sharply. And the result is that we sweat profusely and our faces feel greasy after every few hours. Washing our faces with good quality soap two or three times a day keeps the pores of our skin free from dust particles and harmful bacteria.But do not overdo the face-washing routine. Excessive washing and scrubbing can strip the skin of its natural oil called sebum, upsetting its vital acid/alkali balance (PH factor) and leading to dryness and infection.Remember that Noel Coward song, “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun…’’? So, exposing our skin to extreme temperature variations is risky. Extreme cold gives us a dry and chapped skin, sometimes even chilblains.
On the other hand, scorching heat of the midday sun in summer burns the skin. So, we should beware of the risks we incur by going out on a shopping spree on a sweltering day in May or on a freezing day in January.The rudiments of skincare should form part of school curriculum. If the habit of skincare is inculcated in our children in their formative years, it will save them the embarrassment that they have to face in their adolescence in the shape of acne and blackheads.It is true to an extent that acne and blackheads are the result of hormonal changes that accompany puberty, but much of the trouble is of our own making. Irregular dietary habits, carelessness in cleaning each part of the body while bathing and indiscriminate use of face creams and lotions can aggravate the skin condition in adolescence. – PTI Feature
