Skin and Hair Care for Holi for Everyone

Holi, the festival of colourful fun is approaching. Children are eagerly waiting to play with their pichkaris and have fun. Here are a few tips to take care of your skin and your children's skin and hair during Holi.

Skin Care Before Holi:

Avoid bleaching, waxing, threading, peeling, laser treatments at least 2 days prior to playing Holi. Stop using retinoid, benzoyl peroxide or hydroquinone based creams for at least 2 days prior to playing Holi. Start moisturizing your skin especially if dry, until the skin texture returns to normal.

Skin Care before going to play Holi:

Moisturize your skin head to toe properly before you go out to play. This will protect your skin and also help to remove the colour more easily. You can either use coconut oil, or a good moisturizing lotion. Sun protection: Apply a good sunscreen lotion liberally on face, neck, arms; all exposed parts. Lips: Use a lip balm with SPF. Nails: Trim your nails short and cover them with a nail paint and then apply a coat of oil. Clothing: Wear dark coloured-full sleeved cotton clothes. Synthetics would be sticky and denims would be heavy once you have a bucket full of water splashed on you. The more you cover your body, the higher are the chances of saving your skin from colour damage. Hydrate yourself by drinking plenty of water, thandai, fresh fruit juices

Skin Care After playing Holi:

Avoid excessive hot water (since your skin is already exposed to the chemicals in colours and also heavy sun, don't irritate it more). Avoid loofa or scrubs, or rubbing with a harsh towel. Do not rub or scrub the skin a lot to remove the colours. The friction of rubbing would aid in penetration of colours and irritate the skin more. Apply little oil on the skin and then gently try to remove the colour. The colours of Holi, water, sun and finally overzealous cleaning leaves your skin dry. After bathing, pat dry your skin to leave it slightly damp. Apply a thick body lotion to trap the water on the surface of skin, hydrate it and keep it soft and supple. Repeat moisturizer each time your skin feels dry.

Hair care for Holi:

Avoid Steam and sauna a couple of days before. Avoid applying hair colour a couple of days before Holi. If possible, pamper your hair to a good oil massage for a couple of days to make them more soft and supple.

Hair Care On the day of Holi:

Oil your hair heavily hair before you go out to play Holi. Oil will coat the hair shafts and act as a barrier and prevent colours from coming in direct contact with hair shafts and will lessen the damage. Avoid using styling gels or creams. Tie up your hair if possible while playing Holi. Open hair will become more tangled and tend to break easily. Use a fancy bandana to prevent the hair from getting messy.

Hair Care Post Holi:

Wash your hair with plain lukewarm water so that most of the colour comes off. Use a mild shampoo. The colour might not go off in just one wash. Do not panic and desperately shampoo more. The hair might be already dry, so don't wash it twice on the same day. Avoid combing wet hair, avoid hair dryers. Dry your hair with a soft cotton cloth,avoid excessive rubbing. Once the hair are dry, massage hair liberally with oil again especially for children.

What if there is itching or redness while playing Holi ?

Inspite of taking proper precautions, colours can still cause a reaction especially for those with sensitive skin. If your skin starts to burn or you feel itchy, then immediately stop playing, get out of the sun to a cooler place. Splash plenty of cold water, pat dry with a soft cloth. Don't try desperately to remove the colour. Rubbing will only irritate the skin more. Avoid further sun exposure. Apply ice packs or cold compresses. Do not apply soap or hot water and try to remove the colour if it doesn't come off. Apply little coconut oil to pacify the skin. Apply chilled Calamine lotion or medicated aloe vera gel if there is severe burning. See a Dermatologist at the earliest.