The Beauteous traditions of beauty

I have many times wondered as to whether I am too ancient in my thinking, too conservative for this fast-paced, high-tech, and upwardly moving environment. On one day, when I was asked about our daily production capacity, I immediately replied that I didn’t know. It would depend on the amount of fresh raw material we could acquire, which in turn would depend on the rain and the resulting crop–factors entirely outside my control. I also believe in fresh handmade products, and that takes time and time is something that people do not have today!

The question that plagues many a mind today is something that I have been trying to answer for the past decade. And that is, how herbal is the herbal product that you are using? And if it is really herbal, how does it smell as good as a wonderful French perfume? Well firstly, anything that is herbal may not necessarily smell wonderful as herbs have their distinctive smells, and secondly, if the herbal product that you are using is natural, like ours, it will have a limited shelf life. It cannot be sitting on shelves for years unless it has an added preservative that gives it a shelf life. Also, herbal products look real, if you are using an apricot scrub, there have to be apricot grains, if you are using an almond scrub, there has to be almond powder, and not synthetic grains mixed with almond-smelling cream. Natural products also have the goodness of natural and fresh ingredients. Can tinned soups have the goodness of fresh broths and home-made soups? The answer is obvious.

We unfortunately, are a nation that runs towards the West when the West is waiting to listen to some answers that we have been gifted from our ancestors. Oxygen therapy started very recently. Yoga was practised by the rishis and munis in dense forests, inhaling pure oxygen, and creating the basic pranayama, which I believe to be the traditional and purest form of Oxygen therapy!

Flowers, fruits, herbs, leaves, roots, minerals, metals, and shells – these are all elements of our past. These elements are valuable and can easily be incorporated into our lifestyles. The tradition of using besan, malai, and haldi was a household remedy for cleansing and moisturising the skin. Today, when I suggest this to my nine-year-old, her nose wrinkles in disgust, thinking of a smelly concoction. Fuller's earth is still extensively used in villages to shampoo hair, remove dirt, and grime and has a wonderful cleansing property, especially for oily hair which is why women in the villages have thick, beautiful tresses which have not yet been exposed to the vagaries of rebonding, colouring and other endless chemical hair juggleries!

Ghee was used by our ancestors to massage the body and inspite of the odour, many of our grandmothers had soft and flawless skin! Honey, oil, bananas, guggul, fresh cream, yoghurt, milk, and beeswax were just some of the wonderful natural ingredients used to create the perfect moisturiser for porcelain skin.

Pounded rose petals mixed with neem paste were applied to the skin to hydrate and keep the skin supple and bacteria-free. Sandalwood was mixed with saffron and milk and smeared on the arms, legs, face, and breasts to keep it fair and blemish-free.

Silver, gold, and pearl facials have taken over the cosmetic shelves of many salons but powdered gems, swarn and chandi bhasm were all quite common to the beauty regimes of our our past. Ayurveda, a 5000-year-old science is one of the greatest gifts of the ancient Indian sages to mankind, and India has been internationally acclaimed as the storehouse of its secrets, where nature’s products and their use through the ages have evolved into an intricate science that is becoming increasingly popular today.

For most of us, the hectic pace of our lives takes its toll on our faces and bodies. Stress, anxiety, tension, and depression, these are words and conditions we have become all familiar with. A lot of us are ageing at a much faster pace than what is normal. Complicated lifestyles, growing needs and demands, lack of time to relax and slow down are the main reasons for this fast deterioration. I would like to ask a lot of us what about our future generations? Are they to be deprived of natural and safe products, and to be ignorant of our priceless traditions of lifestyles? Are we creating a dangerous chemical world for them and an ‘instant disaster’ of lack of time to ‘stand and stare?’

Beauty and lifestyle go hand in hand. You cannot attain one without depending on the other. There are so many easily available natural ingredients that you can use in your every day lives to create a regime of natural beauty care. Some are exotic and some are simple, and so easily accessible that they may have been lying on your kitchen shelf or in your back garden, and you do not know what to do with them. I will try to take you back in time through my column to make you more beautiful and keep you glowing naturally. I also hope that I will be joined by others in my slightly traditional thinking to make this world a safer, organic, and more beautiful place in the future.