I don’t know if it is Ayurvedic or picked from the Vedas, but there were some traditional home remedies that have been around for a long time. As I said in my earlier post, the grandparents club in my home town was very active in the afternoons and evenings. Their discussions changed from season to season. There were also some wild card entries when something talk-worthy happened to one of the kids or grandkids. What was common was a natural solution to all ills. Medicine or synthetic, modern day, chemical laden products were never the first choice. Although Vicco was a brand that was trusted. I remember looking at the Vicco owner’s house every day on my way to school and marvel at the huge sandstone property.
So here’s what I remember these wise old women advising everyone they cam across based on what the season.
Getting off the Tan
Well, Summers were hot and any part exposed to the sun for a few hours turned a deep red or black. We didn’t SPF rating or sunscreen lotion at the time – at least they weren’t as common as they are now. So how did you get your skin to glow again?
A simple solution and a weekly task was to get some ground chana dal or Besan and apply it your arms and face. Wait until it cakes and then wash it off to get your tanned skin to revive.
Natural Face Mask
Once you had them talking of skin care, there was no stopping. Everyone came up with there own recipes. And when you have a trained Ayurved, there is definitely something new you learn in every meet.
So there was one another mask, as people call it now, that became all the rage one time. It had something like raw Papya powder, milk and turmeric, I guess. You cannot go anywhere without turmeric in natural skin remedies.
Cooling Mask
Raw Papya is good, but it is also used as a meat tenderizer and am sure it can be a bit rough on your skin. For some who weren’t that brave or couldn’t get there hands on raw Papaya, a common face mask that was very popular at the time was made of Sandalwood powder and what is called as Multani Mitti. I have no idea what that is or is it something that comes from Multan.
Anyway, this simple mask meant that you could see the girls roaming about with mud on their faces on weekends.
When there is so much talk about skin ailments – dry, oily, freckled etc., hair treatments can’t be far behind. If there is one thing that people are worried about other than their skin, it is sure the hair.
Natural Shampoo
Chemical products were completely barred and there was no shampoo in the work that could stand up to the natural remedies to cure all ills of the scalp. Shikakai – or Acacia concinna – was the tool of choice. It didn’t matter that people had to plan washing theor hair in advance and treat this plant derivative in some specific way to be used as a shampoo.
But there it is. Ayurveda has a cure for almost everything. Some will even argue that Ayurveda treats the root cause instead of suppressing just the symptoms. Well, it won’t hurt to try!