WEB CHUTNEY

Apart from being an essential part of our daily Pakistani cuisine, turmeric or ‘haldi’, is a very effective, cheap and versatile beauty product that anyone can get their hands on.

Here are few ways in which you can use turmeric as a beauty product.

Anti-Ageing:

You can fight the signs of ageing by using this simple scrub. Turmeric is an excellent exfoliating agent and can help you defeat the signs of ageing with just a few uses. Take besan (gram flour) and turmeric powder in equal proportions and prepare a paste by adding water. You may alternately prepare this paste in raw milk or even yogurt. Apply it evenly on your body and leave it till it dries off. Wash it off with lukewarm water while scrubbing your face gently in circular motion.

Wrinkles:

If you find that your skin is starting to sag a bit and wrinkles are starting to show, then you can use turmeric with a combination of ingredients and battle your wrinkle woes.

• Add raw milk and tomato juice to rice and turmeric powder. Apply the paste and let it stay until it dries. Lactic acid present in milk will help peel off the dead skin cells.
• You can add turmeric powder in buttermilk and sugarcane juice. This will work best for dark circles and wrinkles.
• Turmeric-honey paste can be applied on the face and neck to help exfoliate skin and keep a check on pores.

Acne and Acne scars:

If you’re battling acne or if it has left battle scars on your skin, fear not; turmeric does not only take care of the scars and inflammation but also reduce oil secretion by sebaceous glands.

• To prepare turmeric scrub, add a few drops of water and lemon juice to turmeric powder. Apply the paste on the acne-affected area and leave it for about 15 minutes. Gently scrub it off your face with plain water.
• You can also use turmeric and sandalwood mixture as an acne face pack and wash it off in approximately 10 minutes.
• For acne scars, dab a mixture of turmeric and plain water and leave it on the marks for 15 minutes.
• To control oil secretion, prepare a paste of sandalwood powder and ground turmeric with orange juice. Leave the paste on your face for 10 minutes and rinse it with lukewarm water.

Stretch Marks:

This is common among women who’ve gone through pregnancy. For stretch marks, all you need to do is make a mixture of besan (gram flour) and turmeric in yogurt/raw milk/water. It’ll help lighten the stretch marks.

Burns:

In case you accidentally burn your skin, you can turn to turmeric for quick relief owing to its antiseptic properties. Prepare a mixture of turmeric and aloe vera gel. Apply it on the burn and notice how it heals the wound in no time.

Facial Hair:

Chickpea flour or gram flour added to kasturi turmeric can be used as a facial scrub to inhibit hair growth. Be sure to apply this paste for about a month to notice results. Home remedies usually show results over a period of time, upon consistent use.

Cracked Heels:

A very simple home remedy can heal cracked heels really fast. Apply a mixture of coconut oil/castor oil and turmeric powder on cracked heels preferably 15 minutes before you head to take a bath.

The original version of this post can be found here.