Bridal beauty care for winter

As wedding bells ring, a skin care programme a few weeks before can really help. However, the skin type and the season should also be taken into consideration. For instance, in winter, even oily skin may feel dry, while dry skin need more moisturisation and nourishment.

For your daily facial care routine, cleanse your skin twice a day. Night time cleansing is more important, in order to remove pollutants and make up before bedtime. So, cleanse the skin daily at night and rinse well with plenty of plain, lukewarm water. For normal to dry skin, use a cleansing cream or gel. Or, take half a cup of cold milk and add five drops of any vegetable oil (til, olive or sunflower oil).

Put this in a bottle and shake well. Cleanse the skin with it, using cotton wool. Keep left-over mixture in the fridge. If the skin is oily, use a cleansing lotion or face wash for oily skin, which also needs deep pore cleansing. Mix rice powder with curd and apply on the face once or twice a week.

Rub gently with small circular movements and wash off with water. Ready-to-use scrubs are also easily available. In winter, oily skin may be prone to blackheads. You can “clean-up” at a beauty parlour and have blackheads extracted.

Oily skin may also feel dry in winter, but when cream is applied, it can lead to pimples. So, mix one teaspoon pure glycerine with 100 ml rose water and keep in a bottle in the fridge. Use a little of this lotion to relieve dryness. It will soften the skin, without making it oily.

For normal to dry skin, mix two teaspoons wheat bran (choker) with one teaspoon each of almond meal (badaam), curd, honey and rose water.

The skin on the lips is thin and lacks oil producing glands. It becomes dry and chaps easily. After cleansing, apply almond oil or almond cream on the lips daily and leave it on all night.

Most sunscreens have built-in moisturisers, and are available in cream and liquid form. For extreme dryness, use a cream. A liquid moisturiser should also be used under make-up. Keep the skin well moisturised.

In winter, the body also needs nourishing. First the body should be massaged with til oil. Then homemade “ubtan” is applied. This usually consists of wheat bran (choker), gram flour (besan), yogurt (dahi) or cream of milk (malai) and a pinch of turmeric (haldi). All these are mixed together, applied on the face and body, and washed off after half an hour, while bathing. It helps to clear the skin of dead cells, leaving it smooth.

All brides go through some kind of stress, which reflects on the face, for which, it is essential to relax. It has been proved that physical exercise helps the body cope with stress. A few weeks before the wedding, start simple exercises. Walking is good for both body and mind; deep breathing exercises and meditation are also helpful to calm the mind.