Holi tips: What to do before and after playing with colours

Here's are a few quick tips to be employed, before and after Holi that will help you stay safe and bring your skin back to normalcy in no time.

Youngsters playing Holi in Vijaywada ( P Ravindra Babu | EPS)

The festival of colours is here and no matter what, the kid inside us gets wilder every single year. From splashing our peers' faces in golden and silver factory colours to getting pushed into a slush of mud, tomatoes and eggs, Holi is a festival that leaves a mark on every participant's body. Literally!

While waiting for the signal to turn green, we may have come across youngsters on bikes who have layers of gulaal even three weeks post Holi. Do you fear it may happen to you as well?

We know that you may promise to go organic and not waste water this Holi, but here's a handy guide to the quick tips before and after Holi that will help you stay safe and bring your skin back to normalcy in no time.

Before Holi:

Massage your body with coconut oil, including your hair and face. Allow yourself to stay that way for atleast 10 minutes before you go out into the pit, to get yourself coloured.
Coat your finger and toe nails with a dark shade of nail polish. Why this tip? It keeps those evil mixture of colours away from entering the fine gaps between your nail and skin.
Remove all ornaments, especially gold or silver before heading out.
Don't wear any sort of make-up, including kajal, if you are aware of the intensity and roughness with which your buddies would be colouring you up. Make-up plus chemical colours plus water is the easiest recipe to skin problems.
Tie your hair up into a simple bun or a plait, as colour finds it tough to crawl up the roots of your hair when tied up.

During Holi:

Avoid the use of factory colours (those with chemicals) as they can cause several skin allergies.
Mixing colours may be fun, but it will just make life hell when you want to scrub it off.
'What you sow, so shall you receive' is the ultimate rule while playing Holi. If you prove to be nasty and mean, you will bear the brunt of the it from your peers. So be careful!

After Holi:

Before heading for a shower, coat yourself in a layer of coconut oil again, as this helps get rid of the last bits of the colour that may refuse to come off.
Dip cotton buds in warm water and use that to clean colour from behind, inside and around your ears.
Lastly, after bathing and before retiring for the day, make yourself some nice lemon sherbat and use the left over lemon pieces to scrub in parts of your palms and heels, in order to remove colour from skin cracks.

Stay safe and happy Holi!