Secrets Of Indian Beauties

Interesting Fact! "My grandmother was a real beauty – says Aishwarya Rai – she was a role model for me when I was a little girl. Even in her sixties she had beautiful skin and hair. Luckily for me, she shared all her beauty recipes with me which I use until now."

Indian women are famous for their ability to use gifts of nature in order to take care of their skin and hair. They use all possible advantages of natural cosmetics in their homemade beauty recipes. One of their secrets of beauty is  Besan.

Let's find out how Bollywood beauties take care of oily and combined skin and learn how to make an effective facial exfoliate for deep cleansing. By the way, it’s very useful to apply this exfoliate after using make-up or spending too much time in a big city with its dust, polluted air and harsh ultraviolet or after long journey when you need to refresh and clean your skin as soon as possible.

Besan as Hindus call it, also known as chick pea flour or fram flour, is one of the main ingredients in Indian ayurvedic cosmetology. Chickpea flour is made of selected dry nuts. After grinding and sifting we get light-yellow powder. 

Usually I buy chickpeas in the market or in the supermarket (it’s not very expensive). Ayurvedic cosmetology uses Chickpea flour (or powder) in ubtan (ayurvedic herbal powder for skin cleaning and rejuvenation), delicate scrubs,facial masks, medical paste, massage, etc. It makes skin silky and gentle, removes blackheads and freckles, and eliminates irritation and reddening. 

Chickpea contains vitamins, minerals, macro- and microelements such as zinc, sulphur, calcium, silicon, iodone, iron, copper, etc. – basically, it’s a magic box of woman’s beauty. 

Condition of your skin and complexion will improve significantly if you pamper your skin with chickpea flour and use it in your cookery. 

Exfoliation for smooth and silky skin

Grind a couple handfuls of chickpeas in a blender until they look like powder. (Coffee mill is not good for that purpose because it doesn’t allow you to achieve a powder-like condition.) Afterwards filter the chickpea flour through sieve two times. Cosmetic chickpea flour is ready! 

You will need:

1.      Two tablespoons of chickpea flour

       

You can buy ready-made chickpea flour. So called “Chickpea flour concentrate” is in fact a grinded bean mixture made of chickpea flour.  I also use chickpea flour in carrot croquettes – fried balls made of carrot with red paprika – one of my favourite dishes in Indian cuisine and my first dish where I used chickpea flour.

2.      ¼ teaspoon of curcuma

The benefits of curcuma for your skin: 

- weakens free radical influence on your skin and slows down aging process

- it has anticeptical and antibacterial features which is highly important in treatment of blackheads and acne

- curcumin controls skin grease production

- enriches skin with nourishing elements

I would recommend everybody who suffers from oily skin to pay attention to this Indian spice: skin becomes soft, smooth without greasy shine.

NOTA BENE: use curcuma in small doses as it can tincture your face yellow which is very difficult to wash away afterwards.

I remember after I listened to an ayurvedic lecture about Indian goddesses Sarasvati, Lakshmi and Durga I decided to make a mask of curcuma and sour cream. Afterwards cosmetologist diagnosed me with jaundice but I managed to overcome so called “jaundice” after two hours of scrub peeling.

 3. Three teaspoons of milk

Milk contains fat essential for skin

 4.  Mix all the ingredients

Take some amount of exfoliate on your fingertips and start massaging your face and neck. Apply the rest of the mixture to your face and neck equally. Leave it on your face for about 20 minutes until it gets dry, and then wash it away with warm water.

You will see the result immediately: your skin will acquire even tone, become smooth and gentle like silk and free of toxins.

And now let’s make an Indian dessert of chickpea flour called laddu (it is also very useful for woman’s hormones).

Ladlu is an Indian sweet made of chickpea, beans and wheat flour with dry fruits and spices. There are plenty of variants on how to cook this dish. I’m going to share with you my favourite recipe with chickpea flour which helps to nourish your skin from the inside. According to ayurveda laddu also helps to bring your hormones in order. 

You will need:

2 cups of besan;1/2 cup sugar ; 1 cup ghee; 1 teaspoon each of almonds, pistachios, cashew nuts. Don’t forget to chop them.

Mix gram flour and ghee on a small fire. Stir it constantly to avoid lumps.  When you feel a nice smell it’s ready. Allow it to cool a little. Add sugar and nuts to the besam flour and mix thoroughly. Form medium sized  balls of this mixture. Besan Laddu is ready!

Popular hormonal medicine for woman’s health correction is extremely harmful. It can wear out female body in a few days time. Despite the fact that hormones are prescribed for beautiful skin, hair, nails, the nature itself helps to balance a woman’s health. Healthy digestive system and proper day regimen are the basis of healthy hormonal system.

Information from vedic lectures:

"Let’s take for example your attitude to sweet food. It is the basis of female hormonal system and exclusion of sweets from your daily menu may lead to hormonal failure, bad mood and depression. That’s why women are so fond of sweets. But it is considered that sweets are harmful and women feel pangs of conscience every time they allow themselves a piece of cake or candy. The good news: sweets are important for woman’s health. Bad news: you can eat it only before 9 o’clock in the morning.

One more example: we all go to bed really late despite the fact that female hormones are produced between 22:00 and 00:30. That is why it’s better to go to bed at 22:00 (according to ayurveda at 21:00). If you usually sleep from midnight to 10 in the morning your hormonal system will break down eventually."

Isn’t it easy? Now it’s time for Indian sweet Laddu made of chickpea flour!

NOTA BENE: if you eat at least 1 teaspoon of chickpea flour a day your digestive system will come to order and you will forget about constipation.