Nature's Call

Traditional beauty rituals and practices are a growing trend in skincare, here’s why natural make up made from skin botanicals is the logical next step.

- MIRA KULKARNI

Growing up in an Indian household, in a country steeped in culture and heritage, one starts their beauty journey with traditional skincare—secrets our mothers and grandmothers have sworn by for generations. I grew up with my mother and grandmother’s nuskas, or tips they’d learned from their mothers, passed on from an older generation. Every few days, they would whip up a nourishing face mask or moisturising cream with ingredients in our kitchen—besan, kesar, ghee, and almonds; ingredients to which Indian women have contributed their bright, shining eyes, lustrous hair, and supple skin for centuries. They would even make their own kajal, using the soot from diyas we lit at home, the ash emphasising their eyes and also cooling and brightening them with regular use. Every evening, I would wake up to my grandmother scenting the house with camphor and her soothing blends of resins from our prayer room. Their everyday practices cemented my beauty ethos. I saw the benefits of natural ingredients and ancient practices firsthand; it never occurred to me that skincare could be any other way.

In ancient times, botanicals were used to cure ailments and to enrich and enhance the user. ‘RoopNikhaarna’ is a traditional Indian practice that dates back to older civilisations of Mohenjodaro and Harappa. It is said that the people of this era had highly evolved ideas of self-beautification and offered a large display of cosmetic usages both for men and women. Some of the botanicals used were so mystical and sought-after that they were considered deities in their own right.