Organic Indian cosmetics are world’s best.

First of all let me make it clear, I DON’T WEAR MAKEUP. NEVER OWNED A SET IN MY LIFE. NEVER OWNED A MASCARA. NEVER AN EYELINER. NO BLUSH NOTHING. ONLY TWO LIPSTICKS, ONE FAIR & LOVELY, ONE EYEBROW PENCIL, ONE UNDEREYE PENCIL, LIP BALM (WHICH IS NOT COSMETIC), MOISTURIZER AND SPF CREAM FOR SUN PROTECTION. These are not makeup cosmetics but are basically skin maintenance routine that we wear within home. Only the moisturizer, fair and lovely and SPF cream are worn when I step out. Mine is the cheapest skincare routine compared to girls I have been with who spend LAKHS in salons undergoing skin treatments to clear pimples, get a golden sheen etc. Weekly massage etc., is a must in their body maintenance. Neither can I afford that nor I feel that is necessary. So from basic knowledge on cosmetics, I have this to say as I also shop for skincare outside India both in the US and in Qatar.

In the US I try to get what the coloured girls use because they go for good SPFs as their skin tone is closer to our Indian. Not much, I got a facemask from there which is good. Got some SPFs, that’s all. Mainly I got their odourless unperfumed argan oil as its a huge hit with me. Its purest there.

In Doha I have been shopping at Body shop for 15 years now. Its supposed to be organic but let me tell my experience here. I got a foot/body scrub – a tub of heavenly perfumed apricot or shea butter or whatever. I once used it and forgot to close the lid as I placed it atop bathtub. Then I left for India.. I forgot to ask my husband to keep the scrub safe. The scrub totally escaped my mind until it was time for me to return. I wondered whether the cleaner my husband engages in my absence would have put it back safe. No he didn’t. When I returned 1.5 months later, my heart sank at the expensive scrub still staying with lid open with bathtub washing water on the top – for 1 inch. I emptied the water and was about to throw it away in the garbage bin but noticed that underneath the foul water, the cream seemed intact! I skimmed the open surface layer and got rid of it first. Then I washed the second top layer again with drinking water and drained it. I let the tub air for another week. I got back my original scrub after that. Then I looked at the expiry date: 4 years shelf life. So this proved to me that nothing is organic about west chain shops. EVerything survives for 4 years including perfumes, scrubs, face creams, moisturizers, spf creams etc. It meant that the so-called organic was a BIG HOGWASH.

Bodyshop failed me on many fronts. NO argan oil there is not perfumed. Only thing I love about them is their paraben free shampoos and the conditioners that are no way organic as they claim. Still as they are good, i used to go for them. Not any more. Now Herbal Essence is a better and cheaper alternative most BS faithfuls like me have over to.

In India I buy organic skincare =- which is Ayurvedic. No shelf life over 1 year for 99% products. Even if they give 2 years, the products won’t last that long. Within months in summer, the creams will liquidate or start growing fungus. Have you seen cosmetics rotting anywhere else in the world in one year time? Shampoos in India do! Soaps in India do! Lotions and creams made in India do! Why? Even the natural perfumes like the sandal will start stinking in INdia after some decent lapse of time. Eye pencils (kajal) beyond an year will start burning your eyes. What does this mean? It means INDIAN SKIN CARE IS REALLY AUTHENTICALLY ORGANIC. They rot and smell because the natural ingredients in their composition, with mild preservative chemicals, start going stale after a few months.

I saw this global list on top 20 cosmetic manufacturer/importers. India figures in 15-20 ranks but keeps skidding. The US and other European nations cleverly ban Indian Ayurvedic products citing presence of metals etc. But the truth is, it is their cosmetics that are pumped with harmful chemicals that can be cancer causing. Ayurvedic products are a very safe alternative. You only have to go through the ingredients in their compositions.

More over cosmetics can be addictive to the skin. This is like any other addiction such as liquor addiction etc. Anti-ageing is the worst addictive cosmetic from Loreal etc which are not only expensive but can take a big toll on your skin. More over, what is wrong about ageing. Its a natural process. One must be contented that he/she lived this long. And if you have lived well, that must be more than enough.

I use only Ayurvedic toothpaste mostly. I saw Colgate marketing ‘vedhshakthi.’ This christian brand wants to tap holiest Hindu scripture for marketing their toothpaste that too within India as well. How our government even okayed this marketing name for their product variant? Invoking Vedas for selling toothpaste. Using the sanskrit word coinage ‘shakthi’ for double impact. The same westerners who criticized Indians for brushing teeth with charcoal, clove, neem, salt etc.,, today have without announcement stolen the traditional customs and habits of India that were practised in our country for 2000 years minimum, to patent as their invention and mint money. Irony is that we end up buying their products as well! Don’t do that’s all. I buy KS Namboodhiri or Vicco or such local Indian herbal toothpaste. The loot of the west from ancient nations is shameless and mammoth. If we try similar tricks, they will take us to international courts, call it patent violation etc. Only that, in India, we never bother to patent anything.

Don’t go for expensive French, Italian and other European cosmetics. Packing may not be slick like theirs, but our Indian cosmetics are the best in the world because they are truly organic – as much as possible that is. Go desi. You will be doing both yourself and local manufacturers a big favour. Indian economy will be the winner.

Now I am seeing how the same westerners etc., are lapping up anything Indian. Among the toothpastes in the aisles in foreign malls, they pick up the Ayurvedic toothpastes from India that are not even very sophisticatedly packaged like Close-up or whatever. They go for our coconut oil, badam shereen (almond oil), Ayurvedic creams and lotions over branded French ones. Our Indian sisters will be going for most expensive foreign brands right there.

I have since stopped shopping at Bodyshop. I carry my Kumkumadi lepam from India. Most skincare of mine are from India – being Ayurvedic as some ranges are not available outside India. Bodyshop is also too very expensive, no wonder they are shutting down across Australia, US and Europe. If I run out of Indian stock, my friend’s daughter suggested Sephora for me that is also an international chain. Too fancy to my taste but they are premium in Doha. Top up only my vitamin C here nothing more. Its 100% chemical and nothing is organic about it even if they claim so in one or two brands there. While most women lap up everything there I come out empty handed. Prices are sky high.

SPF is a must for women like me who venture out in brazen noon sun. I haven’t undergone expensive skin treatment to take care of my skin from the scorching blazing sun. Its okay to get tanned. Even I had mine kind of burnt-tanned after my US visit. Took me over 6 months to shed that burnt-brown skin. Arizona sun at 55 c followed by Doha sun of 45 for 5 months last year! All SPFs fail in the US except their own! Their white is unbelievable. I gave up my desi love and switched over to theirs. Otherwise locally, mine are harmless and least chemical selections. Fair-in-lovely now repackaged as Glow & lovely has no side effects. It sells for less than 100 rupees. It removes the top melanin derma of dead cells which is why we get an instant fairer skin. In effect, you lose your tan from the previous day’s sun. I am using this cream from since I got married because its least maintenance, inexpensive, not allergic and most of all as I never owned a foundation or base in my life, it serves me like base/foundation essentially. Over that I can apply my spf. MY Spf too some times (some brands) gives a whitecast so in that case I drop F & L. So that whitecast in my face is NOT makeup but spf actually that gives out a white sheet effect for skin protection. I am also painfully aware that when I put on my spf, I am denying myself precious vitamin D that I have to substitute with as diet complement later on.

See if the west does not want truly Ayurvedic authentic organic beauty cosmetics and settles for chemical improvisations, its their problem. Only if all of them go for Indian brands, it will become headache for local Indians as prices will shoot up on demand.

**************************************************

Salon is not beauty treatment for me. Its essentially a hygiene routine that’s all. I don’t need it more than twice an year maximum. For me, its a cleanup ritual basically. Middle aged women and teens today are ADDICTED to beauty salons. Obsessed almost. When you go for laser for smooth face, when you go for skin goldening etc., these effects last you for a couple of years or so. Very expensive. Its for ladies in show biz mostly. But upper middle class women splurge on it too. I have seen ladies totally transformed by this kind of non invasive laser surgeries on face and body. Ground rule for skin goldening is: DON’T GO UNDER THE SUN. Years of staying indoors fearing the suntan? I truly see no point. People have to accept us as we are. Recently saw a Tamil actress getting that golden sheen in a social media reel. Stumped. But haven’t I seen this before. This is head to toe business. ACtor is past her prime. She probably forgot that it was her dusky skin that got her her roles. Fair & lovely is a very innocent and inexpensive cream that just removes your damaged cells on top dermis so that the inner layer of your facial skin looks brighter on emergence. In short, its only bringing out your inner dayfresh layer of new cells, nothing more. F & L is mere melanin management for a few hours, nothing serious or long lasting. Its unnecessarily villainified and made into a sexist product whereas women who transform themselves totally physically to please others and for others attention are the ones who start a lecture on Fair & lovely.