Seeing Holi Through My Bespectacled Eyes!

Last evening a friend of mine asked me what am I doing on Holi (An Indian festival of colours)?  I had been avoiding this question, but now since, her query is accompanied with a dream come true invitation for a grand Holi Party in a farm house of Delhi, with loads of fun and masti, read traditional Holi celebration by many family and friends along with rain dance and delicious snacks (yeah, we all get to hungry after playing for hours),  I cut a sorry face and declined the offer - courtesy my spectacles.



A little girl playing with Holi colours



I went on and on to explain her that how will I feel when someone approaches to colour my face with gulal (dry powered colour)... I'll have to tell him/her to wait, and then I'll take off my specs, close my eyes and let some colour of joy spread on me... and then I'll wait for a second to judge whether it's over or I still have to keep my eyes closed... huff and then smile and dust off some gulal and then again put on my glasses.  And I'll look so funny grinning that way!

She understood..... poor me.... she thought and after exchanging pleasantaries, she hung up.

For the first time I felt, I was missing something badly.... I was missing playing holi.... the fun way.  All these years the desire to have fun with colours and coloured water and ballons and pichkaris was not there, just a customary smear on the cheek would do.  But now, as the age is progressing (!!) I'm feeling like becoming a kid again.  And the biggest impediment between me and my beloved "holi ke rang" is my glasses!  Hey, by the way, glasses really come in between lovers when they want to cuddle up!!

Coming back,  I was imagining me playing holi the old bollywood ishtyle.... there is nothing that beats "rang barse bheege chunar wali rang barse" song of movie Silsila!! Ah, it would have been a real spicy Holi, if I donned a white chudidar kurta with a colourful dupatta, all set with the Holi mood (not to forget those kajal rimmed eyes and some lip gloss too!!) surrounded by family and friends, and the song playing in the background ( no, can't expect anyone singing that for me!)  and acted coy and vibrant like Rekha did!!! ..... but huff, for that I had to wear contact lenses, which I really don't want to do, as the colours can not just ruin my lenses but also cause me eye infection.

People wearing spectacles face a lot of trouble during Holi celebrations.  Even if they wear spectacles, the colour settles in the tiny spaces of the frame.  Wearing a rim-less spectacles on Holi may cause it to break.  Specially children who wear specs feel a lot of discomfort.  So, if you happen to know spectacled people (which I'm sure, you know many) be careful while smearing the colours on their face, and it's better to ask them before hand, or else you could even hurt the person with his/her own spectacles.  Specially be careful with kids.

Have a safe and colourful Holi !

RESTLESS :)

PS: Also, don't forget to apply cream, or oil or vaseline on all the exposed skin to minimise the effect of colours on it. Keep you hair tied up and oiled before playing holi. The vibrant colours of Holi look fabulous on white dresses (Girls can try wearing white top and harem pants)

PPS: Pic courtesy this site.

Hair - Herbal Hena To Hibiscus Hues !

Once upon a time, black, shiny hair were considered to be the barometer of your health, and the dull, light brown and dry hair meant the person is not having proper diet.  Today, the rules seem to have changed.  Brown and burgundy have become the new black.

Hena - The Natural Colour:

Earlier, women having grey hair would colour them with henna, mixed with various natural kitchen items to make them look black, orangish, or brown.  Don't believe me? Add boiled tea water or boiled coffee water to hena powder and see the effect. Also add curd, egg, and black pepper powder for relief from dandruff.  Also, cheap chemical dyes were also sold freely in market.  And people, especially women would buy them, as they were sold as herbal dyes. And it goes without saying that such products had a bad effect on the hair growth.

In those days colouring was done only if you have greys and women would generally shy away from telling that they apply hena on their hair, would also hide those tell tale signs of the hena marks on the forehead and near the ears!

Hair Colour - The Hot Trend :

And now, girls, in college, want to colour their hair and they do it too.  Streaking, highlighting, or colouring full head, take your pick. Choose from hues like light brown, burgundy, chestnut brown, etc.,  depending on your skin colour from international brands and join the hep club.  And then don't forget to buy a shampoo and conditioner especially for coloured hair.  And of course, you have to do touching (colour the uncoloured hair as it grows from the roots) to look great!  Be it colouring, straightening or perming, to look great you have to pay a big price too.  As they say, there are no free lunches!!

Greys are graceful :

It's not that coloured hair only look nice. Some women carry grey hair with grace.  I have always admired Indian actor Nafisa Ali, with her grey streak of hair.  She looks so beautiful with her healthy skin and fit body, and so active in social activities.  In fact, I like the picture of my co-blogger Sharbouri for this very reason, she looks lovely!

Hair And Money

Oh My God! this one pinches me badly.  The hair treatments (hair spa, olive oil massage by specialist etc), hair cuts, hair settings for occasions (blow dry, curling, rollers, buns and knots), chemical treatments of hair (perming, straightening, colouring etc) and the hair products for such coloured (damaged) hair (shampoos, conditioners, serums, leave in serums, special oils) etc are so expensive, can range from Rs 500-10,000, (oops! haven't yet downloaded the new Rupee symbol) depending on various things.  Beauty comes with a price tag!

Do hair style has something do with women's mind?

I think so.  First, if we see the evolution of hair styles in India, we see two plaits were synonimous of a teenager, graduating to one plait, a mature girl, and low bun would be donned by married women, with a palloo tucked to it. 

With exposure to new trends, with cinema actors being our models, of course fashion magazines, media, the desire to look good has increased. 

Hair is just one part of looking good, but the changing trend from low buns to today's open hair, I see it as women's sense of freedom from those set rules about dressing one's hair. We do form impressions about a woman seeing her hair style. I think, letting your hair down, this phrase came from the fact that enjoing yourself, having fun somehow means letting go of your hair in a free fall, a free wave!

By the way, while I was searching for 'indian women in buns' pics for my posts, I noticed that, these were rare.  More of western celebrities donned a bun or a knot than Indian beauties.  Shows the trend!

Have a colourful time!

RESTLESS

(If you liked this post then you'll like this and this too!)

PS: image on top courtesy fineartamerica.com

Mind Your Mane Baby!

I wrote about my trysts with my tresses in my last post ! Quite funnily, I realised that I can write so much about hair, so here I go blabbing about women's hair - this time cuts, styles and hair care  - then and now!

Hair and beauty of a woman:

The hair and  the hair-dos have been a very important part of a woman's beauty, but external beauty, as I have always believed that there is so much more in a woman to be and feel beautiful about apart from her looks.  The beauty of a woman, and for that matter a person is deeper than the skin, it beyond the physical form, it's intrinsic, a person exudes beauty, if he/she is beautiful inside, as a human being.

Although, interestingly, I read about this research a few years back that facial features hold a key to one's mental makeup or one's psyche. Hence, a face is more than a face really. 

Hair - then and Now

Hair of a woman are indeed one factor which not just affect her looks but also reflects so much about her - her ethnicity, her socio-religious background, her mind, her choices and yes, not to forget the trends of the times!

Talking of hairstyles and colouring in last twenty years, myself in 30s can say, it has undergone a tremendous change, just like the dress up of women.

Cuts - The Long And Short Of It !

During my school days, apart from the plain Jane, plaited look (one or two plaits) or a better version - pony tailed look, girls also sported short hair - mostly, boy cut (boy?!!), bob cut,   blunt cut, steps cut.  If you did not want the whole length to be altered, then you would go for a fringe cut in a layer, of course the part of hair close to the forehead.  Which cut to choose would depend on the shape of your face, the quality and texture of hair.

In last few years, the hair trends have changed and are changing so much. Years back, came the perming of hair.  Hair were curled permanently (lasted for a few years) in spirals or ringlets of various diameters, sometimes half length of the steps of cut hair and sometimes, the full length.  That was a rage at that time. 

Then came the straight silky look, with a shoulder length hair or little longer.  Since, I naturally had straight silky hair, so I suddenly realised I was having a trendy hairstyle, though without any effort.  And I was so flattered when girls would ask me, how do I manage to keep them straight? and what shampoo do I use?!  I would just smile and say - "Ah! it's natural!"

Since, then cuts mostly keeping the hair length till shoulders or little longer, with steps, layers, razor cuts, curled or straight are mostly kept by girls and women.  Sometimes, our bollywood beauties have donned a short crop or even bald look, which is not so common. .

Hair Buns And Knots :

Plaits or Braids :  The plaits have vanished gradually. Earlier, I was an unsaid code that unmarried girls used to make two braids and married would make one brain or a bun.  But all that has changed now.

Buns, Judas and knots: also started becoming a symbol of being elderly and were avoided by young married girls, even for family functions.

Moreover, earlier, growing up girls, would learn different types of Judas, before marriage, this trend has died down completely, with the blooming of beauty parlour culture.  In Delhi, you will find a beauty parlour in every place, small lanes, homes, posh areas or small colonies.  Women get buns and hair knots made for special family occasions by hair dressers in beauty parlours. The yesteryear's puffed up hair from front with a voluminous bun on top looks fabulous for traditional Indian marriages.  A French knot, my personal favourite, goes well, with traditional as well as formal wear.

Hair Extensions And Accessories :

extensions in many shades!

This cannot be complete without the mention of hair extensions.  Traditionally also, these were used by Punjabi women to make a long plait, with a further colourful and shiny glittery extension called paranda. 

The style in extensions also changed with very fine quality of hair extensions in various shades came to make the buns like chignon etc. Various hair accessories, pins, clips, highlighters etc also catch the fancy of many women. 

Washing And Care :

Even, washing hair was a ritual in those days(!). My mom would soak, amla, ritha, sikakai in a black iron vessel (kadai) overnight, boil them in the morning, and the cooled down matter was strained and hair were washed with this water (Jet black in colour). 

Then came the age of packed shikakai power, and the need to soak and boil was done away with.  Shampoos and soaps were also there, but were used sparingly. 

And now, nothing except a shampoo, with or without conditioner does anything to our hair. Although, excessive or concentrated use of shampoo damages hair.  Proper care should be taken while selecting a shampoo, keeping in mind the hair type.

Have a good hair day!

RESTLESS (Mane!)

PS: images courtesy- PINKVILLA.COM

PPS: The author has given her personal view and is no way should be taken as a professional approach

(This post in second in the series of three posts on womenfolk's hairy tales! this is the first one)