Be colour safe on Holi!

With winter neatly tucked up in the attic, it’s time to come out of our cocoons and enjoy Holi — spring festival of colours; the most vivacious, lively and exhilarating festival of all. Everyone wants to enjoy it — to dance in clouds of gulal and to get soaked in shower of coloured water.  Traditionally, it was played by making colours from natural fruit and vegetable that also had therapeutic value and were beneficial for our skin and health.

But over the years, natural colours have been replaced by synthetic ones that contain many harmful chemicals. In fact, most are dyes meant for industrial uses like dyeing textiles and are not meant to be applied on human skin. These colours have in them heavy metals, acids and powdered glass. The black paste youngsters use has lead oxide, green contains copper sulphate, and red is mercury sulphite and so on. All these are toxic and can result in anything from skin allergies.

Even the bases in which these chemicals are mixed are highly toxic. Many dry powders use a base of asbestos talc, chalk powder or silica. Silica may dry as well as chap the skin. The shine in the colours is due to the addition of powdered glass or mica. Synthetic colours used during Holi often contain lead oxide, engine oil, diesel, chromium, iodine and copper sulphate, which cause skin irritation in case of extreme exposure.

Many water colours have an alkaline base capable of causing severe problems. If it enters the eyes, it can pose a great danger to one's vision. Colours in the form of paste have toxic compounds mixed in a base of engine oil or other inferior quality oil, capable of causing skin allergy, temporary blindness and much more.

Leading dermatologists worldwide opine that people who have a history of eczema oratopic dermatitis are at a high risk of developing allergic contact dermatitis due to Holi colours and dyes. This further manifests in itching, red rashes and irritation in the area of contact. Hence such individuals are advised to use a barrier cream (white soft, yellow soft, paraffin) prior to playing Holi while the application of very little colours would be an ideal solution to avoid any kind of allergy, the application of a body oil can also protect the skin. However, if the colours irritate the skin, they should be immediately washed away with running water.

By Abhijit Desai — makeover expert and MD, Evolve Med Spa