Keep your cool this summer

Beat the heat

Maintaining a cool and fresh look can be cumbersome in summers. Not only does the harsh weather sap your energy, but it also damages your skin and hair. Here are some easy and useful tips to deal with sweaty summers:

Protect your skin
A good skin tonic is a must to tackle sweat and refresh the skin. A flower-based tonic, containing rose or lavender, is ideal. You can also keep things simple with rose water. Keep a small bowl of rose skin tonic or rose water in the refrigerator. Get it chilled and ready for use. This tonic can be used several times a day without any side-effects. If you are out during the day, carry a small bottle of rose skin tonic with you, and use it whenever your skin feels greasy or sweaty.

Fight body odour
Sweating can drain you out, and worst of all, can lead to body odour. The skin contains sweat glands, which are distributed all over the body. These glands excrete sweat, which then mixes with surface bacteria and decomposes, causing body odour. Odour forms about six hours after we start sweating.

Be generous with the use of colognes and perfumes. Colognes and Eau de Toilette primarily constitute water, or a mixture of alcohol and water, with only two to five per cent perfume. They are light and leave a mild lingering fragrance. Bicarbonate of soda or baking soda also helps prevent body odour. Make a paste of baking soda and water and apply on your underarms. You can also add lemon juice to this paste. Leave it on for 10 minutes and wash off with water. You can even mix a little baking soda with talcum powder and apply on sweat-prone areas. The other concoctions include a teaspoon of alum and crushed mint leaves in bath water. You can mix two drops of tea tree essential oil to two tablespoons of water or rose water and apply this under the arms with cotton.

Hair & care
Swimming can be fun in the summers, but the chlorine in swimming pools and the salt in sea water can make the hair dry, matted and dull. But don’t let this deter you from enjoying the waters. Wet your hair well before and after a swim.

Give your hair weekly oil treatments. Heat pure coconut, olive or sesame oil. Apply it on the scalp and hair. Then, dip a towel in hot water, squeeze out the water and wrap the hot towel around the head. This helps the oil to get absorbed and penetrate the roots. Repeat this three or four times. Leave the oil on overnight and wash your hair the next day.

If your hair is oily, avoid rich conditioners. Try a hair rinse. After shampoo, add the juice of a lemon to half a mug of water and use it as a last rinse after shampoo. You can even boil used tea leaves in enough water. Cool, strain the mixture and use it as a last rinse.

For hair damage caused by sun, salt water, chlorine in swimming pools, take half-cup of olive oil or sesame seed oil, two tablespoons of lemon juice and one teaspoon pure glycerin. Stir well and keep it overnight in a glass jar. Massage a little of this mixture into the hair before your shampoo. Keep it on for two hours and then wash it off.