Blossom Kochhar’s The Glow Getter’s Guide to Everyday Skincare is all set to be a ready reckoner for how one can approach their daily skincare routines by blending traditional Indian practices with modern skincare science.
Kochhar, who has been in the business of skincare and wellness for almost five decades, recently launched her latest and fifth book at The Tea Room café in Hauz Khas Village.
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Not just nuskas
“In today’s world, where synthetic solutions and instant results dominate the skincare industry, beauty has been reduced to simply reaching for a jar of cosmetics, but that isn’t always beneficial,” says Kochhar.
She further adds from her decades-long experience practising skin and hair care, her advice would be to go for skincare using easily accessible ingredients from the home kitchen shelf for beauty purposes.
“I have put together in a book DIY recipes that were likely used by our grandmothers that can serve as a practical and economical guide to holistic beauty and can also have a significant impact on your mind, body, and emotions,” Kochhar added.
But the book is not limited to the time-tested desi nuskas; Kochhar goes beyond conventional beauty advice by offering practical tips rooted in age-old Indian wisdom, fused with today’s advancements in skincare.
The book is replete with solutions for the most common skin and hair issues that worry people of all ages. For example, a diet of cucumber, onion, and fenugreek improves the complexion, making it lighter, or dark circles can be managed with two-minute massages using freshly extracted aloe vera gel, which is then washed off with water.
Fruits like bananas, avocados, and melons work well as face masks for dry skin, while tomato pulp and yoghurt with multani mitti (Fuller’s earth) are effective for oily skin.
“I believe everyone should carve out a little time, perhaps once or twice a week, to pamper and indulge themselves with a DIY recipe. It will benefit you tremendously because that is the time when you are dedicating yourself to self-care,” Kocchar said.
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‘Emotions as beauty blockers’
She also points out that her guide is not just about looking good but also about feeling good. Hence, it incorporates advice on inner care, stress relief, mindfulness, a healthy lifestyle, and overall well-being.
As a trained happiness and mindfulness coach, she emphasises that emotions play a key role in one’s wellness as well as beauty. Emotions can act as beauty blockers. Anger, sadness, stress, and worries manifest as wellness or skin and hair issues.
Boosting positive emotions like happiness, contentment, and gratitude has a glowing effect on the skin and helps control breakouts and pigmentation. Worrying often leads to increased cortisol levels, which can wreak havoc on skin and hair.
Kochhar reveals how you can use various techniques to induce happiness, such as by embracing gratitude, smiling more often, and indulging in physical activity, as well as practising mindfulness and meditation.
What Kochhar’s book reminds us of is what the wise have said—that we must look after our bodies, for this is where the Divine resides!
Schoolgirl stylist to beauty expert
An army wife who started out with a clinic in South Delhi in the seventies, Kochhar is today a celebrity hairstylist, author, and businesswoman who oversees her own range of aromatherapy-based beauty products.
Kochhar is a practitioner of alternative therapies, including reiki, pranic healing, colour therapy, and crystal therapy, and is a certified happiness and wellness coach.
Her journey in beauty and skincare started very early when she was a student at a boarding school, where she would cut her schoolmates’ hair in fashionable styles. Soon she was the resident hairstylist for all the boarding school girls!
She says she was always interested in looking her best and would often look in the mirror and tell herself that she was looking beautiful before she stepped out on a special day.
With a happy smile, she says, “That I was putting my best face forward always gave me the confidence to accomplish whatever I wanted. Even today, that is a mantra I practise.”
The Glow Getter’s Guide to Everyday Skincare is available on Amazon Published by Hay House, Price: Rs 399
