As usual this post is also nostalgic.
It is about how cosmetics were prepared at home without using harmful chemicals.About 50/60 years back south Indian ladies and girls used only bindi kajal and kumkum to beautify their faces,and these, they prepared at home.
My maternal grandmother was an expert at preparing the black sandhu as it was called. Me, +my aunts and cousins used to watch her awestruck while she prepared it.and would be thrilled to collect the end product in coconut shells which each one kept for her exclusive use.
The procedure is this: On a summer morning,a fire wood chula would be lit at the open backyard.A big pan was placed on it and raw rice added. It was roasted till it became black.Then water added to it and boiled till it thickened to a syrupy consistency.
The final 'pagu padam'as it was called is very important and only grandma knew the secret. The shiny end product is then poured into receptacles and left to cool.
Here I must tell about the receptacles.They were coconut shells made smooth and shiny by rubbing against some hard surface.Each girl of the household had her own 'Sandhu Kottankachi' for her use.While using, a little water is added to make a smooth paste and applied on the forehead with a small stick.
The black bindi was my favorite when I was a small girl and I loved my grandma who took such pains to make it for us.
My grandmother also made kajal or eyeshade for us.The process was less strenuous but time-consuming.For making this a clean white cotton cloth is rolled into a wick. The wick is soaked in the juice of yellow karisalankanni leaves whose botanical name is indigofera tinctoria.Then it is dried in shade for two days. A copper pot is cleaned and freshly ground sandal paste applied on its outside and dried. A big mud lamp is filled with pure castor oil and the prepared wick placed in it.The lamp would be kept In a mud chula and lit. The copper pot with the dried sandal paste is kept on the chula and the lamp lit so that thick soot is formed on the pot. The process is done inside the house and in the night.Next morning the pan is removed ,the soot collected in a clean vessel and made into a paste using castor oil.The paste is transferred to small containers with lids for use? ☺Not yet.One more step is there. The containers with kajal are placed without lid in pure cold water overnight to remove any irritation it may cause to the eyes. Then they ate closed and are ready for use.
Now-a-days the bindi has shrunk to a sticker and the kajal to a pencil ready to use without a mess.
But the grandma's love is missing☺here is the picture of the plant
It is about how cosmetics were prepared at home without using harmful chemicals.About 50/60 years back south Indian ladies and girls used only bindi kajal and kumkum to beautify their faces,and these, they prepared at home.
My maternal grandmother was an expert at preparing the black sandhu as it was called. Me, +my aunts and cousins used to watch her awestruck while she prepared it.and would be thrilled to collect the end product in coconut shells which each one kept for her exclusive use.
The procedure is this: On a summer morning,a fire wood chula would be lit at the open backyard.A big pan was placed on it and raw rice added. It was roasted till it became black.Then water added to it and boiled till it thickened to a syrupy consistency.
The final 'pagu padam'as it was called is very important and only grandma knew the secret. The shiny end product is then poured into receptacles and left to cool.
Here I must tell about the receptacles.They were coconut shells made smooth and shiny by rubbing against some hard surface.Each girl of the household had her own 'Sandhu Kottankachi' for her use.While using, a little water is added to make a smooth paste and applied on the forehead with a small stick.
The black bindi was my favorite when I was a small girl and I loved my grandma who took such pains to make it for us.
My grandmother also made kajal or eyeshade for us.The process was less strenuous but time-consuming.For making this a clean white cotton cloth is rolled into a wick. The wick is soaked in the juice of yellow karisalankanni leaves whose botanical name is indigofera tinctoria.Then it is dried in shade for two days. A copper pot is cleaned and freshly ground sandal paste applied on its outside and dried. A big mud lamp is filled with pure castor oil and the prepared wick placed in it.The lamp would be kept In a mud chula and lit. The copper pot with the dried sandal paste is kept on the chula and the lamp lit so that thick soot is formed on the pot. The process is done inside the house and in the night.Next morning the pan is removed ,the soot collected in a clean vessel and made into a paste using castor oil.The paste is transferred to small containers with lids for use? ☺Not yet.One more step is there. The containers with kajal are placed without lid in pure cold water overnight to remove any irritation it may cause to the eyes. Then they ate closed and are ready for use.
Now-a-days the bindi has shrunk to a sticker and the kajal to a pencil ready to use without a mess.
But the grandma's love is missing☺here is the picture of the plant
Sooper mom :)
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