Benefits Of Milk For Your Skin And Hair: Face Pack Recipes, Masks For Your Hair And More

Milk comes with immense health benefits. But it can be your beauty buddy too. Try these exclusive face pack and hair mask recipes from Shahnaz Husain.

We all know that milk is rich in nutrients and plays a most important role in good health. But, many may not know that it is also beneficial for beauty care. Milk helps to nourish and soften the skin. It contains many vitamins and minerals, which are very necessary for both health and beauty. Milk nourishes and moisturises the skin and also helps to delay the visible signs of ageing. It can be added to face packs very easily. However, it suits normal to dry skin more. During winter, it may be applied on normal to oily skin, to relieve dryness and improve skin texture. Milk can also help to reduce blemishes. Cotton wool soaked in cold milk can be used to wipe the skin to remove tan, soothe and soften the skin. It makes the skin colour lighter over a period of time, if used daily.

MILK FACE PACK RECIPE

Here is two milk-based face pack recipes just for you. Always use raw milk on the face for beauty care. Boiling the milk destroys several nutrients.

Milk and lotus flower face pack

Here's how you can make it easily at home.

• Soak Lotus flowers in 3 to 4 tablespoons warm milk for an hour.
• Crush the flowers with the fingers.
• Add three teaspoons gram flour (besan) and mix it with the milk and crushed flowers into a paste.
• Apply on the face, avoiding the lips and area around eyes.
• Wash it off after 20 to 30 minutes.

Milk and gram flour face pack

This is a very easy and effective recipe.

• For a face pack, add 2/3^rd tsp of gram flour to raw milk and mix well.
• Add very little honey and rose to the mixture.
• Apply on the face and wash off with water after 10 minutes.

MILK IS GOOD FOR YOUR HAIR TOO

Milk has been a favourite beauty aid for generations. For one thing, it is so easily available in every home. Secondly, its properties are well known and also valued. Although it is a common home care ingredient for the skin, it can also be extremely beneficial for the hair. Here, we list a few of the benefits.

• Milk has softening and nourishing properties.
• We all know that milk is full of nutrients. It contains different kinds of proteins. Hair is also made up of a protein matter called keratin. Therefore, protein in milk is beneficial for the hair, in terms of adding strength and body.
• Milk also contains fats, which help to make the hair soft and smooth.
• It is of particular benefit to dry hair, as well as hair that has been subjected to chemical treatments.
• Milk also contains vitamins and minerals, which are nourishing for the hair. Many of them are powerful antioxidants and nourish the hair follicles.

MILK HAIR MASK RECIPES

Milk can be applied on the hair to nourish and soften it and also to give it a healthy lustre. If the hair has been subjected to sun-damage, applying milk would help to nourish, soften and restore health to it. After your shampoo, rinse the hair with milk and leave on for 5 minutes. Then rinse off with plain water. It would help to add body and shine to the hair.

For dry hair

Here is a recipe for extremely dry hair

• Add a little milk to egg yolk.
• Apply on the hair half an hour before shampoo.
• This is a wonderful nourishing treatment for dry hair. The hair looks soft, smooth and shiny.

Powdered milk hair mask

A pre-shampoo treatment can also be done with a hair pack containing powdered milk.

• Add a little water to make a thick paste.
• Apply it on the hair.
• Then dip a towel in hot water, squeeze out the water and wrap the hot towel around the head, like a turban.
• Keep it on for 5 minutes.
• Repeat the hot towel wrap 3 or 4 times.
• This helps the hair and scalp absorb the pack bet

(This article is authored by Shahnaz Husain, a Padma Shri Award recipient and pioneer of the Ayurvedic beauty movement and the head of a global network of franchise ventures and 375 formulations.)