The
one traditional method of beautifying and exfoliating that has been used by my grandmother,
mother and then by me on my children is what is called ubtan. It is a simple combination of gram flour and mustard oil,
mixed together to make a thick paste.
This
is how I used to apply it. I would spread a thick bedsheet or a Turkish towel
on the verandah. Then I place my son on the sheet and undress him. The exposure
of the naked body to the early morning sun enables the skin to make the much required vitamin D for strong and healthy
bones. He would kick his arms and legs in delight.
Then
I would rub the ubtan gently on my
son’s skin, over his arms and legs, stomach and back. When it dried a little,
say after five minutes, I would gently rub it off. The ubtan would roll
off in little beads, slightly discoloured with the dirt it removed from the
skin.
I would take special care to rub
a bit more over the arms and legs. This is because the hair on the arms and
legs of the child is light and comes of easily. Regular use of ubtan ensures a relatively hairless
skin. Girls do not require that frequent a waxing and other beauty treatments
once they grow up, if their mothers have used ubtan on them when they were kids.
Ubtan is a beauty
treatment in itself, and can be applied by adults to their bodies before having
a Sunday bath. It cleans the skin better than any soap or body scrub, and
leaves it soft and silky. It uses two things that are found in any kitchen:
gram flour and oil (mustard oil can be substituted with any other oil like til
oil or coconut oil). It is a cheap and healthy way to get a beautiful skin.
Instead of oil, we can also use the cream of milk or milk.
Instead of oil, we can also use the cream of milk or milk.
Do note that the ubtan mixture should be a bit thick if
you want to rub it off the skin after it dries a bit, so as to remove the dirt
and fine hair. A thinner mixture can also be made, applied on the skin and then
washed off, if just softness of skin is required.
Today, as we reach for
over-the-counter beauty treatments, we seem to forget the simple, chemical-free
home remedies that were used by us traditionally. The time has come to revisit
these remedies. It is a known fact that babies when rubbed with ubtan, or even just oil in the sunny
courtyards and balconies, and then bathed, have strong bones, healthy bodies,
and good skin.
Dabur’s Lal Tail is one of the
oils that can be rubbed on the child’s body to help him grow strong and
healthy. Dabur is a brand known for decades for its Ayurvedic traditional products
that heal and provide health.
The value of any oil on the body
is well-known Coconut-oiled hair grows thick and black, that is why Bengalis
and Keralites have beautiful, thick black hair even when they grown old.
Coconut oil on any burn mark on skin, when applied daily, reduces the intensity
of the mark. Mustard oil rubbed on teeth with salt, creates strong gums. There is
no end to the use of oils in our traditional applications to make our bodies
strong and healthy. There is knowledge here that needs to be respected and
used.
All I can say is that I have
found ubtan to be one of the best
ways of ensuring that my children have strong bones and healthy skin. Also, the
kind of bonding that takes place between the child and the mother during this
process of applying ubtan, can only
be experienced.
