Desi Nuskhe: 10 DIY Hair & Face Masks By Beauty Guru Shahnaz Husain

The monsoon season feels like a relief after long months of summer, but the humidity is not your skin and hair’s BFF. Throughout the season, the oil and sweat deposits on your skin make it look dull and, hence, holler out new skin breakouts and acne. If you have an oily skin type, the monsoons can easily worsen your skin and hair condition.

TC46 connected with India’s renowned beauty expert Shahnaz Husain to get the answers to all your monsoon woes. Here she shares 10 DIY hair and face masks with tips to help you keep your skin and hair healthy during this monsoon.

How Does The Monsoon Season Affect Your Hair & Skin?

The changing of seasons can be detrimental to your hair and skin. Be it winters or monsoons, they all have different effects on different hair and skin types. During monsoons, the air contains a lot of humidity, which increases the moisture levels of your scalp. This makes the hair fragile, easy to break, and lusterless. During the rains, the rainwater mixes with your water source, which makes your scalp itchy. This leads to dandruff and excessive sweating, sticky scalp, and dry tips.

When it comes to your skin, the pores open up due to heat exposure. The opening of these pores damages your skin since a lot of dirt, oil, and grime accumulates in them, and this leaves the pores open. Large pores affect your skin texture and appearance. To effectively clean pores, one must follow the CTM (cleansing, toning and moisturising) routine. Cleaning helps extract dirt and grime from your pores. Toning helps to reduce your pores and moisturizing keeps your skin nourished all day. 

Wearing a lot of makeup during this season can also harm your skin. Lightweight makeup works best and to play it safe, opt for waterproof makeup so your makeup stays intact even when it rains. If you wear makeup, always take it off before you head to bed. The worst thing you can do to your skin is to leave your makeup on overnight.

Check out these cool tips on how to use red wine for face to get amazing skin.

Shahnaz Husain’s Top 5 Monsoon Face Masks

1. Banana Face Mask For Oily Skin

Bananas are a great ingredient that you can easily get at any grocery store. Here’s how to make a mask from bananas.

Ingredients: 

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 tbsp of honey
• 1 tsp of lemon or orange juice

Method:

1. Mash up the banana in a bowl or container.
2. Mix honey into it.
3. Add a little bit of lemon or orange juice.
4. Apply it to your face and neck and keep it for at least 15 minutes.
5. Rinse and wipe with a cool washcloth or steaming warm cloth.

2. Honey & Oatmeal Mask For Dry Skin

Tired of dry and peeling skin? Here’s how to cure your dry skin with honey and oatmeal.

Ingredients:

• 2 spoons of oats
• 1 tbsp of honey
• A little bit of nutmeg (jaiphal)
• Milk cream

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients well.
2. Add the milk cream.
3. Mix it into a fine paste and apply it to your face and neck for at least 15 minutes.
4. Rinse and wipe with a cool washcloth or steaming warm cloth.

3. Chocolate Mask For Anti-Ageing

Chocolate is known for its anti-ageing properties and it is rich in fatty acids to help nourish the skin and restore elasticity.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 tbsp of melted dark chocolate
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of oats
• Milk as required

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Blend the ingredients until it forms a smooth paste.
3. Add milk as per the required consistency.
4. Apply the mask evenly on your face and neck and leave it for 15 minutes.
5. Rinse and wipe with a cool washcloth or steaming warm cloth.

4. Multani Mitti Or Fuller’s Earth For Pigmentation

Multani Mitti is a traditional face mask with a ton of benefits and here’s how you can make it for your skin.

Ingredients:

• Multani mitti
• Lemon
• Rose Water

Method: 

1. Take a few crumbs of Multani mitti.
2. Add lemon juice and rose water as per the required consistency.
3. Mix it to make a paste.
4. Rinse and wipe with a cool washcloth or steaming warm cloth after the mask dries.

Pro Tip: For brighter skin, add a pinch of turmeric (haldi) powder. If you have dry skin, you can replace rosewater with milk cream or curd (dahi).

5. Neem & Tulsi Mask For Acne

Neem and tulsi work effectively to treat oily skin prone to frequent acne. Here’s how we make a mask from them.

Ingredients:

• 10 tulsi leaves
• 10 neem leaves
• Cold water

Method:

1. Grind tulsi and neem leaves.
2. Add a little bit of chilled water.
3. Apply the mask on your face and neck and leave it for 15 minutes.
4. Rinse and wipe with a cool washcloth or steaming warm cloth.

DIY Monsoon Hair Care Masks By Shahnaz Husain

1. Apple Cider Vinegar & Green Tea Mask For Thinning Hair

Apple cider vinegar and green tea are great antioxidants that help promote hair growth.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup of cooled down green tea

Method:

1. Mix both of them.
2. Post your hair wash; pour this mixture over your hair. Rub it from root to tip and leave it in.
3. Towel dry and gently comb through.

2. Egg, Mayonnaise & Olive Oil Mask For Frizzy Hair

Eggs and mayo can work wonders to smoothen frizzy hair. 

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 3 tbsp of mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp of olive oil

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients properly and make a paste.
2. Apply this paste and leave it on your hair for 30 minutes.
3. Wash it off with cold water.

3. Curd Hair Mask For Dandruff & Scalp Health

Dahi contains lactic acid that helps nourish your scalp and honey is high in antioxidants which helps soothe your scalp and relieve scalp problems. Curd for face is an excellent ingredient to provide your skin with the hydration, moisturisation and exfoliation that it needs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup hung curd (dahi)
• 1 tbsp honey

Method:

1. Mix them both and blend them to make a thick paste.
2. Apply it to your hair and leave it for 30 minutes.
3. Wash with cold water.

4. Black Pepper & Lemon Seeds Hair Mask For Volumizing

Black pepper and lemon seeds are known to add volume to hair. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp of lemon seeds
• ½ tbsp black pepper
• 3 tbsp of olive oil

Method:

1. Grind the lemon seeds and black pepper together.
2. Add olive oil to make a paste.
3. Apply it and leave for 20 minutes.
4. Rinse with cold water.

5. Castor Oil & Amla Mask For Premature Greying

Amla, coconut oil, and castor oil are highly recommended by Shahnaz Husain for people with grey hair.

Ingredients:

• 1 and 1/2 cups curry leaves (kadipatta)
• 2 tsp of amla powder
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp castor oil

Method:

1. Warm the coconut and castor oil together.
2. Add curry leaves to the hot oil.
3. Add amla powder to this and leave it to cool down.
4. Strain and apply it to your hair for 20 minutes before hair wash.

Pro Tip: You can also leave this hair mask overnight.

Monsoon Hair Care & Skin Care Tips

It is vital to drink plenty of water every day. It doesn’t matter what season it is, you have to stay hydrated to exfoliate your skin off dirt and bacteria. This also helps keep the scalp nourished and, hence, will result in lustrous hair and healthier skin even during the monsoon.