pigmentation on face? let's know a little about it.
melasma
those symmetrical dark patches on face, specifically on cheeks. for some it all also occurs on forehead or upperlip. yes, it isn’t pretty. people see only those marks first when they talk to us. it does take peace away. and when those stubborn marks that doesn’t leave for months.. sometimes for years. omg.
the thing is it doesn’t make us ill or itchy or sore.. simply the color change in those areas. many a times we never notice those in the beginning.. we get to know only when friends or family mentions about this.
it becomes a huge problem most of the times only when family, friends, acquaintances check on these marks & start suggesting remedies for those or check with our life if all is going well. yes, in some part of india people relate it to either to rough period (saade saath) or prospering period in life. it isn’t that easy to keep answering these questions or judgements.
they call it mangu in tamil and telugu. melasma in english. mentioned as similar to vyanga in ayurveda system of medicine. not too sure in other languages. this is a variety of hyperpigmentation. these mostly identical patches range from light brown to deep brown. hmm.. possibilities of 50 shades of brown. huh?
though melasma occurs for both men & women, women gets these more than men. why? its usually associated with hormones & stress levels. sometimes pregnancy. there is something called mask of pregnancy too.
and you know how a very senior super soul, a healer, a mentor of mine mentions this? he says it is either caused of excessive anger, worry or excessive physical hard work or when body goes thru a huge impact of chemical substances in the form of medication, cosmetics, or environment hazard. yes, this again a view where our mind & body are inter-related.
he also mentioned few other reasons. i was blown away when i heard these. and some of them were suppressed vomiting, improper panchkarma treatments, over sleeping in the day time, wrong food combinations, consuming excessive spicy, salty or sour foods, making too much of crunched facial expressions, when vomiting is suppressed. i am sure even you are like – really?
after i had this discussion with him on this, i did start observing & talking to people to relate to this point. to a great extent, i could relate with all the reasons he mentioned. oh.. by the way, it’s not that you are super angry for 2 days & melasma occurs. melasma occurs over a period of accumulated anger or worry combined with the synthetic cosmetic or chemical exposure or other reasons.
he also mentioned how the use of cosmetics that has tar, benzene, xylene and low quality mineral oils can create those patches for young people much faster when combined with other factors.
there’s never a single reason for any of our skin or health conditions. our body tries to throw toxins or chemical toxins regularly in different not-so disturbing ways. but when we don’t allow those simple excretion methods, it had to take rough routes to excrete. and that is when we intervene again in the name of treatment & make it worse by putting in more chemicals in the body.
can this be treated or can we avoid this? ofcourse yes. to avoid occurring of these hyperpigmentation issues, avoiding synthetic cosmetics does help, then keeping away from polluted environment, avoiding harsh sun and our food & lifestyle does matter. this is where regular detox with fruits helps. good sleep helps. regular fitness regime helps.
like i always mention, skin is an organ. it has it own work. let’s not disturb assuming skin is a cosmetic layer and paint it & feed it with hazardous stuff. again i would like to re-iterate, when you eat hazardous stuff, there is hi-tech digestive system to atleast filter things out, but when you put these on skin, it does enter your blood stream directly, skin doesn’t have filtering system. so, we need to be conscious. let’s do these mindfully.
great.. is there a way to treat this? nothing can be done overnight. it does take time. we messed it with time. so, it does take time to fade these pigmentation marks. it all starts with your mind. pl don’t panic. accept it. don’t hate it. the more you hate, the more stronger it becomes. you feel bad & need the urgency to get rid of it just because not all have it. if we were living in a world where everyone had melasma.. we might crazily work toward making it darker or make something cool out of it. I have come across information where people without freckles get it done with make-up.
so, incase you have dark spots or melasma, accept it. with peaceful mind, let’s plan how to make minor lifestyle changes that can sustain for longer time like regular weekly once fruit diet, eating mindfully for hunger & not for craving or social reasons, simple fitness regimes + safe topical treatments and avoiding synthetic body care routines & cosmetics
with proper internal care to purify our blood, there are a lot of natural topical treatments that can definitely help fade these marks with regular use. saffron tops the list. oils or cream formulations with saffron does help. turmeric is also useful, sandalwood, lodhra, cardamom, jasmine.
what do we have with us here? gaura as face & body cleanser, tejo ghritha & spashta. shubhra face pack also definitely helps.
i do respect modern medicine & am always awestruck with the new medical technology. but, if there’s a natural good lifestyle that can keep our body clean without much intervention for our basic living, why not? isn’t it? let’s use those amazing techie brains & technology for a better world with more water for tomorrow.
in this piece of work, i have tried my best to collate what i have learnt about hyper pigmentation from my mentors and the books given by them. hope with this little effort of mine helps you not panic about melasma & instead take control of your condition & choose the right methods to treat and move towards #allnatural lifestyle as much as possible
let's bring back the goodness of oiling out body regularly. a quick or relaxed abhyanga does a lot of good to our internal & external health. use sesame or coconut oil. and use #allnatural powder cleanser gaura. these regular mindful practices are recurring deposits for glowing skin
