My mom has always been a strong advocate of all things natural, and not the so called “organic” stuff, but the basic raw natural. Lemon juice instead of a lemon-based facewash and multani mitti instead of a peel-off mask was her way of doing things and, well, it always works. So while other girls my age were complaining about blemishes and acne sprouting up like mushrooms, I didn’t have to worry about all that, thanks to my mom’s genius remedies.
One day when I was getting ready to go to a wedding, and while applying eyeliner, I noticed darkness under my eyes, in fact the discolouration almost looked black. I tried dabbing a little foundation on it, but somehow it continued to peek from under that too. Later that evening when I came home, I washed my face thoroughly and then checked my eyes in the mirror again. Sure enough, they were still there.
My panic buttons got pressed all at once and I started pestering google with searches like “Causes of dark circles”, “How to cure dark circles” and “Home remedies for dark circles”. A lot of them recommended creams and lotions and treatments. All of these were a no no for me. I was a staunch believer of my mom’s “Go natural” mantra. And then there were others that suggested using cucumber, almond oil, raw potato, cold teabags and cold milk.
So I picked milk and decided to try it. I washed my face with water, and while I was cleansing my face with milk, something happened. As I was cleaning under my eyes, I looked at the cotton swab, it had some blacking color on it. A little taken aback, I again wiped my under eye region with swab and the color on the swab got a little darker. And then it hit me.
I didn’t really have dark circles, the culprit was my kajal. I was fond of applying kajal and did so generously everyday. What I did not do was remove it properly. I usually did wash my face thoroughly at the end of the day but that was not sufficient to remove all the smudged and leeched kajal from under my eyes. Over a period of time it deposited there, and gave an impression of having dark circles.
My reaction was two things – first, relief because I didn’t have dark circles, and second, realization that I have to bear in mind to clean my kajal with utmost care at the end of the day. Mild scrubbing and cleansing were required to properly remove the kajal, and I already knew what would happen if I didn’t do so.
Since that day I have made sure that I give my skin its due share of attention and care and cleanse it of all makeup and products before I retire to bed. The black stains didn’t disappear overnight but in a week or two they had to give in to my resolve. I managed to rejuvenate my skin and have since learnt to take care of it better.
And you know what? I have never had to use a concealer so far!
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