Medicated bundles of potpurri to the rescue!

Winter seasons are always a bit of a cosmetic disaster --- with dry weather sucking out the moisture from the skin, leaving it dry, flaky and scaly. While there are a variety of oils and creams in the market, that have been introduced to rescue dry skin, they still aren’t very helpful as by the end of the day, your skin ends up feeling dehydrated again. Though synthetic products are flooding the markets, beauticians and skin care specialists are going back to the days of our grandmothers. Treating skin with natural skin care products is advisable rather than chemical cosmetics as they may be too harsh on skin. Skin treatment must be based on the sensitivity of the skin as a whole. Ayurvedic and herbal products for skin during winter are highly recommended as they can do miracles on skin treatment. There is however a new (or rather rediscovered) remedy that might be more helpful --- Potli. The treatment in itself is a traditional and an old technique and has proven to be effective.Potli or poultice massages are therapeutic massages where the poultice (cloth bags) are filled with different kinds of herbal and natural ingredients and are then applied to the required area. A majority of these ingredients are powdered herbs, Ayurvedic oils, lemon and orange peels, therapeutic dried leaves, dried cloves and ginger powder. The potpourri of ingredients is then warmed up with medicated oils, wrapped into the poultice and used to massage the entire body or any particular area. Says Beenu Kohli, the operations manager at Asian Roots, a spa-saloon, “What makes Potli massages a better option is that the massage helps in improving the circulation of the messaged area, thereby promoting perspiration, which helps in detoxifying and revitalising the skin from within rather than externally. It also helps in improving the vigor and vitality of the skin.” Their combination of Potli massage with deep tissue massage is very popular and unique.Not only known for relaxing the body, Potli is often preferred for its medicinal value too. This is a very effective treatment in body aches, swelling, joint pains and stiffness. There are two types of Potli massages, wet (snigdha) and dry (rukshya) which have been recommended for a lot of health disorders. Like the wet potli massage is used to treat spondilosis, frozen shoulder and paralysis, while the dry treats inflammation caused due to rheumatoid arthritis.