The kitchen of the house is a treasure trove of taste as well as health. We can make home medicines and beauty cosmetics from the fruits, vegetables and spices kept in the kitchen. There are not just one or two but many such home remedies which have been going on as a tradition for centuries. A book has come from Penguin Swadesh – ‘Jungle Laboratory’. This book has been written by well-known ethnobotanist and scientist Dr. Deepak Acharya. Deepak Acharya has collected information about the herbs of the forest after almost 25 years of study. He has studied the traditional herbal knowledge, lifestyle and food habits of people living in remote tribal areas of India like Patalkot in Madhya Pradesh, Dangs in Gujarat and Aravali in Rajasthan. Deepak Acharya has done the work of spreading the knowledge gained from here to other people by testing it on the basis of science.
Hundreds of remedies related to health and beauty are given in Dr. Deepak Acharya's book 'Jungle Laboratory'. At one place in this book, it has been told about making the face radiant with the help of papaya.
Make your face younger with papaya
Deepak Acharya writes in ‘Jungle Laboratory’ – In rural areas, people use papaya as a variety of natural beauty remedies. The tribal women of Dang take equal amounts of rice, maize and millet flour and add about 10 grams of ripe papaya to it. A little water is added to it and mashed well. This paste is gently applied on the face and massaged. It is believed that it helps in removing the dead cells from the face and makes the face look radiant and energetic. In case of wrinkles on the skin, tribal herbal experts recommend using ripe papaya seeds. Ripe papaya seeds should be collected, dried and its powder should be prepared. When you want to use it, make a paste by mixing equal amount of water in one spoon of powder and apply it on the wrinkled areas. When this paste dries, wash it. Doing this twice a day continuously for a month is definitely beneficial.
Channa flour makes skin glow
Deepak Acharya writes in ‘Jungle Laboratory’ – In rural areas, gram and gram flour are considered very special for attaining beauty and beauty. Prepare a paste by mixing a little water in one spoon gram flour. Slowly apply this paste on the face, neck and throat area. After it dries for some time, rub it gently and take it off. It is believed that by doing this, the dead cells sticking to the gram flour come out and the facial skin becomes brighter.
Soap is harmful
According to herbal experts, people should stay away from using any kind of soap for cleaning the face. If this paste is applied like soap and used, it will be more beneficial. Using this paste frequently on the face stops the growth of unnecessary facial hair. But before using it, it must be kept in mind that you are not allergic to these things.
Was once on a tour of Saurashtra (Gujarat) with his team. My work is also that I go to villages and conduct Panchayat with the elders for hours. I keep talking to him. I always believe that the information that our elders can give us cannot be given by Google or its ilk.
Remove unwanted hair with papaya
Dr. Deepak Acharya writes in ‘Jungle Laboratory’ – Talala village is near Gir National Park. This village is about 70 kilometers away from Junagadh. One day while meeting the local people in the village, I saw an elderly woman. The woman was grinding raw papaya on a mortar and preparing it like pulp. I went closer to him and started looking carefully. In Gujarat, raw papaya and its chutney are eaten extensively with dishes like Ganthiya and Fafda. I thought that perhaps the same was being prepared from raw papaya. But as we talked, it came to light that grandmother was preparing some unique jugaad here. Natural hair remover was being prepared. Just got a little inkling. I took my seat there.
The elderly woman told that she would peel the raw papaya and grind its pieces on a mortar and pestle to make a paste and then use this pulp to remove the unnecessary hair on the lips. He told that this pulp will be allowed to dry for 20-25 minutes and then it will be cleaned by rubbing. Later it will be washed with clean water. Wow…this is a wonderful trick. He took this information from his mother. That means this was a traditional knowledge that had been prevalent for decades.
Now let's move on to the research finding of International Journal of Pharmaceutics in 2007 which states that a powerful enzyme 'papain' is found in raw papaya. The specialty of this papain is that it weakens the hair follicle due to which the hair is easily removed. Continuous use of raw papaya in this manner and the activation of papain also stops hair growth in the areas where it is used regularly. The title of this entire study published in an international journal was Histological Evaluation of Hair Follicle Due to Papain Effect. On one side there is the traditional knowledge of our country and on the other side there is modern science which puts a stamp on such knowledge. This research is from 2007, and I met that elderly woman in 2005. The biggest thing is that his mother had told him about this formula of raw papaya. That means they must have known this thing six-seven decades ago.
