Mother’s Day 2025 Special: Before there were serums with 10-step skincare routines and jade rollers and gua shas cooling in the fridge, there was our mom, massaging coconut oil into our hair with a focus that rivaled any spa therapist. Her beauty rituals didn’t come from YouTube tutorials or trending TikToks—they were passed down through whispered tips from her mother, and her mother before that. From the talcum powder puff she never left the house without, to the Sunday evening oil champi that signaled the weekend’s end, our mothers turned self-care into a kind of quiet magic. This Mother’s Day, we’re celebrating not just the women who raised us, but the beauty rituals from our mothers—simple, sacred, and sometimes hilariously outdated.
Beauty rituals we inherited from mothers
The champi (oil massage)
This was practically a weekend ritual in most Indian households. Moms would warm up coconut, amla, or almond oil – sometimes a homemade mix with methi seeds or curry leaves — and get to work with the kind of head massage that could knock you out for a nap in minutes. Not only did this promise thick, shiny hair, but it also came with unsolicited life advice and gossip about relatives. You didn’t just leave with nourished hair—you left emotionally recalibrated. Even though we have grown up and a lot of us live away from home, the champi routine still continues.
Ubtan over expensive skincare products
Whether it was a wedding in the family or just the day before school reopened, out came the haldi-besan-dahi (turmeric, gram flour, and yogurt) mix. Our mothers swore by it for glowing skin, and let’s be honest – despite the mess and the faint smell of turmeric that lingered for hours, it did leave the skin baby-soft. Getting scrubbed with ubtan while standing in a bucket wasn’t always fun, but it was definitely memorable. Cut to Instagram times, every influencer, even Priyanka Chopra swears by it.
Multani mitti for “pimples and heat”
No Indian teen skipped this phase. At the first sign of a zit or even just summer sweat, moms brought out the earthy-smelling multani mitti (Fuller’s Earth), mixed with rose water or lemon juice, and applied it like a natural clay mask. It dried into a crackly layer that made smiling impossible, but it was oddly satisfying. Moms insisted it would “cool the body” and “dry out the pimples,” and you know what? It actually worked.
Lip balm? No thanks, we have ghee
Forget fancy lip balms. Indian moms had one word for chapped lips: ghee. A tiny drop, straight from the dabba in the kitchen, dabbed on before bed. It wasn’t glamorous, but it did the job, and somewhere along the way, it started to feel comforting. Same goes for ghee in the belly button for dry skin—something you questioned at the time but now swear by.
Braid tight, braid right
Tight braids weren’t a hairstyle back then as they are today—they were a discipline. Moms believed that neatly parted, oiled, and tightly braided hair wasn’t just presentable, it was a reflection of your upbringing. Bonus: the braid waves the next day were the only curls many of us knew.
Steam and towels for cold + glow
Whenever we had a cold or dull skin, moms would pull out the “steam bowl” trick—boiling water with tulsi or ajwain seeds, a towel tent over the head, and a lecture on taking better care of yourself. It opened pores, cleared sinuses, and usually ended with a home facial or a force-fed glass of haldi milk.
No sleeping without washing your face
Whether you wore makeup or not, whether it was 8 pm or 2 am, there was no escaping this golden rule: “Face dho ke so.” (Wash your face before sleeping.) Often followed by a dab of Vicco Turmeric, Boroline, or good ol’ Nivea in the blue tin.