How to Make Natural Holi Colors at Home

Holi, the festival of colors, is just around the corner. This is the only festival where the clothes, brands, accessories and make-up don’t matter at all. However, the only thing that does matter is the safety of your skin. That's because the Holi colors that you buy from the market contain harmful chemicals, which sometimes prove extremely dangerous to your skin.

Have you ever thought about playing natural and healthy Holi with home-made colors? If no, let’s do something special and different this Holi. To make the Holi festival absolutely safe, here are a few easy techniques that you can use to make your own chemical-free, 100% natural colors at home.

Also Read: How to Have A Safe Holi During Pregnancy

Green

Dry:

To get a dry green color, use pure Henna powder (Mehendi) separately or mix it with an equal quantity of Refined Flour (Maida). This will give you a natural and lovely green shade. Just make sure the pure Henna powder you’re using doesn’t have Gooseberry (Amla) mixed in it as it renders a brownish color. Alternatively, you can also use dried and crushed Gulmohar (Delonix Regia) leaves to attain a natural green color.

Wet:

Mix two teaspoons of Henna (Mehendi) powder in one liter of water and shake it well. This will produce a semi-permanent green color that can be easily washed off. As an alternative, you can also boil or mix a fine paste of green leafy vegetables like Coriander (Dhania), Mint (Pudina), Spinach (Paalak), Fenugreek (Methi) etc. to obtain a wet green color.

Red

Dry:

To prepare a dry red color, you can dry and grind Hibiscus or Rose petals. Once the powder is prepared, you may add any flour to it if you want to increase the bulk. You can also use Red Sandalwood Powder (Raktachandan) instead of Red Gulal.

Wet:

You can easily produce natural yet beautiful wet red color either by mixing Red Sandalwood (Raktachandan) powder in water or by soaking Red Hibiscus flowers overnight in a bucket of water. Another great option is to soaking a good amount of Cranberry (Kokam) or Boil Beetroot (Chukandar) overnight in water. Furthermore, you can make use of Sinduria (Annato), a water chestnut shaped fruit, to produce both dry and wet red colors.

Also Read- Celebrating a Safe Holi with Kids

Yellow

Dry:

To make dry yellow color at home, all you need to do is mix good quality Turmeric powder (Haldi) with double the quantity of Gram Flour (Besan). And if you want to get other shades of yellow color, consider using refined flour (Maida), ordinary flour (Atta) or fuller’s earth (Multani Mitti).

Wet:

For wet yellow color, simply mix Turmeric (Haldi) with water and boil. Alternatively, soak Marigold (Gainda) flowers or peels of Pomegranate (Anaar) in water, boil and leave overnight. You’ll get a yellow colored paste in the next morning.

Orange

Dry:

To make an orange powder, use dried and crushed Flame of the Forest (Tesu, Palash or Dhak) flowers. Alternatively, you can mix natural Kumkum with Turmeric powder (Haldi).

Wet:

Boil and soak Tesu flowers overnight to obtain a yellowish bright orange color. Mixing Henna (Mehendi) with water will also give you a vibrant orange color. As an alternative, a few stalks of Saffron (Kesar) can be soaked in water overnight, crushed and diluted to achieve the desired color strength. Although this method is a bit expensive, but it is quite good for skin.

Blue

Dry:

You can easily make beautiful blue powder by drying Jacaranda flowers (Neeli Gulmohar) in shade and then grinding them. And if you’re lucky enough to find the Petals of Blue Hibiscus flower, which is found especially in Kerala, use them in the same way as Jacaranda.

Wet:

Take dry Indigo leaves, grind them and add to water for desired color intensity. As an option, you may use Indigo powder available in the market but it is advisable to use Berries of the Indigo plant.

Pink

Dry:

Dry the petals of pink rose in the sun and after they become crisp, grind them and use the powder as Pink Gulal. You can also use pink Kachnar flowers in the same way.

Wet:

Soak Grated Beetroot (Chukandar) or Pomegranate (Anaar) seeds in water to get a wonderful pink color. Boil or leave overnight for a deeper shade. Alternatively, you can soak pink Kachnar flowers in water overnight, or boil them if your want a dark pink color.

Purple

Dry:

As Purple is a combination of Red and Blue, mix Red and Blue powders (made with above-mentioned methods) in the ratio of 2:3.

Wet:

Mix juice of Jambul (Jamun) with some water. To remove stickiness, dilute it by adding some more water. Black Grapes (Angoor) can also be used instead of Jambul. Alternatively, you can boil Beetroot (Chukandar), filter the boiled water and dilute with sufficient quantity of water.

Brown

Dry:

Mix Henna powder (Mehendi) and Amla powder (Gooseberry) in the ratio of 1:4 to produce a brown color. To achieve light brown shade, you can add some quantity of Turmeric (Haldi) to the mixture.

Wet:

Mix Acacia Catechu (Paan Kattha) with water to get a brownish color. And if you want to get a dark brown shade, boil tea or coffee leaves with just water. Even, you can also use a mixture of Cocoa and Milk Powder to produce dry as well as wet brown color.

Black

Dry:

Mix above created Red, Blue and Green colors to get a black powder.

Wet:

Boil dried Gooseberry (Amla) in an iron vessel. Keep soaked the liquid overnight. Dilute with water if necessary and use.

Remark:

The most important thing to keep in mind while making natural colors is that they are derived from flowers and vegetables and therefore get spoiled soon. So it’s better to either use them fresh or preserve them in the fridge for later use.

Now that you have understood how to make your own natural colors at home, celebrate a safe and eco-friendly Holi.

Wishing you all a fun-filled and colorful Holi!