The leaves are ground into a paste and rubbed into the hair during bath. Plain boiled rice soup rubbed into the scalp for ten minutes prior to a bath is an excellent cure for dandruff. Green gram paste is a good hair and body scrub. Unlike chemical dyes, this is quite harmless to skin and hair. Pastes of cucumber, sandalwood, papaya and pineapple fruit are used for making face masks.
Honey acts as a powerful moisturiser.
Turmeric paste is another popular skin care herb, applied both as a face pack as well as all over the body, to improve the skin tone and prevent skin disorders. A mixture of lemon juice and honey too is used in skin care. A paste of red sandalwood in honey, applied once or twice a day for about a fortnight, has a magical effect in erasing scars.