(What I Saw on Telly)
By Ruslina YusoffBEAUTY and its secrets - this is one topic which will always generate interest.
While there are many stories about fashion and beauty products from the West, there are few that feature traditional beauty practices.
Production house Grand Brilliance Sdn Bhd has made the right move to produce the documentary entitled "Beauty Secrets of the East".
This half-hour documentary reveals traditional beauty secrets from many communities in Asia.
Natural ingredients such as herbs, spices, oils, nuts and volcano lava are used in health and beauty regimens.
The documentary also tries to unravel some of the intriguing techniques used to maintain "eternal" youth and beauty.
They include the renowned susuk, which was common practice among Malays and Indonesians, "flower bath" where at least seven kinds of flowers are used, ayuverda treatment, acupuncture, massage and yoga.
The informative programme briefly goes through the history and culture of Asian communities in relation to beauty care.
In Thursday night's episode, the programme covered pantang practices during post-natal periods in Nepal, Korea and China.
Nepal has a dying breed of midwives who look after young mothers for about three months. They use special oils to massage the body to rid it of toxins and wind.
Even the newborn is massaged. Like Malays, mothers also go through the tangas process where herbs and spices are warmed over a slow fire in a clay pot while the mother is enveloped in a cloud of scented fumes.
For the baby, the midwife will catch the fumes and press them on the baby's abdomen. The newborn's eyes are also lined with herbal eye kohl to stimulate nerves.
I am not sure whether the baby is tightly swaddled to avoid flatulence as traditional medicine believes that wind is the cause of many ailments.
The programme did not show whether the mother used a traditional girdle to get back into shape. Or is a pencil-slim figure only the West's perception of beauty?
In Beijing, chi, yin and yang come into play to restore a mother's health and energy.
Weak and strong pressure massages are applied to balance the body system. The face is also massaged, focusing on the chin and forehead. The back, waist and buttocks are massaged to get rid of toxins.
Mothers are advised to complement traditional treatment with fruit juices for healthy skin.
Korean mothers practise kuok san do, a combination of tai chi and yoga, both of which emphasises breathing control. The semi- meditational kuok san do improves the flow of yin and yang while stretching the muscles.
In all the segments, the mother will state how she had benefited from the treatment.
- By Ruslina Yusoff (ruslina@nst.com.my)
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