Being Beautiful in Myanmar

By June Franco

The first thing that will probably strike you when you walk down the roads of Myanmar is the local women with some yellow paste on their face. From 5-year-olds to 80-year-olds, their hair is long and shiny, the skin glowing and figures well-maintained.

Being a woman, I was naturally curious about the secret behind this and hence started to dig around a little. I spoke to a few of the women and found out that not only do they look nice, they are also quite healthy. They eat a balanced diet and use several natural, home-grown products.

Here are a few things that I’ve learnt about maintaining good health the Myanmar way.

The Versatile Yellow Paste

Remember the yellow paste I was talking about? That is thanaka, derived from the bark of certain trees grown in central Myanmar. The tree bark is ground using a flat and wet circular stone to form a paste. It is then put on the face. Of course, nowadays, with limited time, people don’t opt for grinding the bark themselves. It is available in powder or cream form in the market. One can simply buy and use it.

Thanaka has extensive skincare benefits. Being a tropical country, Myanmar experiences harsh sunlight almost all year round. Naturally, this has adverse effects on the skin. Thanaka is used to protect the skin from damage and heal it. It is a multipurpose product used as sunscreen, makeup and skincare. It has anti-acne, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties and also helps to remove dead skin.

Do not underestimate the popularity of thanaka when in Myanmar. Almost everyone uses it irrespective of their age – women, men and children. It keeps the skin moisturised. People also draw designs on their face using thanaka.

The Exclusive Shampoo

More often than not, the women of Myanmar have thick long hair, even small girls. I was interested to know the reason, especially since I have suffered from hair problems all my life. They use a kind of traditional herbal shampoo known as Ta Yaw Kin Pun.

This shampoo is made by boiling the bark of a shrub called yaw, a kind of acacia. The bark has a balm that helps make the hair soft and shiny. The fruit of the bark, kin pun, produces foam and cleanses the hair like shampoo. It is a versatile product that not only cleanses the hair and keeps it soft, it is also used to cleanse the house, removing evil and bad spirits.

This shampoo is readily available everywhere. I saw it being sold in black plastic containers  in street markets. I also saw them being sold as bottles in supermarkets.

Eating the Right Things

The people of Myanmar not only take care of their external beauty but their internal health as well. While they mostly resort to natural food, which is grown a lot in the country, they also actively use ingredients with medicinal benefits in their daily diet.

Locally produced jaggery: Jaggery is produced in many parts of the country and actively used in place of cane sugar. The sap of toddy palm trees is used to make jaggery.

Usually used as the main sweetening agent in traditional desserts, jaggery aids digestion. Several local snacks also contain jaggery. I drank a bowl of ginger soup in a tea shop in Yangon that contained jaggery. The tea stall owner told me that the combination of ginger and jaggery boosts the immune system and is great for relieving menstrual pain.

Tamarind: A tropical fruit with a tangy taste, tamarind is actively used in traditional food. It has massive health benefits too. People told me that they use tamarind instead of vinegar to add some zing to any dish. It is not only used in curries, but as dressings in salads as well.

Caption: Tamarind has a range of health benefits.

Ginger: Ginger is recognised widely as an ingredient with excellent medicinal benefits. In Myanmar, ginger is actively used in curries. You will find ginger soup and ginger salad as well. Ginger has a range of health benefits and its wide usage here definitely contributes to the people’s good health.

Turmeric: Another ingredient with a wide range of health benefits, you will see almost all curries coloured yellow in Myanmar, thanks to the presence of turmeric.

Caption: Both ginger and turmeric are used abundantly in food for health benefits.

If you are visiting the country, I strongly recommend giving these natural ingredients a try. You just might feel a vast difference in your internal and external  health. Who knows?