Health Benefits of Saturday Oil Bath | Sesame Oil Bath | Gingelly Oil Bath

Method of taking oil bath

The traditional method of taking oil bath is applying  sesame oil (gingelly oil ) or coconut oil all over the body from head to toe and giving a gentle massage .Leave it for half an hour and wash off with hot water and use shikkakai for your hair. The sesame oil is used to make your skin more soft and lustrous and

Gingelly oil bath has many health benefits:

 1. Regular practice of having oil bath relaxes and rejuvenates us. 

2. Oil bath removes the heat from our body, es

pecially during hot summers. 

3. It helps us get a deep sleep, as we feel relaxed after an oil bath. 

4. It prevents hair loss, especially if done with good quality oils. 

5. It helps to reduce the redness in the eyes, especially people who spend a lot of time staring the computers will greatly benefit from oil bath. 

In Tamil Nadu, usually every Fridays women have their oil bath (ennai kuliyal) and men have their oil bath on Saturdays in South India. It is  tradition for women to have oil bath on Fridays and then visit a Temple. 

You can use this oil bath for babies too. Traditionally sesame oil is heated with spices and then when the oil comes to lukewarm temperature, the oil is massaged well into the scalp. After an hour we have our bath with arappu (arappu is a powder made from leaves of arappu tree). 

In our home we always use garlic, dry ginger, pepper corns and cumin seeds. Some people don't like the smell of garlic in the oil, they can skip garlic and add the rest of the ingredients. It is so common in our place to find small children being chased by their mothers for massaging this oil on their scalp. 

When I was younger they used to chase me for massaging this oil, now I am chasing my son. For best results the temperature of the oil should be lukewarm and should be massaged well into the scalp. One feels really refreshed and relaxed after a hot oil massage. 

I think in this fast pace of life, we should try to include these kind of age old traditions to keep us relaxed. Because we add spices like dry ginger, this oil can be safely used even in winter to be massaged into the scalp.

-Tamilan