How to Make Kajal at Home Using Carom Seeds? : Step by Step Tutorial, Photos & Usage Instructions

Hello lovely ladies!

It is rightly said by someone that ‘eyes are a mirror of the soul’ and I truly believe in it! Women are better at reading non-verbal communication than men and eyes speak a lot about a person. I am not being impartial here just sharing my observation and it is confirmed by the body language experts too.

Today, I am going to share an ancient recipe for your beautiful eyes i.e Kajal or Surma. It has been used since ages to beautify the eyes and keep them healthy too. Indian mothers have been using it for their newborn baby or toddlers as a protection against the evil eye.

This is one of the interesting DIY recipes that I make at home! Let me share my procedure with you.

Things you’ll need:

• Two bowls
• An earthen lamp (or any other lamp)
• Cotton to make a thick wick
• Carom seeds
• Cow ghee
• Matchbox
• A flat plate
• Knife or a spoon
• An empty container

Things to keep in mind :

Make this recipe when children are not home or those who are allergic to the smoke are outside or do it in the other room. Keep away the things that catch fire easily and turn off the fan when you start working on this recipe.

Use a clean earthen lamp; wash it before using or you can use the other lamps as well. Sanitize the container before using it (since it’s an eye makeup/eye care product!) 

 

Steps

First up, collect all the ingredients and things which are required. I have bought the cotton from a medical store because I have a doubt about the quality of the wicks available for rituals and Pooja purpose.

Make a thick wick by making a partition in it that can hold a good amount of carom seeds. After placing the carom seeds inside the wick, close it in such a way that the carom seeds don’t come out. You can use a little bit of ghee to make it stick together. Place it carefully inside the earthen lamp.

Now fill some ghee in the lamp. You can use the warm ghee; that way it will be hassle free and easy to use. Place the two bowls upside down for the support making sure whatever you use for the support are of same sizes. I have used the bowls of the same sizes. Keep the lamp between the bowls.

After this, lit the lamp with the help of a matchbox and place the flat plate on it by using the support of the two bowls. Now, let it stay that way and wait for an hour or till the wick gets burned.

Check after a few hours, you will see the wick is completely burnt. The bowls and the plate will look all black due to the soot which is released during the process and this is the ‘Kajal’

Now let the plate cool down. After this, you can scrape out the soot by using a knife or a spoon and store it in your ‘Kajal Dibbi’ or an empty container. If you want, you can add a drop of cow ghee to it or keep it dry.

Storage, Usage + Benefits

I mainly do use this kajal while going to sleep at night. I have stored my kajal in a dry form so that I can use it both ways, i.e. dry or mixed with the ghee or castor oil. The dry form doesn’t smudge much if you apply it properly. I use my ring finger to apply this kajal. I take a little bit of it on my clean finger pore and rub it against the container, so that the dry kajal becomes smooth for the application and extra don’t stick to my finger. Then I carefully apply it on my lower lash line!

It is my mother’s recipe. My mom says she experienced less itchy eyes after she started using this kajal and that’s why she always uses carom seeds to make it. Carom seeds’ water is also used to wash eyes to keep them clean and healthy.

Whenever I have applied this kajal at night time, the next day even after bath, my eyes still looks like I have applied kajal and the eyelashes looks darker as it gets settled between the lashes. You can give it a try if you want ‘a natural kajal look’ without a kajal or eyeliner applied to your eyes!

I mostly suffer from itchy eyes and this kajal has helped me a little with that problem! I have heard that it works on eyesight too, which is great. But, I am not a regular user of it so I cannot comment on that part.

The application can be smooth if used properly. Anybody can learn it just by 2-3 applications. I find it easy to remove as well. I use coconut oil or Lacto Calamine lotion to remove it and it comes off without much difficulty!

Swatch

On my eye!

Well, I think this carom seeds kajal is one of my favorite DIY recipes though it takes time with little work involved to complete the process. But, I’d say it’s worth it! We use many eye makeup products to make our eyes look beautiful. But, we forget that we are hurting our eyes by using too many chemicals. There are many people who are not even aware of this fact. Many school and college goers use their pocket money to buy less pricey products which contain more chemicals.

I am not sure whether anybody has noticed it. Whatever we apply in our eyes it directly goes into our body. For better understanding I am sharing an example. Those who have used eye drops or eye cream during the illness like conjunctivitis might have experienced that after a few seconds they can feel the medicine in their throat. So whatever eyeliner or kajal we apply goes into our body through the tiny hole in the corner of our eyes.

Since, I am aware of this process, I skip applying eyeliners when it’s not required. Instead I apply this all natural black kajal whenever I am home or when I go to sleep! It makes my eyes fresh, beautiful and healthy!

P.S: Carom seeds are also called as Ajwain seeds and Bishop’s weed. In Tamil Nadu, it is called as ‘Omam’. You can easily get them from your local grocery shop!

P.P.S : Don’t forget to check out the preparation of another black kajal recipe by Dharu. It is also one of the best recipes for making your own kajal at home. It’s also a popular post on MABH!