A Masterguide On Surma; How To Make Your Own Surma At Home!

Derived from a Persian word, surma is used to give your eyes a smudged look, for a beautiful appearance. Besides its magical powers to accentuate your eyes, a surma has health benefits to add this beauty product to your vanity box!

What Is A Surma?

Surma is something we commonly call an eyeliner these days, if not kajal. An eyeliner/ kajal/ surma is a stroke of black powder or liquid that sets above our lash line to give our eyes a bold look altogether. Eyeliner has become a significant part of our daily beauty standards all over the world today!

History Of Surma

It is said that ancient Emirati women were buried with at least three things as the essentials for the afterlife; jewelry, pottery, and seashells containing kohl. It has been and is used as a protector, from the heat and glare of the sun, particularly in the desert, from eye infections and conjunctivitis, from dust and sandstorms, and from the evil eye. Many people apply kohl to the eyes of their babies soon after birth, to protect them from malevolent forces.

It is said that in the desert of Sinai, Prophet Musa left his followers under the guidance of Harun to find their way to the Kohl-E-Tur mountain, in order to pray to Allah for his guidance in search of water.

Bestowing upon Prophet Musa’s commandments for his followers, Musa then begged Allah to reveal his true self to him, to which Allah came through with a strike of blazing light, which looked like fire, which was Allah, himself. The strike left the mountain charred and the charred stone that was found on the ground was then used as Surma.

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Benefits Of Surma

Surma is a widely used beauty product that promises to protect your eyes from infectious diseases and is also known to be good for your eyesight.

It serves not only as a beauty cosmetic but also as a medicine for the eyes.

Some women also add a dot of kajal on the left side of the foreheads or on the waterline of the eye of women and children to ward off buri nazar, also known as buri nozor. Buri nazar literally means 'bad glance' and is comparable to the 'evil eye', although it can be interpreted as ill-wishers of people or even lustful eyes, in the sense of men ogling women. It signifies that the person is not perfect, with them having a 'black mark', and hence, people wouldn't be jealous of their beauty.

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How To Make Your Own Surma At Home

• Preparation of homemade kajal begins with dipping a clean, white, thin muslin cloth, about ten by ten centimeters square, in sandalwood paste or the juice of Alstonia scholaris (Manjal karisilanganni), which is then dried in the shade. This dip and dry process are done all day long.
• After sunset, a wick is made out of the cloth, which is then used to light a mud lamp filled with castor oil.
• A brass vessel is kept over the lamp, leaving a little gap, just enough for the oxygen to aid the burning of the lamp. This is left burning overnight.
• In the morning, one or two drops of pure ghee or castor oil are added to the soot which now lines the brass vessel. It is then stored in a clean dry box.

Here's another way you can make yourself home-made surma at home, with much simpler steps indeed-

• Take a small diya and fill it with good quality castor oil and light it.
• Place it in the middle of two bricks. You can use two big boxes of the same height if you don’t have bricks.
• Take a thick plate and place it over the bricks. Make sure the end of the flame touches the plate.
• After 40 to 50 minutes, enough soot would have collected. Carefully remove the plate and let it cool. Make sure to wash the plate and knife thoroughly before making kohl/kajal.
• Scrape the soot onto a plate or a bowl with the help of a knife.
• Mix with enough clarified butter to make it into a smooth paste with your hands. Transfer the paste to a small airtight box, preferably a tiny glass or metal container.

How To Apply Surma?

Surma generally comes with a glass stick when you buy yours from the market. The glass stick will help you apply your surma easily, with no residue, either on your hands or near your eye.

Here’s how you can do it-

• Taking the glass stick, dip it into the surma container.
• With the help of the glass stick, stick the tip of the stick to the inner corner of your eye and close your eye as you shift the focus from the inner corner to the outermost corner of your eye, gliding through your eye, leaving a black lining to your waterline.
• Using a wet wipe, you can clean the area surrounding your eye.

Kohl can be used in other ways, not just as a surma but also as a kajal. To use it as a kajal, take a makeup brush and glide it across your lower or upper lash line.

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