Tuberose

Tuberose Polianthes tuberosa L (Sedap Malam, or Night Delicious - because the scents spread heavily at night) is native to Central America. The fragrance is strong, mysterious and seductive and Indonesians usually asociated the scents with female spirits/ghosts. It’s very popular in Indonesia as cut flowers or clustered for bride’s accessories and decoration, traditional rituals and ceremonies. Other type of tuberose flowers is edible and added to kimlo soup.

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Fresh jamu drinks at Toko You

If you want to try fresh jamu drinks while in Bandung, just go to Toko You, a cafe/diner situated at jalan Hasanuddin, Dago area, just near the Borromeus Hospital.
Beside its cozy ‘warung’ like ambience (warung is a traditional grocery stall) and their butter fried frogs, we can have fresh jamu drinks. At the jamu bar we can order jamu drinks while watching the production process. Theres a lot of fresh tubers and other jamu ingredients inside the big jars on the table.



We can order any jamu drinks including beras kencur (rice and lesser galangan), kunyit asem (turmeric and tamarind), jamu sehat (health tonic) and so on. Just sip the jamu as a refreshment drink, or after meal whatever you like. You can ask it to be hot or cold. They sell jamu in bottles also for take away, no preservatives guaranteed.

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stone scrubing

As i was mention in older post about lulur, the lulur rituals originally performed by royal ladies inside the javanese courts. But ordinary girls outside also have their own way to keep their skin smooth. Theres always the stone.

Small stone from the river, picked carefully by size and smoothness. The shape should be round and the surface suppose to be smooth, with or without pores. Pumice also suitable for this, but have a rougher quality. The next step just rub the stone to skin tenderly while in the shower, and there it is, a scrub in its very basic form.

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how to read those stuff?

Just come across my mind that lots of buzz in this blog are not familiar for so many people. So i made a list of javanese and indonesian words and how to read it (I suppose)

Jamu read jah-moo
Lulur read looh-lure
Luluran read looh-looh-run
Ratus read rah-toos
Boreh read boh-reh
Temugiring read teh-moo-gee-reeng
Jahe read jah-hea
Kencur read kean-choore
Jawa read jah-wah
Bali read bah-lee
Parem read pah-remp

hope this stuff helpful

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Boreh body wrap

Boreh (read: boh-rehe) is a Balinese body mask made from various hot spices to treat fever, headaches, muscle aches and arthritis. Javanese also have just the similar mask called parem (read: puh-raem). This mask gives warm feeling to skin. When applied it gives warmth and comfort for body and mind.
ginger tuber



How to make boreh
1 tsp ginger powder
¼ tsp ground black peper
1 tsp kencur (Kaempferia galanga L.)powder
3 tsp ground rice
2 tbs water or as needed until thick solution formed
Essential oil

To use:
Do the test patch before use, since the mixture can cause temporary redness or itchyness for some people.
Lather the mixture with hand or a clean small paint brush to your body. Avoid sensitive area like armpit, nipples or crotch area. Wrap body with warm bath towel or plastic sheet. Relax for 10 minutes, and shower. Apply body cream afterwards.
Or if you feel cold, just lather this paste to your feet and leave it until dry.

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Lerak, soap nut from Indonesia

In Indonesia our great great grandmother used to wash their clothes with nut called lerak (Javanese) or Sapindus rarak D.C. This nut used for wash the precious batik sheets to maintain its colour and quality. To use this nuts as detergent, the shell must be crashed and put into small burlap bag. Soak and shake it onto a bucket of warm water until a little foam developed. Put the batik sheets/clothes inside and washed it by hands and rinse. This bio soap is so mild it’s very good for colored clothes. Today this plant also on development for agricultural purpose as bio pesticide.


pic from www.naturalnews.com

In this article about revolutionary laundry soap the nut is quite different although its in the same family as java's lerak.
You can find more article about lerak in here, here and here.

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jamu

Jamu is a mix of herbal and boiled in water for our general health or for medication. The herbal used for this jamu is vary, could be from leafs, roots, tuber, fruit, tree bark or branch. Usually it tastes no good at all. Recipe below is kunyit asam jamu (turmeric and tamarind jamu), which is very popular for women’s health and most important, tastes good.

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Ratus

Ratus is popular now. Lots of spas and salons offer the ‘vagina's ratus’ treatment. This treatment, again, came from Javanese tradition. Ratus is an incense nuggets/chunks made from 8 aromatic ingredients including kemenyan madu, sandalwood chunks, mesoyi, klembak roots, aren sugar, klabet, pucuk and ganti wood.



This incense nugget then sprinkled to charcoal burned in a small pottery stove called anglo. The aromatic fumes then applied to deodorize hair, batik sheets or...vagina. We can combed hair on top of the anglo and let the aromatic fumes deodorizes our hair, put the anglo beneath the laundry line for deodorizing batiks, or put the anglo under the hollow chair to deodorizing vagina. Ratus proved to protect batik sheets from mites and bugs, giving a unique scents and preserve the precious batik sheets on storage.

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massage

Massage therapy has gained a lot of ground as a complement to conventional medicine. Research studies conducted in the past decade have shown that massage has medically beneficial effects – such as lowering blood pressure and increasing oxygen absorption – in addition to its ability to relax both the mind and tense muscle tissue.



Massage therapy is the manual manipulation of the body’s soft tissue to prevent or reduce pain and stress, and to promote health and well-being. The success of massage therapy has spawned many methods, systems and types (e.g., Swedish, shiatsu, trigger point therapies).

All massage therapy involves the manipulation of soft tissue – kneading, pressing or stroking – by a practitioner licensed from an accredited school. Associated with relieving stress and anxiety, massage has been used to supplement the treatment or management of soft-tissue injuries, physiological and emotional disorders, and pain.

People with pre-existing conditions or diseases should consult their physician before undergoing massage therapy. Massage may not be appropriate for certain conditions, including high blood pressure (hypertension) and certain skin conditions.

from http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/massage-therapy.html

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lulur recipe

how to make your own javanese lulur:

1 tbs ground rice
1/2 tbs ground temugiring
3 tbs milk or as needed
1 tbs honey
5 drops essential oil (patchouli, vetiver or sandalwood)

if you cant find temugiring, you can substitute this with grated coconut/grated bengkoang/oatmeal/ground coffee or combine 3 ingredients together. well its not like a real javanese lulur, but still you can get the good result from this.

lather the paste to your body, scrub until dries and fell off. wash off with warm water. apply body lotion afterwards.
Do this once a week for best result.

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Patchouli oil in aromatherapy

Patchouli oil is an essential oil, and is used in today's aromatherapy and has been used through history for it's healing properties.

Patchouli is a bush with furry leaves and purplish white flowers that are known to quickly drain the nutrients from the soil in which it grows. It can grow up to three and half feet tall and it has large fragrant leaves. Patchouli is sought after for it antiseptic, deodorant, and as a tonic for the nervous system. It can be found in India, the Philippines, China, Malaysia, and Paraguay. Patchouli’s essential oil is extracted by steam distillation from its leaves. It is used for its antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antiviral and sedative properties. This essential oil is best used when aged and it has a spicy aroma. Patchouli is often blended with other fine essential oils like bergamot, Clary sage, ginger, lavender and vetiver.




Patchouli has been used throughout the centuries and in different cultures. The word Patchouli originated in Hindustan. It has been used in many cultures to prevent the spread of diseases and infections. With it high quality of anti-viral properties it has been used to diminish nausea, headaches, colds, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Patchouli was introduce to the British culture in the 1820’s here it become a favorite with midwifes for it’s cleansing abilities. In the 1960’s patchouli became in great demand again for use as a body perfume.

In today’s popular aromatherapy it is used to stimulate the appetite, for diarrhea, and it’s balancing effect on the endocrine system. It is great for the skin it reduces inflammations such as acne, eczema, athlete’s foot, fungal infections and dandruff. Patchouli is also good for the emotions, it has an effect of balancing upset emotions and calming the nerves from an upset situation. It helps you remain in control of your emotions instead of emotions controlling you. It is very useful in controlling depression; anxiety and all stress related emotions.

There is a caution when using Patchouli, do not use in large amounts due to it is a powerful sedative.

from essortment

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"Cool Powder" or..cooling powder?

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scrub it

Body scrubs should be a part of skin care routine. Not only do they slough off dead skin cells, they increase circulation and leave the skin smooth and moisturized. They are used to prevent ingrown hairs before they happen by opening the pores and allowing hair follicles to freely develop new hairs above the skin's surface.

Homemade body scrubs have one advantage: they can be customized so they provide the best effects. You can change the frangrances by changing the essential oils you add to them. Apply a moisturizer (body lotion) for best results.

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massage oil

any oil can be used as a massage oil. but the best oil usually comes from plants (as opposite of oil that comes from earth or mineral oil) like corn, coconut, olive, avocado, palm etc.

but this oil usually too thick and heavy and not very comfort for skin so it usually mixed with some thin mineral oil. again, to enchance this oil and to give a nice smell too, we can add a few drops of essential oils in it. since almost all essential oils a good benefit for skin, we can use almost any essential oil, altough some is not recommended such as anything from orange (can cause photosensitivity to the skin). but this is hard to avoid since the smell is soo nice.

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Essential oils

essential oil is extracted from aromatic plants. it can comes either from flower, leaf, root or other part of the plant. this aromatic oil claimed to have therapeutic qualities. so therapy with this oil called aromatherapy.

to enhance the luluran experience (lulur is the scrub paste, then luluran means scrubbing with lulur paste or...luluring?) essential oil is added to lulur mixture as well as for the massage oil. but this oil is not easy to get and their price is not cheap.
indonesia have a lot of aromatic plants, but only few was extracted comercially. one that is common is patchouli oil that comes from nilam herbs. in jawa barat nilam farm can be found around subang and garut. click here to know more about destillation process and essential oils.

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