A TREAT FOR YOUR HAIR THE AYURVEDA WAY

You can pamper your hair with an Ayurvedic treat each week to keep it healthy and beautiful. The basic procedure is easy to remember, but you will have to set aside time and preferably do it in an unhurried, stress-free environment.

Here is the basic procedure:

•Condition your hair with oil.

•Wash hair.

•Apply nutritious, herbal oil on hair when it has dried.

In addition, you can give your scalp a relaxing massage. A 1998 study found that massaging the scalp with a combination of several essential oils in a base of jojoba and grape seed oils improved new hair growth for 44 percent of patients suffering from alopecia areata (patchy hair loss). The report stated one patient dramatically completely regrew hair from an almost completely bald scalp!

1. CONDITION

Oils suitable for all hair types are sunflower, jojoba and olive oil.

If you have dandruff or infected scalp, add neem, clove, eucalyptus or tea tree oil.

•Vata hair: sesame / apricot / avocado / almond oil

•Pitta hair: coconut / grape seed / rice bran oil

•Kapha hair: olive / sesame / grape seed / soy / safflower oil.

In cold weather, you can add mustard oil to any of the above oils to warm the scalp.

2. WASH

You can add any one or a blend of the following ingredients to wash hair:

MAIN INGREDIENTS

Shikakai (Acacia concinna), soapnut / soapberry / soapbark / soaproot (There are a number of plants traditionally used as soap around the world so use what is available to you.), tea and vinegar

SECONDARY INGREDIENTS

Add any of the following ingredients to the main ingredients:

Besan powder (Chickpea/garbanzo flour milled from hulled roasted chickpea [Cicer arietinum])

Amla powder (Indian gooseberry, Emblica officinalis)

Hibiscus powder (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis)

Gram flour [black (urad dal) / red (toor dal) / green (mung bean) ]

LIQUID MEDIUM

Mix above ingredients in a liquid medium such as milk, yogurt or warm water. The warm water helps to dissolve oil better.

For some bath recipes that uses soapnut, go to:

 GOOD SKINCARE NATURALLY [2]- Bath recipes 

Herbs that enhance skincare are also good for your hair. They may balance sebum production, have antiseptic properties, reduces inflammation or mitigate some of the damaging effects of the sun. Such herbs can be added to your hair wash or conditioner. You may use either fresh or dried herbs. Ready-made hydrosols, oils or essential oils are convenient choices as well.

If your hair needs another oiling after wash, use any of above oils stated in ‘1. Condition’ as base oil and add any of the following ingredients:

Sandalwood, coriander, bhringaraj, rose, rosemary, holy basil and lemongrass.

Certain herbs and oils are especially helpful to specific hair types although they may be used by other doshas.

•Vata skin benefits from the oils of Sea buckthorn, walnut, jojoba and vetiver .

•Herbs particularly helpful for Pitta hair are jasmine, sandalwood and brahmi.

•Kapha hair may benefit from occasional application of oil infusions with black pepper, nutmeg and/or cinnamon. These are warming herbs with antiseptic properties and help to improve sluggish circulation, which kapha constitution is prone.

•apply black seed/ black cumin seed oil either on its own or blended with another oil.

That’s quite a lot of herbs to choose from. The next step is to choose and use the herbs the Ayurveda way. If you feel overwhelmed by the choices, you can try Meera herbal hair wash and Meera conditioning oil. This is an ancient recipe using a blend of flowers and herbs such as shikakai, green gram, tulsi, vettiver, amla and much more. The recipe varies slightly among manufacturers. A word of caution: some unscrupulous manufacturers may use mineral oil and some man-made chemicals instead of using all natural ingredients. Therefore, read the ingredients list carefully before purchase.