Sunday, August 12, 2012

Hair oil preparation


Using different herbs, plants, oils and spices for your Ayurveda treatment is the best method to get the hair you want. Moreover, they are paraben-free and developed through ethical process.

Three Ayurvedic Hair Types:
Vata
: Hair that is thin, dry, frizzy and prone to split ends.
Pitta: Hair that is fine and prone to premature thinning or graying.
Kapha: Hair that is very thick and oily.
You should definitely try using herbs, oils and different spices if you want to apply the concepts of Ayurveda in your hair . Ayurveda for your hair necessitates the use of herbs.

When it comes to Ayurveda, the concept is pretty simple and that is by improving your overall health, you do wonders for your hair . Ayurvedic hair oil is amazing to relieve yourself of any stress and at the same time, it serves a dual purpose and that is to strengthen one's hair roots .


In this thread, i am just trying to add herb names one by one- with images of them and their uses. If anyone has any more recipes with this herb you may add them. Also if there are any errors, please let me know, so that I can correct them. 

Amla(Hindi)/Amalaka (Sanskrit)/Amlaki (Bengali)/ Botanical name: Emblica Officinalis/ Nellikaai (Tamil)/Indian Gooseberry (English)

The Indian gooseberry is indigenous to India. It has been used as a valuable ingredient in various medicines in India and in the Middle East from time immemorial. Shusrut, the great Ayurvedic authority considers it as the best of all acid fruit and most useful in health and disease. It is chiefly valued for its high vitamin C content. 

Amla stimulates hair follicles thus promoting hair growth and also improves texture of the hair. It also prevents premature graying of hairs and dandruff. Indian women generally use Amla to wash their hairs, which act as natural hair conditioner.


Recipes 
(1)Hair Tonic:

Take equal weights of Avuri (Indigo/indiofera tinctoria) leaves, Bringhraj (Wadelia calendulacea/eclipta prostrata), fresh amla and hibiscus flowers and grind to a paste. Mix the paste with an equal quantity of coconut oil and heat on a medium fire till the moisture evaporates. Cool, filter and store in a bottle. Rub on the scalp and hair daily.


(2) Homemade shampoo: For clean and shiny hair, make this shampoo at home. Soak Shikakai seeds, soapnuts (ritha) and dried amla overnight. in the proportion of 2:2:1. Next morning, boil them in water for 15 minutes. Remove the seeds and blend the pulp in a mixer. Store this mixture in the refrigerator and use once a week.

3) HAIR OIL WITH DRY AMLA: The amla fruit cut into pieces is dried in shade. These pieces are boiled in coconut oil till the solid matter becomes like charred dust. This darkish oil is an excellent oil to prevent graying. 


(4) AMLA RINSE WATER: The water in which dried amla pieces are soaked overnight is also nourishing to hair. This water should be used for the last rinse while washing hair.

(5)Fresh Amla Massage: Regular massage of Amla (fresh) ground to paste and rubbed into the scalp has worked wonders in many cases frequently reversing the process of greying or falling off of hair.

(6)Amla-Milk Paste: To encourage growth of hair and to make hair dark, soak a few amlas in a little milk for a couple of hours, then drain and grind to a smooth paste along with a handful of mehendi leaves, mix well and rub into the roots of the hair one hour before you wash hair (either shampoo or herbal hair wash).

Bhringraj/Botanical name: Eclipta alba or Eclipta prostrata /Tamil: Karisalanganni/ English: eclipta/Hindi: bharangraj/ Malayalam: Kayyoni/ Sanskrit:Bhringraj
This plant has white flowers. 

There is also another variety of Bringhraj with yellow flowers.
The Bhringraj plant with yellow flowers is the Wedelia calendulaceae. The two varieties of karisalankanni (Bhringhraj) belong to the same family - Asteraceae.

Bringhraj grows in India, China, Brazil and Thailand. The medicated oils of bhringaraj are widely used as hair tonic and to prevent hair shedding and premature graying of the hair. Bhrngaraj is the most common ingredient incorporated in numerous market preparations of various hair oils.

An oil prepared with amla, bhringraj and sometimes with brahmi is well known in India as Amla Bhringraj oil, which is said to blacken the hair.