Swathy and Sky

You are here: Home / Archives for Swathy

Swathy

My Hair Dairies – April 2012

· · 22 Comments

My hair in April - Perfect Skin Care for you
What I did in April? 
  • Regarding the use of Rosemary EO for three months since January, I have not really got any evidence but I do believe that it has really helped my hair texture and probably helped in hair growth too. 
  • I did add ginger and cinnamon EO to my hair oil this month.But, had to discontinue using it since I started on with a treatment.
  • I gave myself a hair cut to get rid of the split ends. I did cut off a good amount of length and my hair is again back to the shoulder level 🙁 but, then, I had to get rid of splits too. 
  • Went on a hair treatment which I mentioned couple of days back. 
Products Used
  • Shampoo – Pantene Total Damage Care Shampoo + Kamini’s Keshika Herbal Shampoo
  • Treatment – Kamini’s Keshika Herbal Hair Tonic
  • Conditioner – Liz Earle Botanical Shine Treatment + L’Oreal Total Repair 5 Hair Masque + Kamini’s Keshika Milk Tonic
  • Hair Oil – Biotique Flame of the Forest + Kamini’s Keshika Herbal Hair Oil
  • Hair Mask – Egg + Kamini’s Keshika Multi-Herb Mix
Second Week Results of the Hair Treatment
  • Hair definitely seems to be more shiny. 
  • In fact, the hair coloring job which I wasn’t pretty satisfied with, is showing well now. Though, I am definitely not loving the color 🙁 I really want to use Lush Caca Maroon!!! I have a gut feeling I will soon do that 😀

Related Posts:
My Hair Diaries – March 2012 
My Hair Diaries – February 2012 
My Hair Diaries – January 2012

Aloevera Scalp Gel for Hair Growth {DIY}

· · 27 Comments

Aloevera Scalp Gel for Hair Growth

This is my first DIY which includes essential oils and are the heart and soul of this DIY after the perfume oil DIY.

Ingredients

  • Aloevera Gel
  • Rosemary EO
  • Lavender EO
  • Cinnamon Bark EO
  • Ginger EO
Essential Oils for Hair Growth - Rosemary, Cinnamon, Ginger, Lavender

Method

I used the Rustic Art aloevera gel for this recipe. I would not recommend fresh aloevera gel because of two reasons – first, preservation issues and second, you are not sure of how much quantity you have and how many drops of EO should be added. Thus, its better to use the commercially available aloevera gel. Take 100gms of the product and remember my guidelines to using EO’s. 
In skin or hair care, you should use only 1-2% concentration of EO’s and do not exceed as it can actually be allergic and harmful. So, for 100gms of aloevera gel, we can add 2 gms of EO and we use the equivalence of 1ml = 1gm though that’s strictly not true. So, according to the 2% concentration, we can add 2ml of EO’s. 1ml has 20 drops so 40 drops of EO per 100ml/gm of any product.
Add 10 drops of each essential oil to the aloevera gel. Mix it and leave in a dark place for 24 hours. Rosemary takes care of dandruff, Cinnamon and Ginger stimulate hair follicles and increase blood circulation and Lavender is conditioning for the hair besides helping in hair growth. Do not use more than 3-4 EO’s per DIY as too many EO’s might interact negatively with each other and can make the product extremely potent as well.
Results
Apply this gel on your scalp right after you finish with your entire hair wash and shower. Do not apply it when you hair is dripping. Wait the hair to get dry a bit and then apply to the scalp so that it doesn’t cause breakage. There are two advantages – your scalp is clean so the product gets absorbed quickly and without any fear of trapping dust and since the base of the product is aloevera, it moisturizes the scalp nicely and prevents itching, flaky scalp and other scalp problems.
I made this DIY before I left for Delhi and have used it just once. Now that I am on a hair treatment, I am not using anything except the products prescribed. That’s mainly to test the efficacy and worth of those products. But, I can vouch for one thing that this scalp gel does help in hair growth. Why? Remember the ginger tonic I mentioned? 
We are using ginger essential oil in this recipe and when I had applied this gel, it had tingled my scalp and gave me the feeling of warmth more than that ginger tonic does. Don’t worry regarding the tingling. Its just coz of ginger. Even if you apply ginger juice or onion juice, the scalp tingles a bit and also makes the scalp warm meaning the blood circulation has increased. And, the gel doesn’t make the hair heavy or greasy or anything. In fact, it keeps the scalp moisturised and the hair around the roots soft. It can be applied daily as well.
And, I am really hoping that you will give it a try 🙂

Sunscreen Regulations in India {Sunscreen}

· · 5 Comments

Sunscreen Regulations in India

Oh, I know you are bored by my posts on sunscreen. But, yes, I am obsessed. Did you know applying sunscreen can even help you with the pores problem? Yes!!! So, next time check out a good sunscreen 🙂 And, now, a little about Indian regulations on sunscreen.

In India, sunscreen is considered a cosmetic and there is no maximum SPF rating. India has different registration lead times for sunscreens depending on if the product is made locally (3 months), or for import (9 months). India requires the manufacturer to release the full product formulation, including the quantitative formula with declaration and disclosure of functions of ingredients. All label text must be disclosed during the registration process along with the product specs, manufacturing process, chemical and microbiological testing methods and any data supporting product claims. India requires the manufacture to run a minimum of 2 pilot batches before registering a sunscreen. India requires specific stability testing requirements to show shelf life of the sunscreen. Testing may be done using accelerated methods of exposure to extreme heat. However, any data that is accelerated also needs to be confirmed by real time testing, so the process takes longer than the 3 or 9 months since the real time data (for up to a 3 year shelf life) needs to be available to register. (Source)

I have always wanted to know how sunscreens are regulated in India. This bit of information has definitely calmed down some of my apprehensions in the sunscreen products. But, of course, there should be a maximum spf rating otherwise who knows, tomorrow, products will come with sfp 150. Just Imagine!!! (just like Bebo says in Jab We Met).
Read more posts on sunscreen:

Sunscreen: Role in anti-aging Skin Care