From the Archives

From the Archives : Turn your regular shampoo into a homemade herbal shampoo {DIY}

Swathy · September 1, 2013 · 22 Comments

Today, I would be sharing with you a recipe which I have been using for long for my hair and believe me, it has done wonders. I no longer believe in buying hair products according to your needs like a hair fall shampoo as a solution to hair loss or a damage repair shampoo for a heat burnt hair. I have got rid of these things using simple home remedies and I would suggest you to practice them regularly to see quick and long lasting results. You can use tomato repair the dry dull hair or fenugreek for hair loss. ~~If you feel like, you can top your treatment with such fancy hair products too. They might do you some good, who knows!!!~~

Coming back to the topic, the recipe is very simple.

Ingredients (practically everything you think is good for hair and worth boiling in water)

– Indian Gooseberry (fresh or sun-dried amla)

– fenugreek seeds and leaves (methi)

– curry leaves

– sage leaves / basil leaves (tulsi)

– hibiscus flower and leaves

– mehendi leaves (henna)

– jasmine flowers and leaves

– rose petals

– lavender and rosemary flowers (if available)

Method
Soak ~~them~~ all the ingredients in two liters of water overnight. Boil next morning till water remains half of the original quantity. Let the water cool and strain. You can use this directly as a shampoo but it would not lather and I don’t know if it removes the oil completely. And, you might not get satisfied with it.

So, take a fresh clean bottle. Pour your regular shampoo to a one-third quantity of the bottle. And, pour this liquid over it. Shake well. Your herbal shampoo is ready. ~~Do not worry about diluting your shampoo. It is good for you as less number of chemicals are applied on your hair and your shampoo lasts longer.~~

This shampoo works better than the regular shampoo. And, it will definitely give better results than the regular application. Do not judge it until you try this out. It might sound weird to some people. But, if you have ever heard, many people advice that one should dilute the shampoo with water to decrease the harshness of chemicals on the hair. I will request you all to give it a try.

You can use a shampoo sachet for a trial. And, then, you can decide for your own self whether this shampoo will suit you or not. And, it surely does help in hair growth too.

Words of Caution
Please refrain from using any ingredient, which you already know, you will be allergic to. If you want to dye your hair some color, you can continue with using henna leaves. But, remember that though henna is conditioning for hair, it is extremely drying too. So, you can skip it.

You may put some green tea ~~(or your favorite flavor)~~ too in the boiling water. Do not add anything which has short shelf life as it will spoil the whole recipe like lemon peels, soapnuts or shikakai. Use them fresh. You can use lemon juice as a hair rinse for shine. But, lemon causes hair to get dry. So, you might want to try out other remedies for shiny hair.

Have you tried something like this ever?

From the Archives : Get rid of Split Ends {Hair care}

Swathy · August 27, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Split ends are ugly and make our hair look unhealthy. More than that, they actually make our hair unhealthy by climbing up the hair shaft. The only way to get rid of split ends is by trimming your hair up to the level where you are sure all your damaged hair is gone. Next step is to take care of your hair properly so that there are no split ends in the future.

First is to handle your hair very gently. Do not rub with a towel or use a rough accessory on it. Do not be harsh with it while drying it. Just gently squeeze the excess water out of the hair and let it air dry. Keep your combs and brushes smooth. If they develop jagged edges or get broken at any point, change them. The jagged edges or sharp broken points can rip off the hair.

Proper nutrition and regular exercise is necessary to maintain beautiful hair. Why? As our hair grows from the follicle, it gets old. The tips of our hair is years old actually and due to the lack of proper nutrients and exercise and loss of proper capillary action in the hair, it becomes difficult for the hair follicles to provide proper nutrition to the ends of the hair. This is one of the reasons for even the hair getting dry as it grows past a certain length. Due to the lack of nutrition, the cuticle wears off and the hair strand starts splitting.

Due to the very same reason, we need to provide the ends with extra nutrition on a regular basis. If your hair is extremely dry or is prone to lot of split ends, do a weekly pre-poo on your hair. Egg and honey is especially helpful.

Excess usage of hair products can also bring this calamity to your hair. Use only the most required of the products and make sure they are of the highest quality. Use as minimum amount as possible of any product.

Mix a tea spoon of castor oil with two tea spoons of pure coconut oil and massage in into your hair with special attention to the ends twice a week. Dip a towel into warm water and wrap your hair in it. You can even take a steam for your hair. You can leave it overnight or wait for an hour or two and wash off with a mild shampoo. Do not forget to dilute the shampoo. After washing your hair, apply a intensive hair conditioner to the ends of the hair and stay for 5-10 minutes. Wash off. You can follow with leave-in conditioner.

So, how do you prevent the splits in your hair?

From the Archives : Hair Types and their Hair Care Routine {Hair Care}

Swathy · August 25, 2013 · 10 Comments

Our hair has generally been categorized only in three types: Dry, Normal and Oily. But, have you ever thought that the hair can also be like skin. As skin has many types like dry, sensitive, normal, oily, combination; similarly, our hair can also be categorized in various types:

Normal Hair
Damaged (or Sensitive) Hair
Dry Hair
Oily Hair
Combination Hair

Dry Scalp with Oily body
Oily scalp with dry body

Please remember that I am talking about the condition of hair not the texture of hair. And, the way we care for our hair should be customized depending on the hair condition.

Normal Hair does not require any special care. Normal routine of shampooing and conditioning will keep it in place.

Dry Hair needs a lot of conditioning and deep conditioning treatments. Avoid going into sun too much and do not let your hair get subjected to heat.Always keep your hair moisturized using a leave-in conditioner or aloevera gel. And, of course, do not forget the hot oil treatments for your hair weekly once or twice.

Oily hair does not need oil. It needs something which can soak oil from the hair and neutralize the oil production. For this, you can two things: one is using lemon on your scalp and another is using ~~milk (without cream) or~~ buttermilk on your scalp. Apply fresh lemon juice on your scalp before you shampoo your hair every time. You can also use tomato instead of lemon juice as lemon juice is highly acidic and lead to dryness in the long term. ~~It also has the same effect.~~ You can also experiment with strawberry hair mask but then I would say eat those strawberries instead 😀 And, you can use your clay masks as a hair mask also. ~~After all, clay will absorb oil no matter where it is applied. Right!!~~

Combination Hair really needs a combination of oily and dry hair treatments but not so much in intensity.

– For dry scalp, you can massage a few drops of oil (coconut or olive) every time before you shampoo your hair. And, leave the hair body as it is. If your scalp is dry to the extent of being scaly and itchy, only then use hot oil treatment but use it just for the scalp. And, once in two weeks you can also go for deep conditioning treatments but make it only for the scalp (only if your scalp is scaly and itchy or if you feel a tightness in your scalp).

– For oily scalp, follow up the lemon juice or tomato treatment on the scalp and leave the body as it is. Follow up with a leave-in conditioner. You can also use your favorite conditioner to condition your hair. ~~But, in no case, use hot oil treatments or deep conditioning treatments on your hair.~~ Keep the conditioning treatments to the body of the hair only, especially the ends!!

So, what hair type is yours?