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Biotique Bio Musk Root Hair Mask {Product Review}

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I do love to try hair products. So, this is my second hair mask after the disastrous wastage of my money on Himalaya Hair Loss Cream.And, thankfully, this was not at all disastrous. Now, I find Biotique to be a decent brand with some really good products and some average products. So, I am not able to decide how should I categorize this product. So, find it out for yourself.
Price: 199 INR for 230gms
Ingredients
I threw away the outer carton so I do not have the list of ingredients. From the site, the description of the product is as follows:

Therapeutic Pack for Hair Regrowth. An original formula. A unique combination of herbs from ancient Ayurveda which promote hair growth. Contains Musk Root, Beal, Liquorice and Nutmeg which help to rejuvenate the hair and leave it in a superb condition. Invigorates and revitalizes the scalp and adds body to the hair. It immerses hair and scalp in natural minerals and organic riches and leaves even dry and chemically treated hair luxuriously full and alive.

How to use it??
The product says that it should be mixed with eggs or yogurt. So, I used eggs in my preparation.
One egg broken in a bowl. I use a plastic one as I can throw it away after some uses.
I mixed one heaped tablespoon of the hair pack in the egg. The hair pack is jet black in color and resembles Chawanprash a lot. But, the texture of the hair pack is not smooth. It has little granules and small stems like things in it which look as if the fresh ingredients have been mixed together in a grinder and it manages to smell fresh too. The pack smells a lot herbal and is strong enough to irritate some people. I find it tolerable enough but it doesn’t smell after mixing with egg or after applied to the hair so it is perfectly fine.
After mixing it thoroughly, the mixture becomes something like this. It should applied liberally on the scalp and hair. Cover with a shower cap for 30 minutes. Wash off with luke warm water and shampoo.
My Experience
First of all, one heaped spoon of hair pack wasn’t enough for my little longer than shoulder hair with very less density. So, next time I used it, I put 3 eggs and two heaped spoons of the hair pack. So, a medium hair length requires two eggs and two heaped spoons of the hair pack for a generous application. So, how did I find the hair pack??
Well, if you try to apply it directly from the tub, let me tell you it is simply not possible. You will have to mix it with something and only then can you apply it. So, eggs and yogurt are best choices but you can also include other fav ingredients of your choice including essential oils and all. So, it is not exactly a ready made hair pack. You do need to spend little time in preparing it. But, I would not advise you to mix it with henna in case you are coloring your hair coz you need to shampoo hair after using this hair pack. So, after you prepare it, partition your hair and scalp into sections as it is a little gooey and is not as easily applicable as using just eggs. Be very generous with the application because otherwise you would not see much of results. I have done that and have seen the difference so it is a little advise from my side. Covering your hair with a shower cap or cling film is an absolute necessity otherwise one might find it drying for the hair and it is difficult to get rid of the hair pack while washing off. Well, I did. And, using a shower cap definitely gives better results as it traps heat and increases the absorption of the hair pack. Do not keep it more than half hour and in any case never more than an hour. Keeping it for more time is not gonna give your hair more nutrients or anything. So, once the half hour mark crosses, it is better to prepare for bath and enter it asap.
Now, washing off the hair pack will definitely create a lot of mess on the bathroom floor and the hair pack would not completely leave your hair either. So, be gentle and patient while removing the hair pack. Use lukewarm water (neither cold nor warm or hot) and patiently remove as much hair pack as you can. You will still find lot of granules left in your hair. Do not worry about them. Use a mild shampoo and shampoo your hair thoroughly. The granules will be gone by the time you finish shampooing your hair. There is no need to condition after using this hair pack but if you still want, you can. But, remember not to use too much of shampoo or conditioner. Shampooing your hair twice might be necessary to get rid of the hair pack thoroughly. Rinse your hair thoroughly to make sure it is completely clean. And, air dry your hair. Do not blow dry.
Now, for the results. Remember to be generous with the hair pack and you would get fabulous results. When I was generous with the pack, I got a beautiful shiny and bouncy hair. The shine and bounce do last for the next day too. My hair was looking a bit darker than it usually does. Hair behaves properly and is manageable. And, the oil production in the scalp might increase after two days of applying the pack. I have noticed this result every time I have applied this hair pack whether miserly or generous. But, other results were no so apparent when I was not generous with the hair pack. This hair pack is for the dry and damaged hair to give it nutrition and life so this hair pack does that job fabulously even though there is a little work involved. It moisturizes the hair as it claims and keeps it moisturized for at least two days after the hair wash.
Now, moving to its other claim of hair growth, I have not seen any difference but then hair growth is controlled by various other factors like nutrition and lifestyle and not only a hair pack so I would not blame a hair pack for that thing. There is one problem with this hair pack. The tub has only 230 grams of the hair pack which if applied generously every week can get finished in a month at max for a medium hair length so that can be a disadvantage to people who are looking for long lasting products.
My Recommendation
This hair pack is worth a try and is not absurdly costly that one can not afford it. It does give great results for people with damaged hair. Regarding its problem of less quantity, it does improve the hair quality so after a month of regular application of this hair pack, the frequency of application can be reduced to once in two weeks or three weeks so as to make the product long lasting. And, even if you are looking for hair growth, I would definitely advise this pack because it improves the hair quality and it is very important to have healthy hair before you think of growing it.This hair pack is absolute must for people with curly hair because curly hair, by nature, varies from mildly dry to extreme dryness.
Update: Well, I forgot to mention some salient points about this product which I recalled while reading your comments. First of all, as you have seen in the pic above, the consistency of the hair pack is just same as henna so it is very messy to apply. Be prepared to scrub your wash basin if you ignore it or as soon as you finish applying the hair pack and putting the shower cap in place, wash your wash basin with water immediately. As I mentioned earlier, you will deifnitely have to clean your bathroom after washing this off.
Secondly, I completely forgot about this point but I have been facing major hair loss since November or onset of winters. Donno if it is the climate or this hair pack but my hair loss has reduced considerably. So, may be this hair pack helps in hair loss too but I am not vouching for this fact and it is not even mentioned on the product that it helps with hair loss.

Patanjali Tejus Tailum Body and Hair Oil {Product Review}

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So, here is another of the product from the collection of Baba Ramdev. This is not much of a review coz I never got to using it as such. Well, I’ll explain that in a minute.This oil is supposedly a body massage oil but also good for hair. It also is said to improve the muscle strength. The color of the oil is dark brown though my bottle is empty.
Price: 60 INR for 100ml
Ingredients
A very impressive list of ingredients. Let me just recount them in case the pic is not clear. Sorry for the flash but this was the most clear pic I got. So, every 10 ml of the oil contains almond oil, olive oil, walnut oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, soyabean oil, peanut (groundnut) oil, mustard oil and castor oil in some proportions. So, reading the list of ingredients, anyone would be tempted to buy the oil.
 
My Experience
Ok, so as I said that I never got to using the oil as such. What I really meant by that statement was that I couldn’t bring myself to use it afetr at max 2-3 times in the starting. Why?? The first time I opened the bottle, my head started to ache. The smell of this oil is too strong to bear. And, it is really very very strong. I have never been fan of strong perfumes and deos but this one takes the cake and the icing. I really fail to understand that why do they need to put a perfume when you are selling natural products. Had that smell not been there, I probably would have fallen in love with the oil. But, now I would never find out 🙁
It surely is a great product owing to the fabulous ingredients. I did manage to apply the oil as a body lotion one or two nights in the start and it was moisturizing enough. My skin didn’t feel dry or parched. Very little oil is enough. No difference in the smoothness of the skin by morning though but then I didn’t really notice that. But, then one or two days might not be enough. I applied it once on my hair but didn’t notice any difference. It would be unfair of me to say that the product is worthless coz I really didn’t use it enough to judge. So, the only point I would put is that this is not for people who can’t handle smells.
I really wish Ayurvedic products do not go into the cosmetics gimmick of great fragrances and elaborate packaging which costs more than the worth of the product. I wish I could send them a feedback about this. So, why is my bottle empty. I didn’t know how to use this oil so I mixed the oil with baby oil and kumkumadi oil and used it. The fragrance did soften down after mixing and my body did glow but then I am not sure about the reason coz it might have been this oil or the kumkumadi oil or even my apricot soap which I have been using and it is excellent. So, I am kinda confused about that. I’ll surely use this oil alone if I buy it next time but that is unlikely so anyone who has used the oil is using, please do comment and share your reviews 🙂 I would love to hear your experience about the product.
My Recommendation
Not to be too biased but this oil is definitely not for people who can’t take strong smells. This might be a good product but you certainly do not want to harm your smell sense. Those who can take really strong perfumes and deos can give this a try.

A simple recipe for Hair Growth

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Well, if you will recall, I had posted a rather elaborate hair oil recipe for faster hair growth. Not that the ingredients would not be available easily or it does not work but it might seem cumbersome to make in short batches and you might be tempted to make a very large batch. And, apart from all these things, with my experience since I have posted the recipe, I have realized that instead of adding a whole lot of different things in a mix of oils, it would be better to focus on a combination of one oil and one herb. Otherwise, the concoction can become too heavy for the hair and the herbs might counteract their effects. So, I have just reduced the elaborate recipe into something very simple and basic.
Hair Oil Recipe
– Any one base oil of your choice (Coconut oil, Mustard oil, Olive oil, Sesame oil, Almond oil or any other)
– Any herb of your choice (Huge Range of Herbs depending on your hair need)
I have talked about too many herbs in the earlier hair oil recipe itself including various flowers, leaves and other herbs. You can choose any one of them at a time and make the infusion. I have few pointers which you should read before embarking on infusions:
  • Never use oils like Vitamin E oil, Evening Primrose oil, Fish Oils for making any infusions. Just stick to the basic oils.
  • Do not even use Castor oil as it is very thick and sticky like goo and is very difficult to wash off if used individually. Though Castor oil has myriad benefits for hair, you need to mix this oil with any other light oil like coconut, almond, olive, jojoba, mustard and such. Either use 50-50 or 75-25 concentrations of base oil and Castor oil respectively.
  • Avoid mixing other oils as they might get heavy too.
  • Each time you are making infusions, choose a different oil and different herb. This way you will be giving the much needed benefit of various herbs and oils to your hair and will also come to know how your hair reacts to each one of them so that you can choose only the best for the next time.