An Introduction Into The World Of Ayurvedic Hair Care

I don’t know about you, but every time I go to my local Indian grocer I get inspired to create a complete ayurvedic regimen for my hair. To make matters even more tempting, I am cheap and the cost of powders and oils are right up my street.

After the recent postcard tip detailing what ayurvedic products do for your hair, we got a few emails asking how to implement them into a regimen and with the subject of Ayurveda deserving more than a cursory glance, I am happy to oblige.

Ayurveda is extensive, many people know only about henna but there are so many other aspects to Ayurveda that we don’t often hear about that would certainly be beneficial to a healthy hair and body regimen.

An Introduction To The World Of Ayurveda

Ayurveda means ‘knowledge of life span’ and is considered a form of alternative medicine that has been practiced in India for the past 5000 years. It is known for its holistic health benefits that links your appearance, beauty, hair, and skin with your mental state of mind.

The book, The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs: The Most Complete Guide to Natural Healing & Health with Traditional Ayurvedic Herbalism’ defines Ayurveda as:

Creating a balance between body, mind, emotion, spirit and environment, and places emphasis on the ability of the human body to heal itself, with the assistance and support of a variety of non-toxic therapies, including medicinal foods, dietary programs, and herbal medicines. Today, many of the health and medical “discoveries” being heralded as breakthroughs by scientists every day were long ago observed and documented by the Ayurvedists.

Every aspect of your life is looked at in its entirety and natural remedies are applied to improve your mental and spiritual state.

When it comes to hair care a complete Ayurvedic regimen can be confusing if you are not used to practicing it. Ayurvedic hair care means that you are not using any commercial products that contain silicones, preservatives, harsh sulfates or synthetic ingredients and your hair care will be stripped down to basic powders and oils.

Some women have chosen to only add some aspects of ayurveda to there regimen rather than jumping in head first and committing to it in its entirety. Either way the results have been stellar whether you are relaxed or natural.

How To Include Ayurvedic Elements The Simple Way

Including basic Ayurvedic elements to your relaxed or natural hair regimen will almost guarantee shiny, healthy vibrant hair. The best way to begin is to find products that are common, easily found and are combinations of traditional Ayurvedic herbs and oils.

For example Vatika Oil. This is a coconut oil* based product infused with the Ayurvedic herbs of, Brahmi*, Neem and Amla. Vatika Oil is an amazing pre poo treatment, and can be added to dry hair directly prior to shampooing or as an overnight treatment.

Another wonderful Ayurvedic powder is Kalpi Tone, this powder is a natural hair strengthener and promotes hair thickness and growth. As a conditioning treatment you can at three to four tablespoons to a clean container, add some water a little at a time so that the mixture is muddy and stays thick and consistent.

Apply the conditioning treatment to your hair like you would a relaxer, cover and allow it to marinate for twenty to thirty minutes. After your treatment time is up, use some conditioner and work through your hair to help with the rinse out. Rinse your hair clean and recondition if necessary.

Another common option is henna. Henna is a wonderful ayurvedic option and one that is very popular in black hair care. The benefits and uses for henna is an entire post in itself but the most basic way to think of henna is that it’s the worlds most natural protein treatment. The dye from henna (lawsone) helps to fill in the holes and cracks that we create in our hair from over manipulation, adding strength and viability to the strands.

An easy way to add henna to your regimen is by doing a henna gloss, add 200 grams of quality body art henna to half a cup of your favourite moisturizing conditioner*, apply to your hair and leave for thirty minutes to an hour. the result will be soft, shiny strong hair.

Other Easily Found Products And There Benefits

Amla powder – This powder can effectively darken the hair, and is a great option if you use henna for the health benefits but hate the color.

Brahmi powder – Great rejuvenator, and is great for promoting thicker hair as well as softness.

Cassia powder – Cassia* is considered a neutral form of henna*, with the same benefits as henna*.

Shikakai powder – If you are looking for a natural cleanser, shikakai* powder is perfect, it also promotes softness.

Neem powder – Mostly known for is anti bacterial properties which can help with scalp issues such as dandruff and scalp infections.

Indigo powder – Like Amla, great for adding a dark color to the hair.

Stay tuned for part two where we will detail how to change your regimen completely to one holistically based on ayurvedic practices.