Spotlight on - Ayurveda for hair

Have you ever seen a bald Indian woman? Not matter how young or old, if you look around, Indian women have some of the most beautiful hair. We even go so far as to buy their hair in order to achieve that look! So many of us have been guilty of visiting our local beauty supply store and asking for  "12" inch, Indian Remy in 1B". About a year or so ago, I became interested in Ayurveda principles for hair care after visiting several hair boards and reading about many women's great experiences with Ayurvedic based hair care principles and products. I then went so far as to ask various indian women that I would come into contact with about these products and all of them confessed to using them. 

Ayurvedic Hair Care comes from ingredients and practices that are staples in Ayurveda which is medicial practices that are native to India.

The principles of the Ayurvedic hair care focus on nourishing your hair from the inside first and then the outside.

This is just a brief introduction to some of the oils, powders available. If this has peaked your interest the following are a few websites that give a lot of feedback on the topic.

- Amla - the Indian gooseberry; comes in different forms and is usually found in oils and shampoos. Used for preventing premature greying and preventing what Indians call "hair fall" or hair loss. It is said to strengthen hair at the root.

- Shikaikai - Also known as "fruit for hair" in Ayurveda; it is used a lot in its powder form, made into a paste and used as a natural shampoo because of it's natural cleansing properties. It is also found in oils. It is said to provide an optimal enviroment on the scalp for hair growth due to its astringent and low pH nature.

- Neem - relieves dry, itchy scalp, cure for dandruff, promotes hair growth; usually found in shampoo formulations and oils; known for it's purifying properties to the scalp

- Brahmi - known as a hair rejeuvenator; usually found in oil form

- Bhringaraj - promotes hair growth and prevents hair loss, known as the "king of tresses" in India; usually found in oil form.

- Coconut Oil - Promotes hair growth; one of the oils that has been said to penetrate the hair shaft. used as an oil base for many of the above items in powder form.

- Henna - (*see previous posts from several members)

All of these products can be found in your local indian store as well as various online websites.

I have to say that I have tried all of these oils and have had some success with them as far as helping with my hair not to shed but I have to be honest in saying that I haven't used them long enough to see any long term results however I do believe in Ayurvedic hair care and I do believe that it can promote hair growth. I've never kept up with an Ayurvedic regimen because it can be time consuming. I do like to use the oils for occasional scalp massages the night before I wash my hair.

I recently purchased an oil based hair serum with Ayurvedic oils that I have found to be vitually weightless.

One of my previous hair idols who converted to using primarily all Ayurvedic products on her hair is a woman in the picture below, she used to post on a blog but sadly stopped a while ago but the pictures have stuck with me to this day! (I couldn't find the before picture to give the full effect).


There is a wealth of information out there on the topic which can be found by just Googling!

A few hair care websites out there geared to "us" but based on Ayurveda are:
http://hairveda.com/default.aspx (*if I had to recommend one product from this site it is the Cocasta Shikakai hair oil - it's the truth", great for scalp massages).
http://www.afroveda.com/Default.asp
http://www.qhemetbiologics.com/

SPECIAL ON HAIR PRODUCT

STYLE UPDATE

Hey all,

 I rewashed (cowashed) my hair yesterday only after 4 days to see if any of my curls came back yet, and I'm sad to report they DIDN'T..... :-(
I tried a different way to set my hair. I used the Cantu Shea butter leave in conditioning repair cream and braided 9 big individual braids (not cornrows) and rolled the ends with rollers and let it air dry. Don't really like the results... A little dry looking and too tight for me....

(Again, quality of picture looks horrible)

LATA,
CHAN, PJ1

Tired? A cup of hot tea will perk you up, boost brain power

CUP THAT MATTERS

London: Feeling exhausted? Just sip a cup of hot tea, for a study has claimed that drinking the beverage not only gives human brain a lift, but also reduces tiredness.
    Tea drinking has already been linked with lowering the risk of heart disease, cancer and Parkinson's. Other research has shown that drinking tea on a regular basis for ten or more years may help improve bone density.
    Now, Dutch researchers have carried out the study and found that it's the natural ingredients in tea which improve brain power and increase alertness, the latest edition of the 'Nutritional Neuroscience' journal reported.
    For the study, the researchers looked at the effect of key chemicals found in tea on the mental performance of 44 young volunteers.
    The effects of these ingredients, an amino acid called L-theanine — which is also found in green tea — and caffeine at levels typically found in a cup of tea, were compared with a dummy treatment.
    The active ingredients significantly improved accuracy across a number of switching tasks for those who drank the tea after 20 and 70 minutes, compared with the placebo. The tea drinkers' alertness was also heightened, the study found.
    Tea was also found to reduced tiredness among the subjects, who were aged under 40, say the researchers. "The results suggest the combination helps to focus attention during a demanding cognitive task," they were quoted by the 'Daily Mail' as saying.
    Dr Tim Bond, of the industry-backed Tea Advisory Panel, said the latest findings backed a previous study which showed drinking two cups of black tea "improves the ability to react to stimuli and to focus attention on the task in hand". PTI

10 TIPS TO HEALTHY HAIR

HELLO ALL,

Here is a quick list of tips that I came up with to help you achieve healthy/healthier hair. I'm quite sure you've heard of some of these tips at one point or another. These came right to me first due to trial an error. It never hurts to refresh our brains so here's a refresher:

1. DETANGLING- DETANGLE YOUR HAIR FROM ROOTS TO ENDS IN SMALL SECTIONS.    THIS CUTS DOWN ON BREAKAGE/DAMAGE

2. AVOID HAIR PRODUCTS WITH ALCOHOL...ALCOHOL DRIES OUT YOUR HAIR

3. TREAT YOUR ENDS WITH EXTRA CARE, THEY ARE THE OLDEST PART OF YOUR HAIR SO THEY REQUIRES SPECIAL ATTENTION

4. AVOID ALOT OF PULLING AND TUGGING...THIS CUTS DOWN ON RETAINING LENGTH

5.  USE A COTTON T SHIRT TO DRY HAIR INSTEAD OF A TOWEL. A TOWEL DRIES HAIR TOO MUCH

6. COMB YOUR HAIR IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS (FRONT TOWARDS FACE, SIDES DOWN TO THE SIDE, BACK TOWARDS NECK, MIDDLE UP TOWARDS CEILING THEN LAY IN THE DIRECTION YOU WANT)...COMBING HAIR ALL BACK EVENTUALLY CAUSES EDGES TO THIN

7. SLEEP WITH SOMETHING TO PROTECT YOUR HAIR...(SCARF, BONNET, SATIN PILLOW CASE)

8. AVOID HEAT AND MANIPULATION AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE...YOU ARE FLIRTING WITH DEATH IF YOU ARE TRYING TO RETAIN LENGTH AND HEALTHY HAIR

9. CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION!!!

10.  EXPERIMENT...LEARN YOUR HAIR AND FIND OUT WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO SHARE YOUR TIPS WITH  US....
LATA, CHAN
PJ1