Reetha,
Amla & Shikakai Home Made Shampoo - Weekend Experiment
Good Morning Lovelies, I hope
your weekend was fun. Mines was, well, ho-hum, but anyways, we are not talking
about that here (let’s save that cribbing for twitter).
I have been suffering from
quite a bit of hair fall since some time. I have tried changing products to
using intensive conditioning and the works. It stops the hair fall for while,
but then it rears its ugly head again.
So on lark, & for lack of
better things to do, my best friend & I decided to make some Reetha – Amla –
Shikakai
shampoo at home. This century old ayurvedic herbal concoction is reputed to not
only strengthen hair, but also darken it and stop hair fall.
I got the 3 biggies from a
local kirana store. All 3 are priced at 15 Rs for 100gms.
ReethaHow
to: Soak 5 pieces of Shikakai, 4 balls of Reetha (Soapnut) &
handful of Amla (Indian Gooseberry) in about 500 ml of water overnight. In
the morning, heat the mixture on gas till it just starts to boil. Let it cool,
when lukewarm mash all the amla, reetha and Shikakai to a pulp to extract all
the “goodness” (a lot of suds & froth is produced at this point).
Strain
(don’t skip this or else you’ll end up with bits of shikakai & Amla mesh
stuck in your hair – I talk from experience – Don’t ask) and use the liquid to
wash your hair.
ShikakaiThe experience is a
little different from using a shampoo. The moment the liquid touches your hair,
it will seem to go all rough and entangled, the way to use this is to apply the
liquid all over the hair and let it soak for 2-4 minutes before washing it all
off with water. Don’t try and massage and lather like your shampoo – your hair
will just get even more entangled than ever. Just apply the entire 500 ml
generously all over wet hair hair and scalp. Let it soak, don’t disturb and wash
off.
After
4 minutes, I rinsed very well with water and applied some conditioner to the
hair ends.
Caution: Don’t
let this enter your eyes – they will STING like nothing else has.
Amla
My
experience: I loved it!
Generally
when I wash my hair, I end up losing a lot of strands. I hardly lost any hair
when I used this. It worked just as well as shampoo and removed all oil and dirt
from my hair leaving it squeaky clean. My hair looks healthier, thicker and
shiny. It also separates hair strands giving me a lot of volume which I am
loving. I am planning to skip using regular shampoo & use only this for the
next 2-3 months to see if it helps stop hair fall.
All 3 freshly soaked
:)You may not like this if: You like
shampoos that lather, have nice perfumed scent. It also tends to stain a little
bit – my hands were a light tinge of indigo after washing – nothing seriously
though – a good hand wash will remove it in the first wash. Also it may cause
some hair dryness.
Also
if you are replicating this – please check for allergies by doing a patch
test.
Have
any of you ever used this? How was your experience?
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