Originally Posted by
lushfanatic
This thread really inspired me to get started on my own hair growth journey when I wasn't yet a member of the forum!
I thought I would add some of my own personal experiences into the mix.
I'm not Indian by ethnicity, but Pakistani (Punjabi) so very similar in hair type and haircare practices.
I've always had thick hair but it was curly when I was very young and seemed to take care of itself without becoming frizzy (when I was younger my hair was more silky than it is now), so my mum, not being interested in oiling herself, didn't feel the need to oil my hair regularly. I have two cousins who do have experience with oil, with one of those oils mentioned on this thread a lot: Amla oil, most likely by Dabur. She said that her mum applied it to her hair every Saturday, plaited her hair, and made her sleep with the oiled plait before washing it out the next day. She noted that she wouldn't recommend this as Amla oil is a "cold" oil and therefore left her feeling unwell when she slept in her oiled plait. However, she said it was an excellent oil overall for her hair and that her mum attributed Amla oil to her very impressive thickness and length. My other cousin, who also has very long hair, vouched for Amla oil but said that it would darken your hair over time.
Amongst youth, Amla oil is definitely seen as something traditional and even those who still oil their hair tend to avoid it because they remember the apparently bad smell from their childhood. A lot of people, including my cousins, are moving towards black seed oil, particularly the one by Vatika. I'm not sure if this is an Indian trend as well but I know a lot of Pakistanis promote the use of black seed oil and olive oil for religious reasons.
A lot of people think that South Asian thickness is down to oil and a simple haircare routine, and while I think that's great for maintenance, I really do think it's mostly down to genetics and that people should just do what is best for their hair type if an Indian haircare routine isn't working for them. As a child I had hair of medium density and it gradually changed to a much thicker density - and I have only started using oils very, very recently, so it was nothing to do with that. I can definitely vouch for simple haircare routines though as my mum would always wash my hair with Head and Shoulders shampoo once, maybe twice, a week as a young girl, and I don't recall any scalp issues up until I was 17. As I got into my late teens I started to use conditioners and I would say that while they provided nice slip to my relatively coarse hair, they ended up weighing my hair down more than anything, which is why I have now given them up.
Many South Asians who don't do anything to their hair in terms of chemical processing, heat etc. won't be using modern conditioners, but some do, especially if they don't oil and tend to follow more modern trends. Those who dye/bleach/blowdry etc. their hair definitely will be using modern conditioners and using all sorts of treatments just as people of any other ethnicity who do the same things to their hair would.
I have to say that I'm shocked so many thick-haired folk have always air dried their hair! Since I was young I was made to dry my hair with a blowdryer so that I wouldn't get ill as my hair would take forever to dry. Even now that I've adopted air drying I still have to use a blowdryer on my scalp for a few minutes otherwise I'll really end up with a headache.
Hope I haven't missed out anything important! :D