Join me - indian style haircare for better growth and less shedding

[DancingQueen]

I don't know about you guys, but I am actually starting to see some results already. Shedding have cut down, and it may be wishful thinking, but my hair actually looks longer. And this is mostly due to daily scalp massage, 100 strokes per day, and coconut oil treatment before hair wash. I will try a little harder eating the right diet.

I am actually thinking of making a 3 months challenge for myself. I am having my hair cut november 23, and again 3 months later. I will take a picture both times, to see the difference. It would be cool to see if you can actually tell the difference.

How are everyone else doing? Seeing any results or changes yet?

[TheHowlingWolf]

Have people been keeping up with this?! The main things I have been doing are scalp massages with mustard seed oil and oiling my length with sao. I like both oils 'cause they are light but conditioning. I make a diy scalp spray with fenugreek, rosemary, hibiscus, sage, lavender, horsetail, & peppermint herbs. I also use that to dilute my shampoo....but it can be kind of bothersome to make that herbal infusion every time I wash my hair so I may try to look into something store bought...Idk though. But my hair has been growing, though I am taking supplements and drinking rooibos tea, which I heard has helped some people grow their hair?

[Nekomanta]

My plan so far:

- Oiling before every wash, and leave in overnight (right now it is avocado oil, but I also have coconut oil and almond oil, which seems to be more traditional). Oiling will contain an indian head massage.

- Eating a healthy diet every week. This should give hair more nutrients to absorb, and thereby (maybe) grow a little faster - or at least stop the shedding). Every dinner meal must contain garlic, onion and ginger. Moreover, I will have a 'veggie of the day', and the meal this day must contain this veggie. (I am not going vegetarian - just add some more veggies to the food).

- I will try to braid it more, to protect it when I am outside, but no promises yet - I love having my hair loose.

- If I have time, I will probably try out some of the recipes for shampoo, conditioner or hair masks.

I'm doing most of this things in my daily hairoutine Now I'm trying to get habit of massaging my scalp everyday. I'm also going to eat healthier, but still it's a big problem for me - I think your idea with "veggie of a day" will help me with it a lot! Can you tell me more about it?
Eating garlic, onion and ginger in every dinner - great idea! Do you have any recipes for easy meals with ginger? I can make only tea witch ginger ( it will be good for long, cold winter evenings with my books).

I'm using indian herbs somtimes, but I prefer more common products. But I like to try cassia treatment, I made it twice but I can't tell nothing about effects on my hair, I just don't remember it.
At the end, I bought an indian oil for hair growth - I'll start using it in December.

[niky45]

How to care for normal hair?

Use very mild shampoo specially formulated for Normal hair. You may even use Baby shampoo.

Ugh, no. Just no. It is designed to have a high pH to avoid burning the eyes, but it's not exactly gentle to hair....

On another thought, I bought a soap bar (with aritha and amla), to wash my hair a while ago. My hair DOESN'T like it. It takes like forever to rinse it out, and then, my hair is still kinda greasy. Plus it smells strong....

I think I'll just keep CO-washing. And oiling every now and then, not because indians say so, but because everybody says it works and my hair likes it.

[Northerner]

Well, I continue with the Indian haircare even though I said 1.5 months ago that I am about to stop because of continued hair shed. I switched to castor oil now, mixed with Dabur Vatika (coconut oil with 7 Indian herbs), oil my scalp overnight, wash out in the morning with Indian herbs as before. Castor oil pulls out even more hair than sesame or coconut oil that I had used before... Am going to have blood test in December to see if my ferritin level is up and what my Vit A level is... I've been off Vit A for over two months now, wonder if it's long enough for the impact of hypervitaminosis A on the hair loss to wear off... Also been taking iron supplement for the same amount of time, prescribed by my physician because of low ferritin.

[SleepyTangles]

I've tried to do again my areetha/soapnuts tea, this time with mallow (malva sylvestris) teabags all along . And I've discovered...
a) old soapnuts powder definitively smells weaker, even during wash!
b) no lingering smell!! I'm quite sure of this. And I didn't add any essential oil in it.
c) I remembered too late why I used to wash my hair for last. Soapnut tea bbbbburrrns in the eyes!
The result was soft, happy hair. I used a tiny bit of argan oil to detangle and the morning after i was in love with my waves.
Next experiment: adding amla and using coconut oil as a pre-wash!

I've tried some amla with my aritha, and I'm really pleased: the conditioning effect is really great. Pre-wash oiling is quite tricky, insteas, as my current shampoo recipe doesn't seem to wash it off perfectly; if I don't oil, the ends feel soft but very "bare", like not enough "coated" to be protected from loss of hydration. I'll keep experimenting!

[Tallybunny]

I totally stop washing with herbs and now I'm using a washing oil (castor oil, nettle and so on).
I decided to continue hair mask with amla or scalp massage with amla oil. And henna, of course. I can't live without my henna!