The legend of Sarkandu Gurth Kuma hair elixir

[lakhesis]

Sorry for the click bait title, but I wanted to share this story with you!


So today me and my fiancé went shopping in Dubai Deira. Don't picture it as Dubai, it's a cheaper neighbourhood with a lot of small local shops. Just to get an idea, when I first visited this part of the city I was genuinely scared because of all the pushy persuasive sellers.


So my fiancé got stopped by a random dude who started telling him about how his brother solved his hair loss. He mentioned garlic and black seed oil with herbs and wanted him to write it down, so he knows what to buy. By a coincidence, his brother walks by (full head of hair) and he starts looking for a pic in his phone. He shows us a photo of him with the classic male pattern hair loss and repeats the magical ingredients that he used.
"Come, I will show you."
And before we know it, he drags us all throughout Deira, in 35 degree heat, looking for a shop. After some small talk, we learn that he is from India and all of his family members now use the oil.
Meanwhile we reach a tiny shop, where we buy two oil bottles - Garlic oil and Black seed oil, both from the popular Vatika brand. Our friend generously offers to buy it for us, but we insist on paying those 5 euros.


Now we are going to a spice shop, for the magic ingredient. Our friend greets the spice seller and says something not in English. The seller picks up two unlabelled bottles from behind the counter. One with green herbs and one with slightly off white coloured powder.
"How old are you my friend?"
"29"
"Give him 5 doses."
I was instructed to open both of the purchased Vatika oil bottles. I asked what is in the herbal mix. I didn't understand anything he said, so he wrote it down in my fiancé's phone. He explains the seller mixes it himself.
The spice seller just measured out the amount of herbs needed and was about to pour them in the oil bottle.
"Wait, how much are the herbs?"
"120 dirhams, sir" (30 euros)
"Look, we will come buy it next time when we have more money with us."


Our friend understood the gig is up, wished us a nice day and quickly disappeared.


We left too and decided to get a falafel in a nearby cafeteria. And of course, soon enough we see our friend dragging another victim to the spice shop with oil bottles ready for some magic.




✅Plus points to the guy for making it look like coincidence that he was nearby, for taking his time to look for his almost bald photo in his phone and for generally being quite nice.
🚩Red flags - he was dressed better than most people in this neighbourhood, also had a wallet full of higher amount bills. Pretty sure his hair was a toupee.




So I will be mixing in Vatika oil in my hair masks for several months now without the "Sarkandu Gurth Kuma" ingredient. I tried googling it but nothing comes up. My fiancé says those 5 euros were totally worth the experience It really felt like doing a side quest in a video game.


Please share if you have similar stories! Or if you have any idea what those words mean!

[Eastbound&Down]

Sounds like quite the trip! I don't know what that means, but at least you got some nice hair oil out of it!

[AmaryllisRed]

Oh my goodness, what a story!

[Nox_Inber]

Hahaha, that is quite a memorable experience. At least the garlic oil will keep vampires away I didn't realize garlic oil for hair was a thing until now.

[pisinoe]

Garlic toner is the most popular and beloved scalp toner in Brazil for hair loss and for hair growth. So you might be onto something anyway

The ingredients: Alcohol, Allium Sativum Extract, Calendula Officinalis Extract, Aloe Barbadenis Extract, Parfum (Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Coumarin, CI 19140, Allium Sativum, Aqua (water)

Main ingredient is the garlic extract like in the oil you have

[lakhesis]

Garlic toner is the most popular and beloved scalp toner in Brazil for hair loss and for hair growth. So you might be onto something anyway

The ingredients: Alcohol, Allium Sativum Extract, Calendula Officinalis Extract, Aloe Barbadenis Extract, Parfum (Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Coumarin, CI 19140, Allium Sativum, Aqua (water)

Main ingredient is the garlic extract like in the oil you have

That sounds good, have you tried it?

These two from Vatika are mostly mineral oil, I wasn't really planning to use it on my scalp. And I was worried it would smell like garlic, but thankfully it has a pleasant smell

Just the other day I was trying to look up some info about using alcohol based toner on the scalp. It is a controversial ingredient in skincare, but I didn't find much specifically for the scalp. I have a caffeine one and so far I didn't find it irritating or too drying, but I like the one from The Ordinary (without alcohol) a lot more

[pisinoe]

That sounds good, have you tried it?

These two from Vatika are mostly mineral oil, I wasn't really planning to use it on my scalp. And I was worried it would smell like garlic, but thankfully it has a pleasant smell

Just the other day I was trying to look up some info about using alcohol based toner on the scalp. It is a controversial ingredient in skincare, but I didn't find much specifically for the scalp. I have a caffeine one and so far I didn't find it irritating or too drying, but I like the one from The Ordinary (without alcohol) a lot more

I have not, because I thought it was an oil, but now that I see that it isnt... I kinda regret not picking up a few bottles because it was dirt cheap! Personally I don't like adding anything else to my scalp, so I prefer to invest in better shampoos (currently using Nioxin for hair loss).

[SleepyTangles]

Hilarious and interesting adventure! Those oils look very promising tough... Does the garlic oil smell very bad?

[lakhesis]

Hilarious and interesting adventure! Those oils look very promising tough... Does the garlic oil smell very bad?

Not at all actually! I've mixed it in in a hair mask today and it smelled very nice, you wouldn't even know there is some garlic

[Nox_Inber]

Not at all actually! I've mixed it in in a hair mask today and it smelled very nice, you wouldn't even know there is some garlic

That's surprising to me considering what an intense smell garlic has. Consider me impressed!