Talk to me about AMLA

[Magdalene]

I like the idea of giving my hair some more texture- it's very slippery and only is wavy when it's damp.

Tell me how amla works, and is there anyway to neutralize the color? I want to keep my strawberry blonde!

[mellie]

Here's my results from an amla-only treatment (before and after). It's hard to tell from the photo, but in addition to knocking out some of my natural wave, it also pulled out some color too (I had previously done a henndigo treatment, and it pulled out some of the indigo, leaving it more auburn than brown). Personally, I didn't like the feel of my hair after the amla-only treatment, it felt kind of thick and greasy, but, my hair/scalp are rather oily naturally.

[jel]

I used amla in my henna mix a couple of times (didn't like it - made the final result more golden brown than red) and on its own or mixed with shikakai as a herbal wash.

Either way, there was no noticeable change in texture (I do occasionally have waves, but nothing seems to consistently produce them for me.

Regarding the colour, amla didn't affect mine one bit (not counting the henna experiment, but that wasn't a permanent effect anyway). I suppose it is possible that it can stain light hair, but even if that happened it should be easily washed out.

[Magdalene]

Thanks for the info, ladies! I think I'll hold off on the amla for now.

[icydove]

I use an amla tea in my herbal washes. I haven't noticed any color or texture changes.

[Kirin]

I love amla, i add it in every time to my henna to add beige tones, and to emphasise wave. Its done both beautifully, my hair feels thicker and nicer when i use it.

[ChloeDharma]

I used Amla in my conditioner mix......it definately made my hair feel nice and smooth, but toned alot of red down in my henna making it look more ashey.

[Mahars]

Henna for hair has some info on Amla. It says that Amla doesn't release any color on its own, but it has the effect toning down the dye release of henna to produce a cooler tone. I use a little bit in my henna/indigo mix to cool down the redness and make a cool dark brown. It works well for that purpose, at least for me.

I also noticed that it prevented the henna from killing my curl the way it usually does. I'm not sure if it works to enhance curl on its own, but it definitely stops henna from weighing down curls. Basically, for me it had the effect of mitigating the effects of henna, but didn't do anything on its own. Hope that makes sense.

[zift]

I have used amla only on my nonhennaed or dyed natural wavy hair and it didn't make any difference neither in texture nor in color. I was hoping than that it would darken my ends but it didn't. Than I tried henndigo...

[tiny_teesha]

i think since shikakai is more drying perhaps the mix of shikakai and amla will do the trick to make it wavier?
I've seen amla stain shower grouting in seconds...so i woudl assume it slowly builds up on colour, but if your hair is really light you would see it right away.

My hair is dry and amla is even too drying for my hair it would seem, as since ive gone to herbal washes my hair has dried up!