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Thread: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

  1. #1

    Default Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    I'm really interested in using Shikakai/etc. powders for my hair, but I want to make sure I do everything right, because I'm unfamiliar with everything.

    I will use the powders as a tea rinse. The product I'm getting online comes with Shikakai, Aritha, Amla, and Brahmi. Are these a good combination? And what ratio do you guys suggest?
    The current recipe I have is:
    1tbs Shikakai Powder
    1tbs Amla Powder
    1tbs Aritha Powder
    1tbs Brahmi Powder
    5 drops Tea Tree Oil
    5 drops Rosemary Oil
    2-3 cups of water

    I have also seen people use essential oils in their rinses, and I thought those two oils would be a nice addition, but correct me if it's a bad idea! Also, is that amount of water good? Thank you!!

  2. #2
    Member Katia_k's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    I think that looks pretty good. I swap hibiscus for amla, but that's just because my hair's not a fan of amla. You'll just have to see how your hair takes to the blend, and adjust accordingly.

    Someone else needs to speak on using essential oils directly in the mix. Not sure if you need to mix them with any sort of carrier oil.
    "All things strive."
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  3. #3

    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Quote Originally Posted by Katia_k View Post
    I think that looks pretty good. I swap hibiscus for amla, but that's just because my hair's not a fan of amla. You'll just have to see how your hair takes to the blend, and adjust accordingly.

    Someone else needs to speak on using essential oils directly in the mix. Not sure if you need to mix them with any sort of carrier oil.
    Thank you very much! Also, how often do you usually wash your hair with it?

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    Resident metalhead RavennaNight's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Oh you’re tempting me to try Ayurvedic powders again. I remember having an excellent experience with a sample of Brahmi, which led me down a bit of a path of herbal hair care until I got a bit in my eye. OW! But I remember it making my hair very shiny.
    Last edited by RavennaNight; March 29th, 2019 at 07:09 PM. Reason: Stupid emoji

  5. #5

    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Quote Originally Posted by RavennaNight View Post
    Oh you’re tempting me to try Ayurvedic powders again. I remember having an excellent experience with a sample of Brahmi, which led me down a bit of a path of herbal hair care until I got a bit in my eye. OW! But I remember it making my hair very shiny.
    I tried my recipe for the first time yesterday! I decided not to use any additional products to my hair so that I could see the actual affects of the powders. It turned out really good!

    I was skeptical at first. When it was wet and when it was drying it felt kind of stiff/tangly, but when it completely dried, it felt really nice! Soft and clean, and moisturized! I think adding my leave-in conditioner and styler would make it even better, especially in the drying process.

    My recipe is very gentle. I used jojoba oil on my scalp and I had to do the tea rinse twice to get all of the oil out. If using oils, I would suggest either adding another tbs of Aritha, or double wash it.

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    Member sapphire-o's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    I used a similar mix before and it worked well. Although I stopped using them because the herbal powder stained my fingernails brown. My hair is dark so staining didn't matter but I didn't like dark fingernails.

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    Member Orionis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Hello. I was looking for an updated thread on this. I was in an international store in Rome and found Vatika enriched coconut hair oil to try on my scalp but also saw all the indian herbs for washing hair. Would like to give them a try!

    Once I've done that I'll update on here about my experience but I'm really curious. It would be lovely to find a way to reduce the chemicals from shampoo that touch my scalp! Maybe slowly but surely I can start removing as much other chemicals as I can from my skincare routine and for my body also. Thanks ladies!

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    Member Orionis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Morning! For anyone who's interested (because I found sifting through old threads helpful) I oiled my hair last night with Vatika coconut oil on my scalp and I put pure coconut oil on the lengths. I left it on overnight and then this morning I made my first herbal mix. I decided to go with a recipe suggested by Deborah where you add a cup of hot water to the powder in a big bottle and shake it like crazy.

    Then I added warm water to the rest. I poured most of this mixture into a plastic condiment bottle with the narrow tip (like the ones for ketchup). I went and sat on the floor of my shower, tipped head over and used the squeezy bottle to put this mix onto my roots. I then poured some onto my lengths.

    I flipped my head forward to directly reach my roots and I also stood up and tilted my head back to get to the roots. I gently massaged my scalp and then left my hair alone whilst I did the rest of my shower routine of shaving legs etc. I left the mixture on for probably 5 mins in total.

    I was convinced that it hadn't removed the oil because after rinsing it felt oily! However, I figured if it didn't work I could do it again. I put my hair up in a t-shirt and now my hair is dry, amazingly, all the oil came out!

    I didn't condition my lengths because my mixture was this:

    - 1 heaped tbsp of heenara (hesh brand) hair washing powder
    - 1 tbsp of amla powder

    That was it! I thought not using a conditioner would leave my hair really dry but it hasn't. I'll probably spritz it with a leave-in I made (little bit of conditioner I use that's silicone-free, plus a few drops of sweet-almond oil and the rest of the little bottle with water) and then seal it with a little almond oil just to make sure my ends are protected but right now my hair doesn't feel that it needs it.

    I wanted to try methi powder instead of amla as it's better for conditioning but the international shop didn't have any.

    Also! Face mask, I added half a teaspoon of amla powder to half of rose petal powder and mixed it with bottled water into a paste. I applied it as a face mask and left it on for 20 mins before rinsing off with cool water. It felt great! I felt it really increased circulation to my face and gave it a super vitamin C boost. Just FYI if anyone would like to try it!

    Sorry for long post but hope it helps anyone who might need it at some point.

  9. #9
    Obsessive Oilaholic ChloeDharma's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Quote Originally Posted by Orionis View Post
    Morning! For anyone who's interested (because I found sifting through old threads helpful) I oiled my hair last night with Vatika coconut oil on my scalp and I put pure coconut oil on the lengths. I left it on overnight and then this morning I made my first herbal mix. I decided to go with a recipe suggested by Deborah where you add a cup of hot water to the powder in a big bottle and shake it like crazy.

    Then I added warm water to the rest. I poured most of this mixture into a plastic condiment bottle with the narrow tip (like the ones for ketchup). I went and sat on the floor of my shower, tipped head over and used the squeezy bottle to put this mix onto my roots. I then poured some onto my lengths.

    I flipped my head forward to directly reach my roots and I also stood up and tilted my head back to get to the roots. I gently massaged my scalp and then left my hair alone whilst I did the rest of my shower routine of shaving legs etc. I left the mixture on for probably 5 mins in total.

    I was convinced that it hadn't removed the oil because after rinsing it felt oily! However, I figured if it didn't work I could do it again. I put my hair up in a t-shirt and now my hair is dry, amazingly, all the oil came out!

    I didn't condition my lengths because my mixture was this:

    - 1 heaped tbsp of heenara (hesh brand) hair washing powder
    - 1 tbsp of amla powder

    That was it! I thought not using a conditioner would leave my hair really dry but it hasn't. I'll probably spritz it with a leave-in I made (little bit of conditioner I use that's silicone-free, plus a few drops of sweet-almond oil and the rest of the little bottle with water) and then seal it with a little almond oil just to make sure my ends are protected but right now my hair doesn't feel that it needs it.

    I wanted to try methi powder instead of amla as it's better for conditioning but the international shop didn't have any.

    Also! Face mask, I added half a teaspoon of amla powder to half of rose petal powder and mixed it with bottled water into a paste. I applied it as a face mask and left it on for 20 mins before rinsing off with cool water. It felt great! I felt it really increased circulation to my face and gave it a super vitamin C boost. Just FYI if anyone would like to try it!

    Sorry for long post but hope it helps anyone who might need it at some point.
    I find washing out oils with herbs is a strange one. It almost always feels like the oils didn't wash ot while the hair is still wet but then once completely dry they seem to mostly be gone, it was one of the things i found hardest to get used to with herb washing. That said, sometimes There would still be some oil left after drying.

    I've recently been getting back into adding herbs to my routine, mostly a methi mask each wash with ashwagandha, brahmi, aloe and sometimes bhringraj powders added, plus essential oils. I kind of forgot how much I love this mask but now when I mix it I'm using tea as the liquid component, green tea and moringa to be exact (though I'm likely to add more or switch it up).

    The thing I don't love about the mask is the gritty bits that are a nightmare to wash out without conditioner. I do remember from years ago that I got used to waiting for my hair to completely dry then thoroughly brushing my hair and scalp with a BBB to remove leftover herby bits. I might get that heenara powder later this week and try washing with that again. When I was looking through old threads recently I noticed a post from me where I described having tried it and experienced almost no shedding, plus I remember it smells amazing, if I'm not keen on it as a mud wash i might just make an infusion of it and use that in a hair mist.
    The heart would have no rainbow, had the eyes no tears.

  10. #10
    Member Orionis's Avatar
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    Default Re: Shikakai/Amla/Etc. Recipes & Combinations?

    Quote Originally Posted by ChloeDharma View Post
    I find washing out oils with herbs is a strange one. It almost always feels like the oils didn't wash ot while the hair is still wet but then once completely dry they seem to mostly be gone, it was one of the things i found hardest to get used to with herb washing. That said, sometimes There would still be some oil left after drying.

    I've recently been getting back into adding herbs to my routine, mostly a methi mask each wash with ashwagandha, brahmi, aloe and sometimes bhringraj powders added, plus essential oils. I kind of forgot how much I love this mask but now when I mix it I'm using tea as the liquid component, green tea and moringa to be exact (though I'm likely to add more or switch it up).

    The thing I don't love about the mask is the gritty bits that are a nightmare to wash out without conditioner. I do remember from years ago that I got used to waiting for my hair to completely dry then thoroughly brushing my hair and scalp with a BBB to remove leftover herby bits. I might get that heenara powder later this week and try washing with that again. When I was looking through old threads recently I noticed a post from me where I described having tried it and experienced almost no shedding, plus I remember it smells amazing, if I'm not keen on it as a mud wash i might just make an infusion of it and use that in a hair mist.
    Thanks for the reply ChloeDharma! I actually learnt a lot by reading posts you'd commented on in the past on this topic. I couldn't find methi but I'm going back to the UK next week and so I'm sure I'll find new stock in asian grocery shops there.

    Yes, I agree re: washing out and that's why I wanted to try Deborah's methods. I found I did have some grit in my hair but I got it out easily. I would like to try applying a paste just to see how my scalp reacts to it.

    The only issue I did find was that it didn't really help with removing white flakes on my scalp. Today, I've oiled my hair as a pre-poo and will try CWC with a sulfate free shampoo to see if that helps. If not I think probably every other wash I'm going to have to use a sulfate shampoo to clear off my scalp.

    Has anyone found a way to resolve dry scalp issues with herbs? Do you think methi would help or does that only benefit the hair and not the scalp?

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