Shikakai

[bushkin]

Anyone else use shikakai as a shampoo?

[spidermom]

I've tried it. It left my hair dull and coated until I tried a diluted white vinegar rinse. Then it worked great, but I'll never buy it again.

[stardust lady]

I used the one with henna in it, it claims to impart red tones to hair but it didn't really. I found it to be drying to my scalp and had some increased shedding.

[stardust lady]

Oof, nevermind, I was thinking of Shikai shampoo :P

[gothicshollow]

I've been using it in the past. I tried it in various forms:
- together with some other herbs (amla, kapoor kachli, etc.) and kept on my hair for one or two hours as treatment: it's ok, it leaves the hair clean and together with other herbs the hair was shiny and soft.
- the one in the "kalpi tone" mix, again for one or two hours: that's wonderful
- as shampoo in the shower. In this case I used to prepare it as follows: I put the same weight of shikakai powder and soap nuts (sapindus), roughly one spoon of each, in a little pot, add water and boil it. Then I used a blender to smash the soap nuts, and I filtered the whole thing. What you get is a very watery shampoo. It used to work flawlessly until I moved to another city and I started to have troubles with my scalp, and I stopped using it. But I would like to try again.