Ayurvedic Hair Wash Seen On holistichabits

[jane_marie]

Due to some allergy issues, product sensitivities and recent hair loss I am finding conventional shampoo and conditioning methods to very difficult to navigate.

I found this video by holistichabits. n I know people on lhc are generally not fans of her but I am curious if anyone has tried this combination and if anyone has an opinion of whether or not it might work.



*edit - I have this mixture soaking presently. If I end up doing it I will update about how well it worked.

[ChloeDharma]

I usually preferred to use cleansing and conditioning herbs separately but I did find the combination of shikakai and reetha good for the cleansing step and then would use fenugreek as the conditioner base adding herbs like amla to that. People often add amla to the shikakai reetha mix to make it more gentle so it's whatever works for you.
The herbs she used are good choices though and there are many more that can be included of course.
It will take some trial and error to find what mix works for you but once you get some experience it will become easy, just time consuming and messy compared to conventional shampoo and conditioner.

If you try this I do hope you report back.

Oh also, what's the issue with holistichabits? I had no idea members here had an issue with her.

[Feral_]

'Erbs

Good luck with this jane_marie, be interesting to hear of your experience. I tried a similar one - the mess was terrible, like spreading liquid mud on my head. Took me ages to clean the shower afterwards. Wouldn't have minded if it was worth it - however it wasn't. My hair felt soft, but was dull and smelt earthy

[SelenVinland]

Oh also, what's the issue with holistichabits? I had no idea members here had an issue with her.

I personally find her unrelatable, some of the videos I’ve seen of hers tend to advocate for some pretty expensive products or veer into “magic rocks” territory. So I guess it’s just down to preference.

[jane_marie]

I did a trial run with these herbs and it seems like they passed tests 1, 2 & 3. That is, they didn't upset my scalp, all of my hair didn't fall out and I found using them to be pretty hassle free. That said, my hair is still wet and I did a bunch of other things to soothe my scalp. So, I speak to how well they worked to clean my hair.

@Chloe I think I'm glad I tried using the conditioning and cleansing herbs together because it did seem a bit harsh to me. Regarding holistichabits, I have heard people mention her crystals (as SelenVinland did above) I have also seen people mention that they don't take her seriously because she has unrealistic hair (which I think is silly... lots of people have thick hair).

@Feral I ended up making it very very thin and using a sieve to separate it. So rinsing it out was easy for me. I do always wash my hair in the kitchen sink though because I like the faucet water pressure better.

I thought it smelled nice! The reetha (soapnuts) made it smell like some sort of dried apricot or fig to me but just a tiny bit earthy too.

[ChloeDharma]

Ah thanks for the clarification. I can see why people would find her unrelatable given she sends into quite expensive products.
Jane_Marie, I'm glad the wash went well, no irritation is always a good sign. I hope it keeps Worthing well for you

[Jane99]

I hope you find something that works for you jane marie. Just some of my experience though is it will only clean out very small amounts of oil, in case you oil your hair very much.

[jane_marie]

I hope you find something that works for you jane marie. Just some of my experience though is it will only clean out very small amounts of oil, in case you oil your hair very much.

Thanks for the info! It seems like using an egg as a wash is a good option for when I do decide to oil heavily. That said, I recently cut off my bleach damage so I'm not sure if heavy oiling is going to be mandatory for me anymore. I guess I'll figure that one out in time.

[Jane99]

I used eggs for a while and they worked pretty well if I had extra greasy roots or oily hair. You just have to rinse out *really* well and not use hot water. It doesn’t take much to make them cook in your hair but I found the cooked bits were usually easy enough to pick out. Just give yourself time to do it or better yet rinse extra extra well.

[jane_marie]

My scalp started to get inflamed again after my hair dried. Since it was brought to my attention that my aloe gel has a preservative that I might be sensitive to I rewashed last night without it. I also decided to not use honey in my mask.

For the herbal wash I used the soapnuts, fenugreek, shikakai, and amla solution holistic habits uses in the video plus a couple other items that I know my hair likes (rosewater, hibiscus tea, and rosemary) and some things to soothe my scalp (lavender, ground oatmeal). I let it all sit in a mini crockpot for a few hours, ran the liquid through a sieve to remove the chunks, squeezed the remaining liquid out of the herbs and let it cool. Once it was cool I applied some to my scalp then dunked my length into a bowl of the liquid.

After I rinsed it out I made a mask using half of a tiny avocado, flax seed gel, one chicken yolk, some oils (sunflower, argan, jojoba), rose water and hibiscus tea blended together. I left the mask on for five minutes then rinsed it in cold water.

I went to bed with damp hair and was shocked when I saw how it looked dry in the morning.

I am so so happy with the results.

My hair is completely dry and for the first time in months I don't have any scalp irritation. Despite brushing, some of my texture is still there and it's very shiny without feeling oily or like there is build up there. On top of all of that my skin looks better (smoother, less blotchy) and my nails feel a tiny bit stronger.

Here's a photo of my results:



So far, I'm in love with these herbs. I think that they might work especially well for coarser hair.

Of course, it's hard to tell if this will work well long term. I'm going to use it weekly and I'll check back in after a month for updates.