i thought that i'd also tell about my experience with shikakai powder. shikakai is a tree in india that has small pods with little fruits inside. the fruits of this tree have long been used by the people with access to it to wash their hair and is is said to improve the hair and make it stronger and more beautiful and to grow long.
shikakai literally translates as fruit for the hair.
well, i have used shikakai and it is wonderful.
however, there is a very complicated method for using it to get good results.
first, you have to put coconut oil all over your hair and scalp and be careful not to use to much or you will be left with greasy hair.
leave the coconut oil on overnight and the next day - you will wash your hair with the shikakai.
take a heaping tablespoon and put in in a glass bowl. add very hot water and stir until all the lumps are mixed out and the paste is very smooth and not quite runny - kind of like cake mix. then you wet your hair and apply the paste to damp hair making sure that you have put it everywhere you put the coconut oil the night before. DO NOT RUB!!! rubbing will damage the hair as the shikakai paste is gritty. then put on a plastic cap and wait 10 or 15 minutes.
rinse you hair thouroughly and then rinse some more. keep rinsing even when you think you are finished - this is important as you want all of the grit out of your hair. i found it helpful to either get in the tub and dunk my hair in the water or bend over a sink full of water and submerge my entire hair and this helps float the grit out.
when you are finished your hair will be soft and shiny and have a lot of body. it seems re-vitalized!!!
now, i don't use this method much anymore.
i found it too labor intensive and also the store where i get the shikakai powder is very far away and i can hardly ever get there.
also i am trying to get to where i can use only easily obtainable natural products for my hair and skin....
but this is a very good for your hair method - that does take some practice
you have to keep working at it to get just the right amount of oil that the paste can take out and not leave your hair greasy - but when you do - amazing!!!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
amla for hair and skin care
hi anyone who is reading....
i promised to talk about amla the next time i wrote so i will.
amla is an astringent fruit that grows in india. in the auryvedic writings the tree is known as mother nature and the fruit and the bark can be used for curing many things as well as for skin and hair care.
the fruit is small and green and is known in english as the indian gooseberry.
it has 2 times more vitamin c than an orange and is super high in antioxidants.
to use it on for cleaning and conditioning your hair i take one tablespoon full and add put it in a glass bowl and add hot water to make a thin paste. let this paste sit for at least 15 minutes - then spread it gently on damp hair. do not rub!!!
if you are just washing your hair you can rinse it out immediately - your hair will be clean - or you can leave it on (put on a plastic cap) for as long as you like - up to several hours - just make sure it doesn't dry or it is hard to wash out.
this will make your hair fluffy and very clean.
sometimes i just make a tea rinse with it. take a heaping tablespoon and stir it into some very hot water and mix well. let it sit for a few minutes and then pour this into a bottle (gatorade bottles work well for me) and top it off with warm water. then wet your hair and pour all of this on your hair concentrating on making sure the scalp gets some. i then run my fingers through my hair and wait a minute and rinse it out. this leaves your hair smelling clean and is good to do when water only is not getting it clean enough - but you don't want to strip your hair of natural oils.
my favorite use of amla powder is to mix it with hot water and smear it on my face. then i wait for it to dry and scrub it off!!! this makes your face very clean and actually takes off the top layer of skin - it is a mild peel - and also it makes your skin tight and it just looks and feels younger.
if you don't have time for this you can put a little of the powder in your hand and mix a little water with it and use this for a natural scrub.
you can get amla powder at indian grocery stores. the hesh brand is the best.
i promised to talk about amla the next time i wrote so i will.
amla is an astringent fruit that grows in india. in the auryvedic writings the tree is known as mother nature and the fruit and the bark can be used for curing many things as well as for skin and hair care.
the fruit is small and green and is known in english as the indian gooseberry.
it has 2 times more vitamin c than an orange and is super high in antioxidants.
to use it on for cleaning and conditioning your hair i take one tablespoon full and add put it in a glass bowl and add hot water to make a thin paste. let this paste sit for at least 15 minutes - then spread it gently on damp hair. do not rub!!!
if you are just washing your hair you can rinse it out immediately - your hair will be clean - or you can leave it on (put on a plastic cap) for as long as you like - up to several hours - just make sure it doesn't dry or it is hard to wash out.
this will make your hair fluffy and very clean.
sometimes i just make a tea rinse with it. take a heaping tablespoon and stir it into some very hot water and mix well. let it sit for a few minutes and then pour this into a bottle (gatorade bottles work well for me) and top it off with warm water. then wet your hair and pour all of this on your hair concentrating on making sure the scalp gets some. i then run my fingers through my hair and wait a minute and rinse it out. this leaves your hair smelling clean and is good to do when water only is not getting it clean enough - but you don't want to strip your hair of natural oils.
my favorite use of amla powder is to mix it with hot water and smear it on my face. then i wait for it to dry and scrub it off!!! this makes your face very clean and actually takes off the top layer of skin - it is a mild peel - and also it makes your skin tight and it just looks and feels younger.
if you don't have time for this you can put a little of the powder in your hand and mix a little water with it and use this for a natural scrub.
you can get amla powder at indian grocery stores. the hesh brand is the best.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
natural skin care is the best!!!
it seems that my skin has always been dry. when i was in my early twenties i took a shower twice a day and after each shower i would put lotion over my entire body. still my skin became dry.
as the years went on i found out about oil. when i would put body oil on after my shower - first, it was easier to apply and could be applied when still damp and secondly my skin seem to stay moisturized longer!!
now i use virgin coconut oil for all my moisturizing. for my body i first take my bath and afterwards while i am still damp - just rub it all over and then dry off.
for my face - pretty much the same thing.
also, i make a scrub with brown sugar and virgin coconut oil and use this about every other day on my face. much less on my body - but it works really well - i am just too lazy to clean out the bath-tub afterwards.
the oil cleansing method i have already described also works really well on your body. you can do this several ways. one way is to rub a small amount of oil all over your body before you get into the bath. then soak for a while and scrub it all off with a cloth. or you can rub the brown sugar scrub all over before you get into the bath and soak and then rub it off. some people use soap - i don't - but if you want you can.
next time i will talk about the wonders of amla.
as the years went on i found out about oil. when i would put body oil on after my shower - first, it was easier to apply and could be applied when still damp and secondly my skin seem to stay moisturized longer!!
now i use virgin coconut oil for all my moisturizing. for my body i first take my bath and afterwards while i am still damp - just rub it all over and then dry off.
for my face - pretty much the same thing.
also, i make a scrub with brown sugar and virgin coconut oil and use this about every other day on my face. much less on my body - but it works really well - i am just too lazy to clean out the bath-tub afterwards.
the oil cleansing method i have already described also works really well on your body. you can do this several ways. one way is to rub a small amount of oil all over your body before you get into the bath. then soak for a while and scrub it all off with a cloth. or you can rub the brown sugar scrub all over before you get into the bath and soak and then rub it off. some people use soap - i don't - but if you want you can.
next time i will talk about the wonders of amla.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
skin and hair care without harmful chemicals
well, it is a new day and today i wanted to talk about virgin coconut oil and what it has done for me. (thanks, nim).
i want to say that i have and do use it on my hair. when i was first going shampoo free i would put it on my scalp and hair and sleep and then wash it out with conditioner. also, i would treat my hair with VCO before using shikakai paste. when i started using only amla it did not remove the oil as well, so i had to content myself with using a tiny bit. now i just use it when my hair is dry and only a tiny bit on the ends as it is pretty hard to wash out without shikakai or conditioner.
virgin coconut oil is an excellent skin moisturizer. i use it to clean my face. either i take some and smear it on and massage it in my neck and face and then take a warm/hot washcloth and lay it on my face to steam and then wipe it off - this is called the OCM (oil cleansing method) - or i mix it with brown sugar and rub it on my face and neck and then steam with the wash cloth and wipe it off. both ways work great.
before i started using this method i tried many things. for years i used only weleda products which are expensive and supposedly all natural - but then started having problems finding them and got tired of their strong smells.
i started using aveeno when i lived in LA with my mother - mostly because i was lazy and could not get to a health food store for weleda and also because i didn't have as much money and these products are readily available and cheap. when i got back to austin and back into my old caring about myself state of mind - i just had to find something not so poisonous and so then bought practically the entire Burt's Bees line.
for about a year i used burt's bees - until they were bought by clorox last year and i found that i just could not use them anymore knowing they were owned by clorox. so i started looking around for replacements for all my skin care needs.
next time - my on-going quest for all natural, simple, and cheap skin and hair care that Works!!!
i want to say that i have and do use it on my hair. when i was first going shampoo free i would put it on my scalp and hair and sleep and then wash it out with conditioner. also, i would treat my hair with VCO before using shikakai paste. when i started using only amla it did not remove the oil as well, so i had to content myself with using a tiny bit. now i just use it when my hair is dry and only a tiny bit on the ends as it is pretty hard to wash out without shikakai or conditioner.
virgin coconut oil is an excellent skin moisturizer. i use it to clean my face. either i take some and smear it on and massage it in my neck and face and then take a warm/hot washcloth and lay it on my face to steam and then wipe it off - this is called the OCM (oil cleansing method) - or i mix it with brown sugar and rub it on my face and neck and then steam with the wash cloth and wipe it off. both ways work great.
before i started using this method i tried many things. for years i used only weleda products which are expensive and supposedly all natural - but then started having problems finding them and got tired of their strong smells.
i started using aveeno when i lived in LA with my mother - mostly because i was lazy and could not get to a health food store for weleda and also because i didn't have as much money and these products are readily available and cheap. when i got back to austin and back into my old caring about myself state of mind - i just had to find something not so poisonous and so then bought practically the entire Burt's Bees line.
for about a year i used burt's bees - until they were bought by clorox last year and i found that i just could not use them anymore knowing they were owned by clorox. so i started looking around for replacements for all my skin care needs.
next time - my on-going quest for all natural, simple, and cheap skin and hair care that Works!!!
Friday, March 21, 2008
how i stopped using shampoo to wash my hair
ok - so it has been easy for me to stop using shampoo.
shampoo wrecked my hair. now my hair is softer and shinier and i don't have to worry about it as much.
i have several gray hairs coming in and i love them so i stopped dying my hair about a year ago and that was when i found out that my hair was very dry and hated to be washed.
whenever i would wash and condition my hair - it would get greasy on the top and dry on the ends. my hair was actually breaking off when i would sleep!
when i first started not using shampoo - my goal was not to go water only.
it just happened over a period of time.
first i was doing conditioner only washing
then i went to indian herbs (shikakai and amla) and pre-oiling overnight
then just amla tea
finally, i realized that my hair was getting much softer and the ends were not so dry... because at first the ends were very dry even with the amla tea
then, i realized that i had actually been going through the transition phase for water only hair washing!!! the tea that i had been using does not clean hair very much and i had been just pouring the tea on my wet hair and then rinsing with warm water and scrubbing my scalp and then rinsing with cold.
well, when i ran out of the amla i panicked and needing to wash my hair -
just rinsed with warm water and scrubbed like usual and then rinsed and rinsed with cold. i could tell no difference!!!
if anything my hair was shinier and less dry than before when i had been using the amla rinse.
i will keep you updated on my progress.
shampoo wrecked my hair. now my hair is softer and shinier and i don't have to worry about it as much.
i have several gray hairs coming in and i love them so i stopped dying my hair about a year ago and that was when i found out that my hair was very dry and hated to be washed.
whenever i would wash and condition my hair - it would get greasy on the top and dry on the ends. my hair was actually breaking off when i would sleep!
when i first started not using shampoo - my goal was not to go water only.
it just happened over a period of time.
first i was doing conditioner only washing
then i went to indian herbs (shikakai and amla) and pre-oiling overnight
then just amla tea
finally, i realized that my hair was getting much softer and the ends were not so dry... because at first the ends were very dry even with the amla tea
then, i realized that i had actually been going through the transition phase for water only hair washing!!! the tea that i had been using does not clean hair very much and i had been just pouring the tea on my wet hair and then rinsing with warm water and scrubbing my scalp and then rinsing with cold.
well, when i ran out of the amla i panicked and needing to wash my hair -
just rinsed with warm water and scrubbed like usual and then rinsed and rinsed with cold. i could tell no difference!!!
if anything my hair was shinier and less dry than before when i had been using the amla rinse.
i will keep you updated on my progress.
ratgirldjh hair blog - how i stopped using shampoo
this is my hair story.
i am a 48-year-old woman who recently became obsessed with my hair.
also, i got fed up with shampooing all of the oils out of my hair and then trying to put back the perfect amount with conditioner.
sound familiar?
well, i started looking for other options.
first, i looked for a better shampoo.... one without chemicals, alcohol, etc.
this was not easy. i did try and use salon shampoos and found i was either allergic to the fragrances or they made my hair dry on the ends and then oily after a couple of times of use. then the conditioner was actually making my hair drier and drier - probably because of the silicones.
so - i started using all natural shampoos and conditioners. same thing.
eventually my hair was so mad at me for all this experimentation and started breaking off!!!
then i tried conditioner only washing - which worked ok - but my ends were always dry.
so i decided to try herbs and at first did the whole routine with oiling my hair at night and washing it with shikakai paste the next day. my hair loved this and quit breaking off and this worked great for a while. then i didn't want to oil my hair so much and got lazy and started just doing amla tea rinses - which worked great also.
so, i finally started running out of the amla and using less and less and pretty much ended up just washing my hair with warm water and rinsing it with cold and my hair has never been happier!!!
i can't believe how easy my transition has been.
using the amla rinses were the key.
i am a 48-year-old woman who recently became obsessed with my hair.
also, i got fed up with shampooing all of the oils out of my hair and then trying to put back the perfect amount with conditioner.
sound familiar?
well, i started looking for other options.
first, i looked for a better shampoo.... one without chemicals, alcohol, etc.
this was not easy. i did try and use salon shampoos and found i was either allergic to the fragrances or they made my hair dry on the ends and then oily after a couple of times of use. then the conditioner was actually making my hair drier and drier - probably because of the silicones.
so - i started using all natural shampoos and conditioners. same thing.
eventually my hair was so mad at me for all this experimentation and started breaking off!!!
then i tried conditioner only washing - which worked ok - but my ends were always dry.
so i decided to try herbs and at first did the whole routine with oiling my hair at night and washing it with shikakai paste the next day. my hair loved this and quit breaking off and this worked great for a while. then i didn't want to oil my hair so much and got lazy and started just doing amla tea rinses - which worked great also.
so, i finally started running out of the amla and using less and less and pretty much ended up just washing my hair with warm water and rinsing it with cold and my hair has never been happier!!!
i can't believe how easy my transition has been.
using the amla rinses were the key.
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