What I DID do, was give myself an Ayurvedic treatment with shikakai and fenugreek, since those are the only two powders I have on hand right now. I kind of went crazy on products this week. My rationale is that I'm stocking up. Which is basically true. I re-ordered conditioner and deep conditioner from HairVeda. I ordered a gallon of virgin, unrefine coconut oil from Mountain Rose Herbs (it works out cheaper than constantly going to Home Economist to buy their jars for $20 - the gallon was $37). I also just bit the bullet and got some Ayurvedic powders from Ruchita Ayurveda, because the lady from the Indian grocery store never DID call me, and the store is way across hell's half acre...I just didn't feel like driving over there this weekend. Shoot - gas prices are going back up. LOL!
So here are some pics of the treatment, which I also posted in my Fotki:
INGREDIENTS: I usually don't add oil to it, but since I was out of my other moisturizing powders, I figured, "why not?" That's about 3 tablespoons of shikakai powder and 4-5 of fenugreek...and random dribblings of bringraj oil until I felt satisfied. I sort of winged it this time. If you are going to try shikakai, I would definitely measure the first time around, and use more moisturizing powders (maka, brahmi, fenugreek) than shikakai. Or you could really just skip this mess and go with the kalpi tone powder, because it has a mixture of everything. I have some of that coming in my Ruchita Ayurveda order. Mix the powders well before hand, then add hot water and mix again. I chose to boil drinking water this time. Sometimes I use distilled water.
PREPARATION: The night before, I did not wash my hair after my work out. I came home and slathered on a generous amount of Dabur Vatika oil, put it in 8 fat twists, and called it a night. It is important to pre-oil your hair before you use the powders. You can do it for an hour, or overnight, but the oil needs to be on for at least an hour. I separated the hair into four parts, as show above.
APPLICATION: Slather it on! Go to town. I apply it like I do hair color, or back in the day, a relaxer - except with these powders you want it from root to tip, not just on the new growth. I start in the back (usually on the right, but that's just me), and make small horizontal parts with my fingers. I don't use gloves, but if you don't like your hands to be messy, or you hate the feeling of gook under your nails, use gloves. :)
You can put a plastic cap on your head and mosey around the house doing chores, etc. Or, you can sit under a heat cap for like 20 - 30 minutes. I personally prefer to apply a little more heat than just my body heat. When you are done, rinse in the shower with the warmest water you can stand (not really hot, though).
RINSED HAIR! The result is shiny, stronger hair! I can tell the difference each time I use shikakai. That's probably how I was able to hold on to those crunchy ends for so long. As you can see, shrinkage in effect mode! After this, I put it back in the four sections, and let it air dry a bit. I then applied HairVeda's Sitrinillah Deep Conditioner and went back to the heat cap. You have to apply something moisturizing after using the shikakai, otherwise your hair will feel slightly dry.
AIR DRY: After the deep conditioner is done, I put my hair back in those same four sections, and to each section I apply Asha's The Mane Attraction, and then seal with the Dabur Vatika Oil. I then twist each section into a little mini bun (as shown), and put a scarf over it to let it dry. This particular day, I put a head wrap over that, and headed out to Trader Joe's and Vitamin World, to refill some supplements I needed. And then to Food Lion for ice cream...yeah, I know. Not necessary! Oh well. LOL! This pic was taken after I got back home and took the scarf and wrap off. I even got a little wave action there. And now I see that my neck was greasy...
FLAT TWO STRAND TWISTS: I took down the little buns, and put in flat two strand twists. These will be in today and tomorrow, unil I work out. Then I'll have to figure out if I'm going to just rinse the salt/sweat out and keep it moving, or if I have to re-do them. I hope I can just leave them in. I'll be wearing a head wrap to the rink tonight, because these twists are not for public consumption. Ideally, I'd like to leave these in all week and wear wraps, as a protective style. I don't know how well that's going to work out, but we shall see!
It sounds more difficult and time consuming than it is. I mean, it doesn't take 10 minutes, but it doesn't have to take all day, either. I just had nothing to do, so I took my time with each step. My hair thanks me for delving into Ayurveda. I mean the color alone - the henna in the Vatika oil is making my hair darker, which I love. I have decided to forego any commercial color at this time. I ordered some Henna from Ruchita and I plan to try and cover the grays at my temple, or at least make them look like highlights. I'll be sure to post pics!
2 comments:
This does seem very involved. So the result is shiny hair? I haven't gotten the bug to start mixing products yet. I have been deep conditioning a lot though.
It really cleanses, more so than anything. The best result is stronger hair. It's involved, like henna is. But I'm looking forward to my first henna treatment, if it ever gets here. LOL!
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