hair oil

Blue Nectar Briganantadi Hair Repair & Treatment Oil

January 23, 2017 Swati 5 Comments

I have to first say my heartiest thanks to the brand and the PR people for bearing with me for so long for blue nectar briganantadi review. It has almost been six months since I received their products for review but could not review the hair oil due to the extreme hair fall I had been facing for the past few months.

The other product I reviewed was their headache relief roll on which is amazing. And, I have all good things to say about this product as well. Before starting, I would confess that the delay in reviewing blue nectar briganantadi was due to my bad health and weakness. My hair was in a very very bad shape couple of months back and it has been getting back to normal only since December. So, now, I can review hair products again.

Blue Nectar Briganantadi Hair Repair & Treatment Oil Product Review

Price : Rs 425 for 100ml

Availability : Amazon | Flipkart | Online Website

Ingredients

Why Hair Oil is a Waste of Money?

June 10, 2016 Swati Leave a Comment

When I got my cysteine treated and coloured last year, my hair stylist had almost convinced me that hair oil is not really necessary. In fact, he went so far as to claim it does nothing, nothing at all, for the hair and is best avoided as not applying means you can use milder shampoos.

As much as this was sounding right, I always had this skeptic at back of my head saying may be this needs a bit of investigation. I did go for four to six months without oil and I would not say that my hair was just the same or really missed oil. But, it did teach me what hair oil can and can not do.

So, lets see if I can really convince on some of the far fetched claims of hair oiling.

The oil may or may not get absorbed by your shaft making the protective layer disappear. Btw, if you follow this method, you would notice that your hair appears drier by the next day of the wash.

What does Hair Oil really Do?

Hair Oil Softens

Yes, it does. It smooths out the tangles provided you do use a comb later, makes the hair soft and creates a protective layer on it. This protective layer ensures that when you shampoo your hair, the ingredients do not end up harming the scalp or the hair structure.

4 Ways to Stop Hair Fall

May 18, 2016 Swati 4 Comments

How to Stop Hair Fall?

Inversion Method

Most of the time hair fall is just due to lack of proper nutrition to the hair follicles. This can occur due to lack of exercise or lack of proper blood circulation through out the body. The inversion method works only in such cases.

Everyday for one week you must bend your head down for 4-5 minutes and keep massaging the scalp simultaneously. Repeat the exercise again after a month. The break is so that the body does not get used to the exercise and stop showing its effect.

Hair Oiling and Scalp Massage

Scalp massage helps improve blood circulation which delivers nutrients to the hair follicle. It is one of the basic techniques in hair care. Hair oil helps lubricate the hair and scalp at the same time, making it easy to massage and conditioning the hair.

It is true that hair oil does nothing more than conditioning the hair but regular application of oil keeps hair fall at bay and helps hair to stay frizz-free and manageable.

Take Care of your Hair Accessories and Choose Hair Products Wisely

Hair accessories like combs and bands get dirty and oily as well (when you apply oil). They must be washed and cleaned regularly to make sure the dirt and grease does not keep on transferring to your hair and scalp over time.

Try to buy wooden combs and avoid hair brushes if you have curly hair. Wooden combs distribute oils all through hair and calms the frizz.

Whenever you are buying hair care products, make sure you buy the professional ranges of good hair care brands instead of the over the counter products. Though expensive, the professional range products are gentle on hair and provide better maintenance. They help control the excess hair fall which can happen due to drying ingredients in the regular shampoos.

Pamper your hair every week with a hair mask. And, never EVER skip conditioner after a shampoo.

Exotic Oils and Essential Oils

I have time and again stressed on how essential oils are one of the best hair fall treatments. My favourites are Rosemary, peppermint, tea tree for hair. They help promote hair growth and reduce hair fall as well. You can mix essential oils in everything right from your hair oil to your shampoo, conditioners, hair masks and even the leave-in treatments.

Another pampering treatment I love is indulging in exotic oils like argan oil, hazelnut oil, macadamia oil, brazil nut oil. They all feel very luxurious (I am not sure how different they are from regular oils in terms of hair conditioning) but it is more of a feel good factor which leaves you and your hair happy after the treatment. It is more psychological.

So, these are just few ways on how to stop hair fall. But, you must remember that excess of everything is bad so if you feel hair fall is excessive, visit a dermatologist or trichologist immediately. Hair fall can indicate an underlying health condition.

What are your tips to stop hair fall?

My Hair Diary – December 2015

January 6, 2016 Swati 2 Comments

When I was young, I remember my mum used to be very particular of not getting me a hair cut except from her own hands and needless to say she was not a hair stylist. I am not sure what is with old mindsets that there is something in the hands of the stylist which lends character to your hair.

What will you say about a person whose hand suited you first and later did not? Well, the same thing happened to me. The stylist I was so gaga about a few months ago is now on my hit list because of the most awful hair cut he gave me this month. Let me go in detail here.

my hair this month — As you can see, the color has faded off leaving a rich brown color in the hair. The roots have started showing long back. Before taking this pic, I had treated my hair with Schwarzkopf hair mask for around 15-25 minutes.

Highlights of the Post

November Hair Diary
December Hair Diary
How to choose your Hair Oil?
How to start Healthy Hair Growth?

My Hair Diary – November 2015

How is my hair doing?

So, this month was decent on my hair. I have to say that if you are chemically processing your hair but not really planning to take care of it, it is best to skip such treatments. The uncared hair grows even more frizzier and drier which is absolutely not recommended. And, can also be subjected to hair fall.

Cysteine Review

If you invest some time and energy into your hair care regimen, you can get as good hair as you would from Cysteine and then it would last for years together and not some few months!

And, as I said, I did not really take much care of my hair in fact. So, obviously, my hair did not do really well unless I did hair spa at home. But, doing hair spa (applying deep conditioner and leaving for 30 minutes after a shampoo) every time is really not feasible because of time issue and weather issue. It is not possible to sit with a wet head for that long, even in Hyderabad winters!

Pre-Wash Conditioning

So, I need to find a better way to deal with this issue this time. A pre-wash conditioner or mask which does not need water and does not create mess and also does not need washed hair. There is this Banjara’s hair mask, right? Do you have any other recommendations for me? I would love to get some so go ahead and let me know in the comments below.

Infused Herbal Oil to promote Hair Growth

June 17, 2015 Nayantara Karnik 12 Comments

The other day, I was shopping at Spar and saw some wonderful fresh basil and thyme and picked up a packet each. Unfortunately, when cooking for one, there’s only so much you can use. After making some pasta with basil and avocado sauce, a couple of other dishes and a toner with thyme, I was wondering what to do with the remainder while it was still fresh.

It struck me that I could try making an infused oil with them along with other things I had at home. My goal was something that would stimulate hair growth and combat hair loss. Unfortunately, Bangalore has been mainly cloudy of late, plus I don’t have any sunny window-sills or terraces, so I realized I couldn’t use the usual method of infusing for weeks with the help of the sun. Besides, when using fresh herbs, they need to be dried first or else the oil will develop mold from their moisture content.

Also Read : How to infuse herbs in oil?

I’ve seen many people heating the herbs in a base oil directly in a iron wok or kadhai, but I wasn’t sure about the herbal contents withstanding the heat, as some of them produce volatile extracts. I looked up the kashayam process commonly used in Ayurveda to make herbal oils. But that process involves first boiling the herbs in water and then heating the extract in oil. While this does have its benefits, I decided to shorten the process by directly infusing the herbs in the oil as many people do, but using an oven instead. I have a gas oven at home with reasonably accurate temperature controls, and I checked the lowest temperature setting on mine is around 70-80 deg C, which is not too high for this purpose. Some newer models may have even lower settings than that.

For those concerned that heating oils reduces their efficacy, what you need to be concerned about is the smoke point of the oil used. It is only after an oil has exceeded its smoke point that is begins to break down. For sesame oil, which I used, the smoke point is approximately 232 deg C/ 450 F. If using cold-pressed oils, the smoke points are lower. For those interested, you can easily find sites on the net listing smoke points of various oils.