Here are some hair care home remedies that you can use to take care of the health of your hair, and give you beautiful shining, thick, glowing hair. The ingredients for most of these home remedies can be got from Indian grocery shops.
Use a homemade shampoo rather than the chemical commercial brands. Otherwise look for a very mild herbal-based shampoo. There are quite a few ingredients that can be mixed and used as shampoo. Here's one. Boil some amla and shikakai to make a solution. You can mix the solution with lime juice, and use this as your regular shampoo. Shikakai cleanses the hair while the lime juice removes residual substances, and gives a very cleansing effect.
To keep your hair healthy and glossy, use heat treatment. However if your hair is oily, omit this, otherwise you are going to get very oily hair. For the heat treatment, you can use oils such as coconut, almond or castor oil. You can also use mayonnaise. This has oil plus eggs. Take your pick. Apply the oil or mayonnaise well into your hair and scalp. Wrap with a heated towel. Every time the towel cools, replace with hot towels. Alternatively you can cover your oiled or "mayonnaised" hair with a plastic wrap or a shower cap. This creates a mini-sauna, and your hair receives the heat treatment. When the hair is warm, it's easier for the oil or mayonnaise to penetrate the hair shaft. Wash off with a homemade shampoo that is good for oily hair. See below.
To remove excess oil, use a home made shampoo that is made of green gram flour. Mix it with lemon juice and some water to make it a paste. Give your hair and scalp a good massage with it. Green gram will remove excess oil from the hair and scalp. Use more if you find your hair is still oily. Wash it off with lots and lots of water.
To remove any residue build-up up, always do a final rinse with either the juice of one lemon or with a cup of white vinegar. Lemon is better because lemon smells good unlike vinegar; otherwise they are equally effective because of their astringent qualities. You can add a little water, and then massage the solution into your scalp and hair, and leave for a while.
Sage, amla and curry leaves are great, especially for the prevention of gray hair. Sage can be boiled in water, and the solution can be used. Meanwhile both amla in small pieces or curry leaves can be added in coconut oil and boiled till the amla pieces or the curry leaves become burnt to cinders. The final black oil can be applied to hair to prevent hair from becoming gray.
These external hair care remedies are not enough. You've to take fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and whole grains to increase the nutrition that reaches the hair follicles. Take dried apricots, carrots and leafy green vegetables in ample quantities, for Vitamin A. But the more important Vitamin for hair care, that is Vitamin B, is found in oats, brown rice, soya beans and black strap molasses. Minerals that are important for hair is zinc which is found in most nuts like cashews and almonds, as well as in whole grains. To get a supply of iodine, replace normal salt with iodized salt. Copper is found in most nuts and seeds like sunflower seeds.
Finally the importance of water cannot be emphasized. Take your daily dose of eight glasses and you will not only have beautiful, healthy, glossy hair but also a healthy and beautiful skin as well.
