THE CHAMPI CHALLENGE

I am not making false claims. But go back to using hair oil and within one week you will love your hair. All you have to do is trust me. I can bet you won’t regret.

It’s great that we have started giving due respect to natural oils. The numerous face oils that are now in the market reveal the trend. However, I wonder how many people have gone back to using hair oil? Do let me know if you have.

In our Indian tradition applying hair oil with a thorough massage, was an intrinsic part of personal care. And then conditioners happened. Oil was suddenly passé. In fact, brands and experts claimed that hair oil that we had been using for generations was actually bad for your hair health! This negative propaganda took hair oil completely out of our beauty regime and the soul-comforting champi – the Indian-style head massage – was replaced by the uber-cool hair spa.

I don’t have anything against conditioners and hair spas but I don’t believe that hair oil or the practice of head massage is detrimental for hair health. The trick is to do it the right way. Of course, it’s true that if you don’t wash your hair properly after an oil massage, it is going to leave your hair greasy, limp and prone to attracting dust. This in turn will lead to other scalp issues. However, if you shampoo correctly, this will not happen – simple. One may argue that to cut out the grease a lot more shampoo is required and it dries out the strands. If that’s what is happening, then again you are not washing your hair correctly.

My request is, just for a month try going back to your roots. Here’s what I suggest:

– Massage your scalp with natural oils like coconut, almond, olive or sesame. When I say massage, I mean massage. So gently knead your scalp with your finger pads for about 2-3 minutes. Then slowly spread the oil through the strands. A tea spoon of oil is good enough for medium length hair.

– Keep it for 15 minutes. You don’t need to have the oil on overnight or for hours. Just 15 minutes is good enough to condition the roots and strands.

– Rinse your hair and scalp with water. While soaking the hair, keep massaging the scalp. This process itself will help take out most of the excess oil.

– Once your hair is completely wet, dissolve about a teaspoon of shampoo in a mug of water and pour it over your head. First, clean the scalp and then move to the strands. Keep using water to work up the lather.

– No need to “scrub” the scalp, just gently massage as you wash.

– Rub your fingers on your scalp to check for any oil residue. Take strands between your fingers and rub, if you get a squeaky sound, it’s an indicator that your hair is washed through.

– Towel dry it and take just one drop of any light oil like almond oil or maybe your face oil and run it through your strands the way you would your leave-in serum.

– Dry your hair with a blow drier.

You may want to try out Jhelum Loves hair care range but that’s your choice. You will get results even if you don’t, however, if you wish to try out my blends then first use Mane Tamer Hair Oil, wash off with Headstart Shampoo, de-tangle with Strand-Aid Hair Mist and finish off with either a drop of Mane Tamer or my magic potion, Elixir. Use Strand-Aid every day. This regimen will help you increase the gap between your two hair washes.

Do this thrice a week. And let me know.