Celeste asks…What is Amla powder and what does it do for hair?
The Right Brain replies:
Amla, also known as Indian gooseberry, is a fruit from the myrobalan-tree which is native to India and Burma. Like its cousin the North American gooseberry, amla fruit is edible with tart citrusy flavor. Amla is allegedly high in ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and tannins which give it high antioxidant strength. Amla also contains flavonoids, kaempferol, ellagic acid and gallic acid.
Preliminary medical research has shown Amla potentially provides a surprising variety of benefits including antiviral and antimicrobial properties; prevention of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis, activity against some cancers; reduced severity of acute pancreatitis, age-related renal disease, and diabetes; and reduction of blood cholesterol levels. Not bad, eh?
Is Amla good for hair?
It’s popularly believed that amla fruit is good for hair when applied as a conditioner. A quick search reveals claims about nourishing hair and scalp, adding texture and volume to hair, and preventing premature grey hair. Does amla really deliver against any of these claims?
“Nourishing” claims are fairly ambiguous and are therefore easy to support. Any material that provides a conditioning effect can be said to be nourishing, so it’s likely that amla does have some benefit in this regard. Texturizing may be one area where amla really delivers, provided it’s left in your hair. There are a number of anecdotal stories of these benefits – read more about the experiences of those who’ve tried amla oil for hair.
The grey hair claims may come from the fact that amla is used in inks and fabric dyes to help “fix” the dye in place. Unfortunately, hair dyes work by a different chemistry than fabric dyes and we can find no reference to in the cosmetic science literature to indicate that amla has any effect on hair color what so ever.
Interesting bonus fact: In Punjabi, amla is called olay, as in “Oil of Olay” beauty products from Proctor and Gamble. Is this coincidence, or sinister design?
What about Amla Oil?
While Celeste didn’t specifically ask about it, amla fruit is also available in oil form. We would be very cautious about purchasing this version because in several of the products we reviewed the so called “amla oil” was really just amla extract diluted down in mineral and canola oil. You’re better off with the concentrated powder.
The Beauty Brains bottom line
While some of the claims are outlandish, you may perceive some basic conditioning and texturizing benefits from applying amla powder to your hair. We’d expect this to be true of leave in applications and wouldn’t expect to see any difference when it’s rinsed out.
Click here to buy Amla powder
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_gooseberry
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi, I use amla almost biweekly in my home made shampoo consisting of shikakai, amla & reetha. This is a family recipie handed down over the years – my grandma used to make this & lots of Indian women still use this decocotion to cleanse their hair. I have been using this for the last 6-8 months & it cleanses hair better than a lot of commercial shampoos. I use Amla in whole form – the dried fruit itself as it is easily available in India (not the powder) & it has darkened my hair with regular use. In fact the decoction tends to stain my hands when used as a shampoo (but it comes off with soap). My grandma used to make this decocotion of amla soaked overnight in an iron vessel. Apparently the reaction of amla with Iron results in a dye which darkens the hair. This is a branch of Ayurveda – a lot of these natural remedies are very effective but are yet to be verified by the current scientific methods. Like I mentioned before, I do use the whole dried fruit & not powders or oil sold in the market as these are prone to dilution like you mentioned – which results in little to no benefit for hair. I hope this helps
I have never heard of amla powder before… wow… Nature certainly has everything that one needs to improve our well being. Where can you usually get amla powder?
If it’s in powder form, I can see why it would help in texturizing the hair. It would probably work in similar ways to Osis dust it, or one of the many dry shampoos available. However if there is an emollient component to the powder, maybe it takes a little bit of rubbing in and time to release it?
I’m gonna look for more details….
It seems like a great solution for oily fine hair, in that it could be used as a texturizing product and an oil absorber, that might have some actual conditioning benefit to the hair.
Goes to show you that not every kind of natural oil is good for your hair.
Amla used together with henna has color changing (or henna prohibiting?) qualities as it can make hennaed hair brown instead of red or orange. This is a fact.
Amla used as a “dust” product would be very different from using it as a deep treatment, mixed with water.
I didn’t use this shampoo before,maye it’s good,but here can’t buy.
About the hair darkening thing mentioned–I wonder if the cast iron has to be seasoned in a particular oil to work…..?
I know a lot of those old remedies are VERY specific about certain conditions.
{ 1 trackback }