I though this might be a good supplement to the post about Asian hair started by honey jammz82. I hope you find this information helpful.
One of the most striking features of tropical Asian women's beauty is their sleek and shiny hair. Historically their locks have been so lustrous precisely because of the lack of detergents available to them and their consequent reliance on nature's yield. Today, shampoo taken over from coconut oil for washing, but hair remains a major focus of beauty ritual and all manner of produce; flowers,oils, plants are regularly applied to keep it glossy. Added to this, the traditional Asian diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and oily fish is perfect for hair nourishment.
Creme Bath Hair Treatment
The creme bath is synonymous with hair salons everywhere in Asia where hair is a major focus of beauty ritual. It is one of the most popular methods of maintaining the sleek and shiny texture for which Asian women are renowned.
Although often referred to as a 'traditional' head treatment, the creme bath is based on a manufactured product, namely a rich conditioning cream, whose thick glutinous consistency thoroughly coats the hair like icing. After steaming, it is washed off to leave hair superlatively soft and shiny.
Natural ingredients are often added to the creme bath product to treat specific hair conditions.
The therapists run their creme-coated fingers through section after section of hair leaving your head feeling cool, clammy, heavy and 'gooey'. Then lie back to the touch of rhythmic finger movements that massage the scalp and gradually move down the neck and shoulders. While you drift off into limbo, the creme is stimulating the scalp and the hair follicles and softening and strengthening the strands of hair.
Natural Creme Bath Addtives
Carrot: for hair growth
Henna: for nourishing dry or permed hair
Avocado: for feeding dry hair
Ginseng: for strengthening the hair roots
Celery: for increasing hair elasticity
Aloe vera: for a general hair food
Candlenut: for promoting glossy, dark hair
Seaweed: for stimulating hair growth
Egg: for healing dry hair and split ends.
Aromatherapy Scalp treatment
Ingredients : 10 mls (1 tbsp)hot macadamia oil, 5 mis (1/2 tsp) essential oil of your choice, 3 tbsp manufactured crème bath
Steps : Warm the macadamia oil in an aromatherapy oil burner with your choice of essential oils which are the active ingredients of this treatment (see below).The ratio between base and essential oils should be 2:1. Macadamia oil is used because, unlike the traditional coconut oil, it does not have an aroma that interferes with the scent of the essential oils.The oil is heated so that it penetrates the hair more easily. With your fingers, part the hair. Using a face mask applicator brush, smear the warm oil along the scalp line at one-inch intervals massaging with your finger tips as you go. When your scalp is fairly well covered with oil apply the creme bath from the roots to the ends of your hair and massage your scalp with finger tip pressure. Snap sections of your scalp between fingers and thumb for added stimulation. For best results, cover your head with a loose, clear shower cap and steam for 10-20 minutes, or leave for 20 minutes Shampoo several times to remove all traces of oil.
Best essential oils for the hair as recommended by the Spa at Bali Hyatt:
Dry hair: geranium, sandalwood, palmarosa, lavender
Damaged hair: geranium, lavender, sandalwood, frankincense
Blond hair: geranium, lemon, camomile
Grey hair: camomile, sage, lavender, rose
Hair loss: juniper, rosemary, lavender
Dandruff/excema: eucalyptus, rosemary, cedarwood,tea tree
Hibiscus Hair Shampoo
The leaves from the prolific hibiscus bush (tuaru) were commonly used for hair washing; in Indonesia before the advent of manufactured shampoo. When mashed these leaves excrete a sticky gel, similar to aloe vera.
Ingredients : large handful: hibiscus leaves to cover: water
Steps :Crush the leaves loosely in your hand and barely cover them with water. Boil for 20 minutes. Strain. The remaining liquid has a sticky, gel-like consistency which forms a lather when massaged Into the head. Rinse.
Coconut Milk
Young girls say their grandmothers still wash their hair with coconut milk. They use thick milk for washing and massaging lighter milk from a younger coconut for conditioning and rinsing.
Candlenuts
Loosely grind a handful of rich candlenuts (kemiri nuts) until their oil starts to seep out. Pan fry them briefly. As they turn brown and their nutty aroma is released, smash them again. Massage the nut and the oil into the scalp and leave for 13 minutes. Myth has it that your hair will resist turning grey. Candlenuts also leave your hair super-shiny.
Merang Hair Treatment
Another great example where beauty thrives offnatures cast-offs is redundant rice crops (merang) which keep grey hair at bay. The merang head treatment has been practiced throughout tropical Asia for centuries.
Ingredients : one handful: merang - burnt rice paddy stalks one small bowl: water.
Steps : Soak the burnt rice stalks in the water overnight so that the ash comes loose and dissolves. Strain several times and keep the water. Pour thisinky liquid onto the head and rub into the scalp. Watch it foam like shampoo. The liquid has cleansing properties and acts as tonic. Your head will feel tingly and our hair soft and-clean. Any grey hairs will be dyed a darker shade. Although you do not need to have black hair for this treatment, blondes should not experiment! Locals claim that this treatment is most effective when regularly applied.
Hair Remedies
For Dry Hair
Massage the creamy insides of an avocado into clean dry hair and leave for 15-20 minutes. Massage coconut oil into your hair and leave for a few hours.Wash several times before your hair feels silky rather than oily.
For Lackluster Hair
Massage two large, grated carrots into damp or dry hair.Trap with a bath hat and leave for 15-20 min. Squeeze half a lemon into 200 mis (1 cup) of water and use the mixture as a final rinse after shampooing.
For Thinning Hair
Whisk two eggs and massage them into your hair. Wash off after ten minutes to enhance hair growth. Put several sticks of celery through a juicer and massage the juice into your scalp. Leave for 15 minute before washing.
For Thicker Hair
Aloe vera plants, known in Indonesia as 'alligator's tongue' because of their spiky appearance, grow wild throughout tropical Asia. Their thick spiny leaves contain a cooling sap, which is an elixir for heavy heads. More precisely this extract contains a natural tannin with an anti-inflammatory effect, and saponin.a natural emulsifler. Break open an aloe vera leaf with a knife to reveal a sticky juice. Massage the juice into the scalp and leave it for 15 minutes. Wash off. Feel your scalp cool down and tingle.The aloe's active ingredients stimulate the follicles for a thick and fuller head of hair.
For Dandruff
Mix a large handful of crushed mint leaves into your conditioner and leave on the hair for 15-20 minute.
Information from "Asian Health and Beauty Secrets-Hair Story", www.99bali.com
One of the most striking features of tropical Asian women's beauty is their sleek and shiny hair. Historically their locks have been so lustrous precisely because of the lack of detergents available to them and their consequent reliance on nature's yield. Today, shampoo taken over from coconut oil for washing, but hair remains a major focus of beauty ritual and all manner of produce; flowers,oils, plants are regularly applied to keep it glossy. Added to this, the traditional Asian diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and oily fish is perfect for hair nourishment.
Creme Bath Hair Treatment
The creme bath is synonymous with hair salons everywhere in Asia where hair is a major focus of beauty ritual. It is one of the most popular methods of maintaining the sleek and shiny texture for which Asian women are renowned.
Although often referred to as a 'traditional' head treatment, the creme bath is based on a manufactured product, namely a rich conditioning cream, whose thick glutinous consistency thoroughly coats the hair like icing. After steaming, it is washed off to leave hair superlatively soft and shiny.
Natural ingredients are often added to the creme bath product to treat specific hair conditions.
The therapists run their creme-coated fingers through section after section of hair leaving your head feeling cool, clammy, heavy and 'gooey'. Then lie back to the touch of rhythmic finger movements that massage the scalp and gradually move down the neck and shoulders. While you drift off into limbo, the creme is stimulating the scalp and the hair follicles and softening and strengthening the strands of hair.
Natural Creme Bath Addtives
Carrot: for hair growth
Henna: for nourishing dry or permed hair
Avocado: for feeding dry hair
Ginseng: for strengthening the hair roots
Celery: for increasing hair elasticity
Aloe vera: for a general hair food
Candlenut: for promoting glossy, dark hair
Seaweed: for stimulating hair growth
Egg: for healing dry hair and split ends.
Aromatherapy Scalp treatment
Ingredients : 10 mls (1 tbsp)hot macadamia oil, 5 mis (1/2 tsp) essential oil of your choice, 3 tbsp manufactured crème bath
Steps : Warm the macadamia oil in an aromatherapy oil burner with your choice of essential oils which are the active ingredients of this treatment (see below).The ratio between base and essential oils should be 2:1. Macadamia oil is used because, unlike the traditional coconut oil, it does not have an aroma that interferes with the scent of the essential oils.The oil is heated so that it penetrates the hair more easily. With your fingers, part the hair. Using a face mask applicator brush, smear the warm oil along the scalp line at one-inch intervals massaging with your finger tips as you go. When your scalp is fairly well covered with oil apply the creme bath from the roots to the ends of your hair and massage your scalp with finger tip pressure. Snap sections of your scalp between fingers and thumb for added stimulation. For best results, cover your head with a loose, clear shower cap and steam for 10-20 minutes, or leave for 20 minutes Shampoo several times to remove all traces of oil.
Best essential oils for the hair as recommended by the Spa at Bali Hyatt:
Dry hair: geranium, sandalwood, palmarosa, lavender
Damaged hair: geranium, lavender, sandalwood, frankincense
Blond hair: geranium, lemon, camomile
Grey hair: camomile, sage, lavender, rose
Hair loss: juniper, rosemary, lavender
Dandruff/excema: eucalyptus, rosemary, cedarwood,tea tree
Hibiscus Hair Shampoo
The leaves from the prolific hibiscus bush (tuaru) were commonly used for hair washing; in Indonesia before the advent of manufactured shampoo. When mashed these leaves excrete a sticky gel, similar to aloe vera.
Ingredients : large handful: hibiscus leaves to cover: water
Steps :Crush the leaves loosely in your hand and barely cover them with water. Boil for 20 minutes. Strain. The remaining liquid has a sticky, gel-like consistency which forms a lather when massaged Into the head. Rinse.
Coconut Milk
Young girls say their grandmothers still wash their hair with coconut milk. They use thick milk for washing and massaging lighter milk from a younger coconut for conditioning and rinsing.
Candlenuts
Loosely grind a handful of rich candlenuts (kemiri nuts) until their oil starts to seep out. Pan fry them briefly. As they turn brown and their nutty aroma is released, smash them again. Massage the nut and the oil into the scalp and leave for 13 minutes. Myth has it that your hair will resist turning grey. Candlenuts also leave your hair super-shiny.
Merang Hair Treatment
Another great example where beauty thrives offnatures cast-offs is redundant rice crops (merang) which keep grey hair at bay. The merang head treatment has been practiced throughout tropical Asia for centuries.
Ingredients : one handful: merang - burnt rice paddy stalks one small bowl: water.
Steps : Soak the burnt rice stalks in the water overnight so that the ash comes loose and dissolves. Strain several times and keep the water. Pour thisinky liquid onto the head and rub into the scalp. Watch it foam like shampoo. The liquid has cleansing properties and acts as tonic. Your head will feel tingly and our hair soft and-clean. Any grey hairs will be dyed a darker shade. Although you do not need to have black hair for this treatment, blondes should not experiment! Locals claim that this treatment is most effective when regularly applied.
Hair Remedies
For Dry Hair
Massage the creamy insides of an avocado into clean dry hair and leave for 15-20 minutes. Massage coconut oil into your hair and leave for a few hours.Wash several times before your hair feels silky rather than oily.
For Lackluster Hair
Massage two large, grated carrots into damp or dry hair.Trap with a bath hat and leave for 15-20 min. Squeeze half a lemon into 200 mis (1 cup) of water and use the mixture as a final rinse after shampooing.
For Thinning Hair
Whisk two eggs and massage them into your hair. Wash off after ten minutes to enhance hair growth. Put several sticks of celery through a juicer and massage the juice into your scalp. Leave for 15 minute before washing.
For Thicker Hair
Aloe vera plants, known in Indonesia as 'alligator's tongue' because of their spiky appearance, grow wild throughout tropical Asia. Their thick spiny leaves contain a cooling sap, which is an elixir for heavy heads. More precisely this extract contains a natural tannin with an anti-inflammatory effect, and saponin.a natural emulsifler. Break open an aloe vera leaf with a knife to reveal a sticky juice. Massage the juice into the scalp and leave it for 15 minutes. Wash off. Feel your scalp cool down and tingle.The aloe's active ingredients stimulate the follicles for a thick and fuller head of hair.
For Dandruff
Mix a large handful of crushed mint leaves into your conditioner and leave on the hair for 15-20 minute.
Information from "Asian Health and Beauty Secrets-Hair Story", www.99bali.com