A Traditional Remedy For Grey Hair
Ridge gourd, also known as sponge gourd, is called “torai” in Hindi. This vegetable has incredible properties to reverse gray hair. Ridge gourd oil is traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine to treat gray hair from the roots. This is a time-tested and traditional remedy for gray hair, gray beard, and gray mustache. However, preparing ridge gourd oil is a long process that requires your time and patience. The whole process takes around five days, but it’s worth trying it out. Let’s get straight to the demo on how to make ridge gourd oil.
Ingredients and Preparation
Ingredients:
- 1 small or medium-sized fresh ridge gourd
- Coconut oil
- Few cloves
Instructions:
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Preparation of Ridge Gourd:
- Take one small or medium-sized fresh ridge gourd. You can find fresh ridge gourd in Indian or Asian stores.
- Dab it with a dry cloth or paper towel to remove dirt and moisture.
- Cut it into small pieces. You might need two cups of pieces or more based on your usage. I have got around two cups of the cut pieces.
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Drying the Pieces:
- Place the cut pieces on a ceramic or steel plate and let them dry.
- Do not dry them outside directly under the sun, as that may cause loss of nutrients. It is better to dry them in the shade or close to a window.
- I am drying them inside the home but beside a glass door so that they get a little sunlight to dry.
- After one day, the pieces will look partially dried.
- After three days, the pieces are almost dried out.
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Soaking in Coconut Oil:
- Take these dried pieces into a glass jar with few cloves, and add coconut oil enough to soak all these pieces.
- You should soak them with coconut oil for at least two days.
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Boiling the Mixture:
- After two days of soaking, take these contents into a steel bowl.
- Slowly boil the pieces along with the oil on a low flame. Stir these contents occasionally.
- Notice that the oil starts turning brown and the ridge gourd pieces start turning dark brown or black in color.
- After boiling for 15 minutes, you will notice that the pieces have gone black in color and the oil starts emitting a lot of smoke.
- Keep boiling under low flame for another 5 minutes.
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Cooling and Straining:
- After 20 minutes of boiling, turn off the flame and let the oil cool down completely.
- You can see that the ridge gourd pieces have gone fully dark and the oil has also turned dark.
- Strain the oil and store just the oil in a clean glass jar. Place it in a dark room away from sunlight.
Usage
Massage your scalp with this oil at least twice a week. It gives you a slight dye-like effect, but using it regularly restores the melanin pigment within the hair follicles. This is one of the most effective and time-tested remedies for gray hair.
Benefits
Ridge gourd contains the catalase enzyme, which breaks down hydrogen peroxide responsible for gray hair. Besides that, it also contains enzymes to restore the melanin pigment in the hair follicles. When the melanin pigment starts increasing in the hair follicles, the hair slowly starts converting from gray to your natural color from the roots.
Making this oil may take a little time, but it’s definitely worth trying and using this oil.