Oil Your Head Regularly
Modern scientific research shows that microchannels from hair follicles lead down through the capillaries under the scalp and into the coverings of the brain. Ayurveda uses oils via head massage to deliver medicines for psychiatric and neurological conditions.
Therapy for Good Sleep – Oil Your Head Regularly
Because hair is related embryologically to the bones and health of the asthi-dhatu, hair is oiled and nourished to keep the bones healthy. It is not treated as waste or an outgrowth, like a hangnail or mucous secretion. Hair provides protection from the sun, warmth to the body, protection from flying particles and mild cushioning from anything that might come near the head.
Āyurveda advises most people to invest an hour each week in oiling the head with therapeutic oils. Modern scientific research shows that microchannels from hair follicles lead down through the capillaries under the scalp and into the coverings of the brain, called the meninges. Especially if they are oily, they penetrate into the deeper layers of the brain. Therefore, it makes sense that herbs boiled in oils make their way into the brain. Ayurveda has used these oils for thousands of years to successfully deliver medicines for psychiatric and neurological conditions.
Āyurveda mentions many diseases for which oiling the head is useful, including insomnia, headaches, and mental rage. It also mentions a few conditions in which oiling of the head is not recommended. It should be avoided when someone is suffering from severe imbalances in kapha, in which mucous and the qualities of oil are disturbed in the body. This includes severe and phlegmy head colds, infections, sinusitis and inflammatory problems in the head and neck, severe lung problems, extremely oily skin, lipid disorders, obesity, initial stages of fever and indigestion. People just completing panchakarma purifications and purges also should not oil the head. The logic behind these prohibitions is that oil, which is kapha in nature, is converted to unhealthy kapha and adds to that already present in the body, furthering the condition.
The concept of shampoo derives from the Sanskrit root capayati, which means to press and knead with the intention of soothing. A similar word chāmpo in Hindi is the imperative of chāmpnā, to smear, knead the muscles of the body and oil massage the head and hair. Europeans who travelled as traders to India partook in the rituals of the bath, getting their hair oiled and cleansed with herbal mixtures, rather than perfuming their heads and covering them with wigs.
Cleansing of the hair became a new craze when the practice was introduced to Europe by Bengali barber–surgeon Din Muhammad and his Irish wife Jane Daly, who opened a bathhouse in the 1700s in Brighton, England. Adapting the necessary components, they created shampoo, which is basically a soapy, slippery fat combined with another fat to make a viscous liquid that can be moved around the scalp unlike a bar of soap. Salt is often added to thicken the slippery nature. Fragrance, colour and preservatives are added to modern versions of shampoo.
Herbs commonly used to rinse out oil on the head were green gram powder, powder of the amalaki fruit (Emblica officinalis), shikakai (Acacia concinna) or hibiscus flowers. These leave hair soft, shiny and manageable. To spread the powder into thick hair, the fruit pulp of plants containing saponins, natural surfactants, were added. Soapberries, soap nuts that created lather called phenaka or extract of boiled sapindus—a tropical pan-Indian tree also called ksuna—was added to herbal cleansing powders and applied to the oily head. The ancients also added a plethora of herbs in combinations specifically to either lower unharmonious vāta, raise agni, improve the quality of digestive fire, transform pitta or lower sticky kapha, utilizing access to a rich blood supply through the scalp.
Facial hair is also discussed in Ayurveda. Men who shaved in the 1960s know the difference between shaving powder, foam, gel and cream due to the advent of television and all the products that suddenly arose. They also know what a shaving brush is. With the advent of electric razors and safety razors and huge marketing for self-care shaving products, alongside television ads that made people forget the wisdom and inventions of previous generations of shavers, many younger men do not know the multitude of options available decades earlier because their choices are limited to foam and razor.
Copper razors date back to 3000 BCE, and a variety of sharp tools, scissors and trimmers have evolved to meet the religious, cultural and military needs of those who shave. Natural products were gathered to assist in the process of getting the skin and hair ready for the blade and were the norm until 40 years ago. Warm water was used to soften the skin around the follicles and the hair for several minutes, and often a soapy or lubricating agent was applied. After the shave, alum, a crystal of potassium, aluminum and sulfate could be applied to stop any bleeding or irritation. An astringent such as aloe would soothe the skin and stop cuts or bleeding. Moisturizing oil or fat would be applied to smooth any irritated skin.
Called kshaur-karma, the cutting of hair, shaving and clipping of nails was recommended to be done weekly to increase purity and lessen the effects of age. Shaving was considered part of the cleansing routine and a beautification exercise, but also deeply connected with the mind and soul. Suśruta—the father of ancient surgery, embryology and one of the ancient articulate wise men—who wrote about the structure and function of the human body as its physiology in Varanasi around 1000 BCE, advised that shaving daily alleviates the evil tendencies of mind, reduces tension and heaviness, and induces a cheerful disposition. He espoused that beard shaving daily energized a man. If a beard was maintained, it required shaping and trimming. Even at that time, it was advised that brushes and razors for cutting hair and nails be kept clean and not shared. Visiting cosmetic shops was not advised, as it increased the chance of impurity in public spaces.
week 59. TheSouthAsianTimes
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Dr. Bhaswati Bhattacharya is a Fulbright Specialist 2018‐2023 in Public Health. She serves as Clinical Asst Professor of Family Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, NY.
Her bestselling book Everyday Ayurveda is published by Penguin Random House. To order an autographed copy, write to bhaswati@post.harvard.edu.