There are times when we don’t want to shampoo our hair, but want to get it clean too. Maybe because we don’t want to ruin a fantastic blow dry, or maybe we don’t want to shampoo with hard water. Whatever the reasons, the rising popularity of dry shampoos shows that many of us are reaching out for them often.
However, there’s dry shampoo that is being used since ages! It has no chemicals, its 100% natural and leaves the hair delicately fragranced. Intrigued??? Can you guess what it is from the picture?
It is sandalwood powder!!! Yup, the same, humble sandalwood powder that has various uses from pujas to face packs!
Most Gujarati families have a tradition whereby a pregnant woman is not allowed to shampoo/wash her hair during pregnancy. She can only wash her hair on the day of the “godh bharai” function. But then, something has to be done to keep the hair clean. Besides, during pregnancy, the women oil their hair regularly, so how do they remove all the excess oil? The answer is sandalwood powder.
I was in school when my cousin sis was pregnant and I saw her rubbing some fragrant brown powder in her scalp. That was the first time that I got to know of this tradition of now washing the hair during pregnancy. Two or three times a week, she would oil her hair and then, the next day, she would rub sandalwood powder into her scalp and hair and brush it out.
Not only did the powder absorb all the oil, it cleaned the scalp too, so that there was no dandruff or dirt or itching. And it also gave a nice delicate fragrance to the hair! (imagine how smelly unwashed hair would otherwise get!)
Of course, if you have oil in your hair, you would need to massage the powder for quite some time to get it all out. But if used on dry (un-oiled) hair, it would clean the hair quite soon leaving it smooth and lustrous.
I got married into a Marwari family and they don’t have this ritual so I didn’t have to do this. But I have used sandalwood powder as a dry shampoo a couple of times and it has worked quite nicely for me.
Does your family have this custom of not washing your hair during pregnancy? Do give this dry sandalwood shampoo a try and let me know how it works for you.
I tried using sandalwood powder but it made my hair my oily. I don’t know what am I doing wrong- I just sprinkled some powder or scalp, rubbed it and brushed my hair.
Please suggest what am I doing wrong or suggest any alternate option if you have one?
You’re doing it the right way. The powder does soak up the excess sebum and sweat from the scalp when you rub it and shouldn’t make your hair oily for sure.
I tried using sandalwood powder but it made my hair my oily. I don’t know what am I doing wrong- I just sprinkled some powder or scalp, rubbed it and brushed my hair.
Please suggest what am I doing wrong or suggest any alternate option if you have one?
Hie.. Can u please tell me how to use it? I tried to use wet chandan powder kind of paste.. And thn wipe it off with a wet cloth.. But it is not working. Instead i have got too much dandruff now.. Please help
Hey, you have to use dry chandan powder, sprinkle it on the scalp, massage it thoroughly so that it absorbs the oil and then brush it out.
i have used this powder in my pregnancy as i m belong from gujrati family. this powder gives amazing result and u could not know that i don’t wash my hair for 7 months. my hair look very fresh and also growth.
Was not aware of this ritual, but it sounds (& smells) great ! i would definitely try it, i love the smell of sandalwood.
i would love to try this remedy…which sandalwood do u use?…where do u buy it from?…pleaseee reply !
wow.. this is a great tip 🙂 thank you!
Yup, its a gujju tradition at least for the first pregnancy. Not too sure bout subsequent ones.
Let me know how it works for you.
Thanks Anisha.
Dollie great post. I too have tried this trick out but it never seems to work for me. Instead it always makes my hair look oilier.. I guess this has a lot to do with my scalp being way too oily.
This tip is undoubtedly great and might work for a lot of people.
i never knew sandalwood powder could be used as dry shampoo !! am gonna give it a try….
oh wow, that’s great info. I had no idea that pregnant women were not to wash their hair. I find that very hard to consider. Sandal wood powder these days in the market is so expensive, especially pure sandal wood powder.
my favourite month is November..’coz itz my b’day month..!! :D;)