Back To The Roots

The green revolution has turned the wheels of fortune in favour of India’s long-standing tradition of massaging the scalp with herb-enriched oils. Aparrna Gupta traces its triumphant comeback.

- Aparrna Gupta

Picture this: an intricately carved bathtub is filled with herbal water painstakingly infused by boiling barks of over a dozen trees. On one end are three intricately carved silver bowls, each containing a different oil: for face, body and hair. After a dip in this bath, hair is dried with a muslin towel and spread over a basket suspended over burning, herb-scented coals. The resultant smoke dries the strands gently and leaves them mildly fragrant.

A treatment fit for any luxury spa today, this is how South Indian princesses used to look after their long, black lustrous tresses. To oil or not to oil is a choice we as Indian women face today. For royalty, long, black hair oiled and combed was a ritual; for our humble ancestors, applying oil on hair was a habit.

To quote an ancient text, the Charak Samhita, ‘one who applies oil on his head regularly does not suffer from headache, baldness, graying of hair. Nor does his hair fall. Strength of his head, forehead is specially enhanced; his hair become black, long and deep-rooted.’ Thus, oiling is encouraged as the primary haircare regimen in Ayurveda.