Eight whole botanicals, cooked slowly into cold-pressed oil rather than extracted and blended in afterwards. A day at the pan for every batch, and nothing in the bottle that didn't grow.
120 ml · eight botanicals · no mineral oil, no fragrance, no silicone, no synthetics
The method
Most hair oil is a botanical extract stirred into a carrier. Ours is made the way Ayurvedic taila has been made for a very long time — whole herbs cooked into the oil itself until it has taken on what the plants had to give. The particulars are ours. What we can tell you is what we refuse to rush.
The botanicals go in whole and fresh. Nothing is dried, powdered or reconstituted — which is also why we can only make as much as we can source in a given week.
The herbs are cooked into the oil rather than steeped in it or dosed in afterwards as an extract. It is the slowest way to do this, and the only one that puts the oil-soluble part of the plant into the bottle instead of a flavouring of it.
Some of what's in here would be undone by a flame. Those go in later and cold, once the oil has come back down. Knowing which, and when, is most of the craft.
Every batch takes a day at the pan and a night to settle before it is strained by hand through cloth. There is no version of this that takes an afternoon, and we have stopped looking for one.
No timer helps here, and no thermometer either. Someone stands at the pan and decides when it is done — and that judgement is the part we can't write down.
What's in it
All eight are plants. No mineral oil, no added fragrance, no silicone, no synthetic preservative and no lab-made actives — there is nothing in this bottle that didn't grow.
Phyllanthus emblica
Indian gooseberry. High in vitamin C and polyphenols, and the backbone of hair oiling on the subcontinent for centuries.
Eclipta alba
Called kesharaja — king of hair — in Ayurvedic texts. The ingredient by which any Indian hair oil is judged.
Azadirachta indica
The bitter one, used on scalps across the subcontinent for centuries. It is the reason this smells like a kitchen rather than a laboratory.
Trigonella foenum-graecum
Fenugreek, for its mucilage — the slippery plant gel that leaves hair easier to comb and softer to the touch.
Aloe barbadensis
Cut fresh, never from concentrate. Cooling on the scalp, and long used to settle it.
Rosmarinus officinalis
Fresh leaves, for their carnosic acid. Kept deliberately low — heavy essential-oil loads irritate scalps rather than settle them.
Murraya koenigii · Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
Both fresh. Between them they carry the beta-carotene and amino acids, and they leave a soft sheen rather than a slick.
Cocos nucifera · Ricinus communis
The base, both cold-pressed. Coconut for lightness, castor for weight and slip. Nothing else.
The ritual
This is champi — the way it has been done for a long time. Sunday evening, an hour before a wash, or overnight if you don't mind the pillowcase.
Stand the bottle in a mug of hot water for a minute, or warm a little between your palms. Warm oil spreads further and feels considerably better going on.
Work it into the scalp in sections with your fingertips, not your nails. Four or five minutes. The massage is not the optional part of this.
An hour at minimum, overnight if you like. Shampoo twice. Once or twice a week is the entire routine — more often is not better.
Plainly
This category runs on promises nobody can keep. We would rather draw the line ourselves and let you decide where you stand on it.
Ordering
Every batch is cooked by hand to order, so there's no cart. Tell us what you'd like and we reply the same day with what's in the current batch and how to pay. Local pickup around the Bay Area, or we ship anywhere in the US.
Roughly 24 applications · about 4 months
Roughly 6 applications · travel and gifting
Shipping is $6 flat, free on two bottles or more. If the first bottle isn't for you, tell us within 60 days and we'll refund it — keep the bottle.
Thank you — we'll reply within a day with what's in the current batch and how to pay. Check your spam folder if you don't hear back.
