MABH Hair Growth Challenge Announcement | Nupur

Long brown wavy hair by Led Zeppelin, Hair braider by R. Kelly, Hair by the queen of uncoventionality Lady Gaga, Whip my hair by Willow Smith… all these songs besides being chartbusters share one more common feature. By the very title of these songs, you must’ve guessed what the common fetish is. It’s none other than their penchant for hair!

If you remember any song (Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla, Gujarati, Assamese, Mayalee etc.) which romanticizes the beauty of one’s hair, do share with me through the “comments section”. My personal favourite is “O haseena zulfon wali jaane jahaan” which starred the flamboyant and effervescent (read: oh-so desirable) Shammi Kapoor!

More on my fixation with Shammi Kapoor later. Stop smiling!

Everyone has had childhood crushes. If you had one(or more), let me know below. Let’s see whose childhood crushes overlap!

Short, long, pixie cut, boho-chic style, layers, fringes, bangs, bob cut, you name it and there’s a style for our crowning glory. We, Indians in particular, adore and look at long hair with sheep’s eyes after all a lot of endeavor goes into maintaining long locks. So, today I am going to announce the beginning of my MABH hair growth challenge.

My Hair

My Hair Type

At the cost of sounding pompus, I’d still like to tell you all that all the ladies in my family have been blessed with long and jet black hair. Some had straight (albeit not poker straight) hair. Some had wavy hair. Some had curly hair. In fact, I was presumptuous enough to ask one of my mausis (aunts) with curly hair as to how does she manage to hang “Black Chowmein” from her head. The response was a ‘flying sandal/remote/ stuff toy/ bottle’ aimed towards me. No offence curly haired ladies but curly hair is rare hence, I had a whale of my time teasing her. And by the way, Kanagana Ranaut carries her curly locks with so much aplomb that it leaves us, the straight haired ones coveting for her locks! :)

Sadly, most of the ladies of my house due to their busy schedules, time constraint and most importantly hair rebonding have lost the natural sheen of their hair. I being ‘extra cautious’ since inception never underwent any hair treatment hence, my hair length and texture to a certain degree is the same as it was years ago. My hair is jet black, waist length, normal but prone to dry and split ends. I have been battling dry ends for long.

 

The Tear Jerker: When I neglected my hair

Haven’t you come across movies in which trouble starts brewing in the LaLa land of happy-go-lucky couples when one of the partners relocates to a new city/country? Take ‘Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu’ starring Nani and Samantha for instance wherein Nithya (Samantha’s character relocates to Andhra).

Same was the situation with my hair. I went for a long vacation to one of my relative’s place. Coming from the hot and humid weather of New Delhi, I wasn’t used to the cool and at times, chilly weather of their place. Okay, it’s time to let cat out of the bag. I was in the picturesque and mesmerising locales of Netherlands. While the gorgeous places (and people) of Netherlands soothed my mind, the chilly weather wreaked havoc on my hair. I couldn’t carry my bag of herbal items there and the water was different too. At the end of my long vacation, I was left with some fond memories but nearly dead hair.

Drowned in disappointment and despair, I shuddered with the thought that my hair would meet the same fate as that of my relatives’ tresses. The difference being that they underwent rebonding while I DIDN’T.

One day while browsing through the internet, I came across this wondrous site named MABH and read the hair stories as well as hair challenge taken by the readers of this blog. Now, infused with optimism on reading the stories, I too decided to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix. In the language of a typical Hindi movie buff, pack a punch at the villain when he knocks you down, rebukes your family and takes away the heroine!

Have a look at the current condition of my hair. I know it definitely needs a lot of care and pampering but they’re surely better in appearance than what it looked two months ago (read: like a broom) when I clearly WASN’T DOING ANYTHING to pamper my locks. After coming back, I started again with my natural hair care regimen and with a few ideas borrowed from MABH, my hair’s appearance improved gradually. In particular, I realized that the humble coconut water is immensely helpful in taking care of our tresses (through one of Lancy’s posts) :) I’ve also increased the number of eggs I consume every alternate day thanks to Lancy’s post which specified her hair care regimen.

 

My Diet

‘Whatever goes in you body shows through your skin’. I believe in this thoroughly though I’d like to add one more thing to it. It should be “Whatever goes in your body shows through your skin AND HAIR”.

In order to restore life to my nearly dead (read: dry and heavily falling) hair, I incorporated a few items to my diet.
A typical day of mine included consumption of one sprig of fresh curry leaves (one sprig contained around 8-10 leaves), a glass of Jeera (cumin seeds) water, eggs, kidney beans (Rajma in Hindi) and cucumbers.

Let me elaborate on the advantage of each. Curry leaves are enriched with iron. Eating them REGULARLY gives you shiny and lustrous hair. Also, they help in restoring the natural colour of your hair. Cue? Have a look at the hair of any South Indian lady. Dark, long and shiny would be the words coming to you mind at first. Envious would be your state of mind a minute later. South Indian ladies, take a bow for bringing to our notice this miraculous plant!

Jeera water imparts shine to your hair besides strengthening their roots. Again, this was a remedy that I came across once while gulping down a plate of piping hot Idlis at a restaurant in Allapuzha in Kerala. The waiter “Jyeshttan” asked us if we’d like to have regular water or jeera water which is what provoked us to interrogate him on the benefits of having the latter.

Eggs are enriched with proteins which are the building blocks of gorgeous mane. Thank you North Easterner ladies for letting us know the “well guarded secret” of your luscious mane!

Coming to kidney beans, I’d thank all my Punjabi friends for introducing me to this mouth- watering (and simultaneously hair replenishing) item. Being a Delhiite, I can assert this confidently that if you ever wish to befriend a Delhiite, get him/her a plate of Rajma chawal! You both will be found crooning to the tunes of “Ye dosti hum nahi todenge” by the time s/he finishes the meal!

Finally, cucumbers have a lot of water in them. So, gorging on them would supply more water to your body besides essential nutrients.

 

My Hair Growth Routine

I don’t wash my hair more than once a week since I don’t advocate over doing things just to accelerate the results.
The night before my hair wash, I used to massage my scalp with a warm mixture of sesame oil (til oil) and curry leaves. The massage usually lasts 2-3 minutes. After I am done with oiling, I empty a packet of store bought coconut milk into a bowl, add the juice of an entire lemon into it and keep it in the refrigerator overnight to use it the next day. I tie my hair in a plait to avoid hair breakage and hit the pillow!

In the morning, I pluck some neem leaves from my neighborhood park. I mix it with about 8-10 tbsp of curd/yoghurt and smear it on my hair focusing mainly on my scalp. After 2 hours, I rinse it off with cold water and apply the coconut milk and lemon juice pack to add softness and remove dandruff (if any) from my hair.

Finally two hours later, I wash off the remains of the pack with a little bit of shampoo. I use a mild herbal shampoo. Of course, I am open to any new DIY remedy to improve my hair’s texture. Thus, I’ll be altering my hair care regimen overtime if I find something more promising. If you have any shampoo (mild and SLES, SLS, Paraben free) to recommend, kindly recommend through the comment section.

I hope my mane’s texture improves noticeably if not magically by the usage of Lancy’s wondrous hair potion- The MABH Fast growth hair oil (drum rolls in the backdrop) :)

Why I wish to try the product?: I am obsessed with Lancy’s hair the way SRK was obsessed with Juhi Chawla in Darr! Okay, this may not be a great example but I am really desirous of having hair like hers. There are some very basic reasons why I wish to try the MABH hair oil. They are :-

• It’s homemade.
• It’s been tried, tested and raved by numerous beauty bloggers hence, is credible.
• It’s made by Lancy therefore, I get in contact with her personally to discuss more about it.
• It doesn’t contain parabens, silicones and other noxious chemicals.
• It is delivered to your doorstep. For a lethargic couch-potato like me whose face puckers at the very thought of having to go to the refrigerator to fetch a bottle of chilled water during blistering summers, if such an amazing product gets delivered to one’s doorstep, what more can I ask for?
• Almost all the oils in the market last for a year or more but the MABH product lasts for only six months. Hence, the claim that it is ‘preservative free’ stands true to an extent.
• Almost all the hair oils I’ve tried so far haven’t fetched any noticeable results.

That’s it for now ladies. I hope you enjoyed reading this post. I’ll be back with an update soon. Till then, stay addicted to movies, MABH and smile! :)