Could this be the solution to hard water problems? HELP ME EXPERIMENT :3
Dread Maintenance
i will def try out alma when my dreads mature 
thanks for the advice! and yes im curious to figure out what natural ingredient people use to make soap work in hard water...im going to ask around and see if it's something that must go through the soap making process or if i can just dump it into the salad bowl im using for my rinses :3
Angel Frye said:
I don't know if it softens water but I can tell you definitively that using amla 'shampoo'(sludge/tea made from the raw dried powdered fruit) really gave my hard water something to think about today!!I I was pretty amazed and didn't expect this. I didn't have that 'eeuw' feeling when squeezing the water out of my hair at the end like I normally do with BS/ACV. You know that kinda icky/tacky feeling the buildup leaves on your hair? That.
I got adventurous today with my amla supply. I normally made face scrubs with the stuff to sell in my shop but ran out of a lot of the other pricier ingredients so I had to drop the product line. So today I thought I'd try it out as a shampoo tea because I'd heard and read of people having such wonderful results with it. And yep, after today's experiment I have to say that I'm truly impressed. It didn't strip my hair down to feeling like straw like a clarifying shampoo would but it lessened the hard water effect by at least half. Softened my hair about 20% so I wouldn't advise newbies do it but what the hell, I felt like experimenting. If you have mature dreads I say go for it!!! Amla rocks! Your scalp will thank you for it.
As I poured it on and gently scrubbed my scalp with my fingertips I could feel my baby dreads drawing up toward my scalp in a sort of astringent type reaction. But when rinsed the sensation disappeared. All I know is that my scalp doesn't feel like I have a whole lot of buildup on it any more and I still have some decent tangles to show for it.
Here's the recipe I used if you would like to try it:
- 1.5 cups water, simmering hot(not boiling). Let cool for five minutes.
- Gently add in and stir 1 tablespoon of dried amla powder.
- Let sit for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Pour 100% of the tea into a squirt bottle(pointy tipped like for hair dye).
- Use as a shampoo, leave on for 1-2 minutes, rinse well.
- Done!
Don't even have to use ACV afterward.
Some notes about things I noticed: at first it seems like you'll be dumping a mud-like sludge on your head. You won't. About half of the powder dissolves and you're left with a nice watery shampoo. The other half of the herb is so super fine grained that it rinses clean out of your hair. But if you're terrified of getting any stuck in your dreads then use a piece of cotton cloth as a tea bag and let it brew like that, then you'll be able to discard the bulk of the herb afterwards. I didn't have any problems with any staying in my hair but I'm just saying that brewing it in cloth is an option.
Amla has been used for centuries in Asia as a main shampoo ingredient. Now I see why. I don't believe all the hype of what amla can do but I think that some is true. I'm glad we're researching this berry for homeopathic healing here in the West.
Amla softens a tiny bit so not so much that it'd be detrimental to mature dreads. But I'd still only use it once a month or so for a 'treat'.
Saraz, this is a great thread. If we can at least identify some ingredients which counter the hard water then maybe we can be a bit happier dealing with that icky feeling if we know that there are some safe solutions out there we can use 2 or 3 times a month. And I don't know the chemistry of why amla softened my hard water but I'd swear that it does
Even with my babies I'm seriously considering using Suave Daily Clarifying once a month and then amla tea once a month; the rest of the time doing BS/ACV. At least I'll be able to cut down on the ick factor a bit.