Dabur Vatika Oil

I first heard about Vatika Oil when I was reading the hair boards. It was before I went natural, so quite awhile ago. There were people raving about oils from India. Indian women have very beautiful dark and thick hair. Is it genetics or is it a product? Probably genetics. But trying some of the products certainly couldn't hurt. I have a whole list of the different oils and powders I wanted to try. Back when I was in college, one of my friends beat me to it. She had Vatika and a couple other oils. Some of them had very potent scents, I remember it well because I used to give scalp massages. This one was one of the milder scented oils.

Vatika claims:

Dabur Vatika is a premium coconut hair oil enriched with henna, amla, lemon, and five other trusted herbs. Vatika's unique natural formulation ensures deeper oil penetration to give your hair and scalp complete nourishment for problem-free, healthy hair.

Henna-with herbs coats your hair, protects if from oxidation,maintain it's natural color

Amla-Strengthens your hair from root to tip, helps maintain their health and natural thickness

Lemon- With it's astringent action, controls sebum flow, helping to prevent dandruff 

Most of the raves about this product included thickening up the hair and helping stimulate hair growth around the hairline. Luckily, through all the self-inflicted damage I had done with relaxers over the years, I never lost hair around my hairline or had any lasting damage from it. So I was not able to test that. 

Vatika oil is basically coconut oil enhanced with Ayurvedic herbs such as Amla. It also has Henna which is said to strengthen the hair. And lemon. It has a very distinct scent to it. It smells like lemon coconut oil. But it's not a fresh or zesty scent. I'm not a big fan of the scent but it's not unbearable. 

I mostly use this oil as a pre-poo. Before I wash my hair I massage it into my hair and scalp and let it sit anywhere from 30 mins to overnight. It really helps to prevent my hair from becoming too stripped if I'm using a drying shampoo. You can also use it for styling or as a leave in conditioner.

 If you hair loves Coconut Oil, it should love this. 

It comes in very hard to open packaging. At least for me. But it's great that it is sealed properly. Just like Coconut Oil, it's more solid or liquid depending on the temperature. When it's cold, I just sit it in a sink of warm water to melt it and make it easier to use. 

I can't personally attest to it's ability to stimulate hair growth, but I do think it's worth trying if you struggle with bad patches or a missing hairline just based on others experience. 

It does contain herbs that are known for darkening the hair over time.  If you have grey and want to try something more natural that could be a great thing. If you have hair that you lighten/dye/bleach, you may want to use caution. On the other hand, I have also heard it lightens your natural hair, because of the lemon. My hair seems to have darkened, so maybe it depends? Just another thing to consider.

It's not all natural. The ingredients aren't terrible though. The main ingredients are herbs and coconut oil, so I don't mind it.

Ingredients:

 Coconut Oil, Herbal Extract, Lecithin, Perfume, Aqua, Rosemary Oil, Vitamin E, Citrus Medica limonite Oil, BHT

I got mine from my Dad. He bought a couple bottle back from when he went to Dubai but it's available on Amazon and various online retailers. Also  if you are lucky enough to have an Indian store nearby you can snag it there. 

I've already used an entire bottle up, and have a smaller bottle to get through now. If I ran out, I would probably just substitute Coconut Oil. But it is something that if I saw in a store I would probably pick up a few bottles since I do like the addition of the alma and henna. Either that or I would attempt to make my own!