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 Henna for Hair
Emblica Officinalis
Amla Powder
Catherine Cartwright-Jones
Henna for Hair c 2004

Amla
If you have a box of brown powder marked "Amla" (also called "Amalaki" and "Indian Gooseberry"), you have a box of the powdered dried fruit (perhaps with some twigs, leaves and bark mixed in) of the Emblica Officinalis tree. 

Emblica Officinalis powder is tan and has an acidic astringent smell like a combination of raw cranberries and oak tree bark. If you make a simple paste from the powder, it does not stain the hands but adds a cool brown tone to the hair color.  Emblica Officinalis is one of the Myrobalan species, all of which are used in tanning and dying. Fruits of Emblica Officinalis, Terminalia Belerica, and Terminalia Chebula are used together as Triphala, an Aurvedic medicine. Dried Phyllanthus Emblica fruit, another Myrobalan,  is sold by Shikai as a hair conditioner. Dyers use Phyllanthus Emblica as a light brown silk and wool dye.  Dyers and tanners process Emblica Officinalis twigs, bark, and fruits with iron sulphate mordant to produce a black dye. 


The paste is an excellent conditioner which makes hair glossy and silky, enhances waves and curl, and leaves a clean, healthy scalp. When you scrub your face with the paste, your skin feels firm and tight. 

Use for Skin:

Mix amla powder with hot water to make a paste that is about the consistency of yogurt. Let that sit for fifteen minutes. Use the paste as an exfoliating, astringent scrub for your face.

Use for Hair:

Mix amla powder with indigo powder when dyeing hair black with indigo to add gloss and curl to indigo dyed hair.

Online references:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/parmar/07.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

http://www.wrc.net/phyto/Amalaki.html

Get an "almost free" sample of Amla Powder
from the Henna for Hair samples page:
almost free samples 
 
 Henna for Hair
Henna For Hair is devoted to the art and science
of dying hair with natural dyes. 
Natural hair dyes are good for your health,
and good for your planet!

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Logo by Alex Morgan:  Spellstone © 2005

All material unless otherwise noted by
Catherine Cartwright-Jones © 2003, 2004, 2005
info@mehandi.com
Title Graphics  by Gwyneddh Jones © 2003
thou shalt not steal.