5 Top Home Remedies to Prevent Premature Graying of Hair

No matter from which part of the world you belong, your hair can suffer premature graying. Now the age when it can be said to have gone gray prematurely, may differ. So, if you are a white person in your mid 20s and your hair turn gray that will definitely be a premature graying. If you were in mid 30s, it would have been normal age for graying of hair. If you are an Asian, your hair should start graying in mid 30s and if you are an African-American, the standard age for you to get gray hair is mid 40s. Now you know whether your’s is a premature graying of hair or not! And if the answer is yes, you don’t have to worry a lot because there are certain very effective home remedies to prevent such early graying of your hair.

Home Remedies for Gray of Hair

1. Make Hair Tonic with Coconut Oil-Curry Leaves

Curry leaves not only grant great aroma and taste to your dishes but also brings back lost pigments to your hair. These leaves are nature’s gift having certain pigment that can retain your original hair color. So include curry leaves in your diet. Use them to temper your gravies, boil them in water and have as tea, grind them to mix with buttermilk or curd and have tasty treats. Here is one recipe to make an excellent hair tonic with curry leaves. Make it and store for daily use.

You will need:

• Coconut Oil- 100 ml
• Curry Leaves- a handful of them; you may also increase the amount.

Directions:

• Mix curry leaves with coconut oil.
• Boil them together.
• If it’s winter, your coconut oil will be in solid state. So, first heat it to melt and then add curry leaves to boil them.
• When the leaves turn black, put off the flame.
• Strain the oil and store in an air tight container.

Apply this oil to your hair daily at night and massage your scalp (only scalp) with fingers gently. Massage for about 15-20 minutes. Leave it overnight and wash off your hair the next morning. Use this oil for at least 3 months to get results.

Interesting fact: British actress Anna Friel drinks tea made of curry leaves everyday to preserve the natural colour of her hair. She boils the leaves in water and drinks the hot beverage after she noticed two strands of gray hair post her illness recently.

2. Use Indian Gooseberry’s Wonder for Hair

Amla, as it is known, Indian gooseberry is the most talked about ingredient in Ayurveda for all hair problems, leave alone the color of hair! It is one of the richest sources of antioxidant vitamin C. If you include gooseberry in your diet, you will not only help your hair to grow fast and prevent from graying but you will also ensure that you remain healthy in toto. I’ll give you the recipe for homemade amla oil to be prepared by you so that you can stop premature growing of your hair.

You will need:

• Amla powder- 2 tsp (see the recipe below to know how to get powder out of gooseberry)
• Fenugreek powder (optional)- 1 tsp
• Coconut oil- 1 cup

Directions:

• To make amla powder, take gooseberries pieces and dry them in shade. Once they dry completely, grind them to get their powder.
• Mix amla powder, coconut oil and fenugreek powder (if using) in a pan.
• Heat the pan on low flame.
• When you notice the oil turning brown, put off the flame.
• Allow to cool a little (watch it doesn’t get solid as coconut oil tends to settle in solid state when it’s cold temperature outside)
• Strain and store the oil in a container

Use this coconut oil with all the good things of amla in it to massage your scalp and hair daily at night. Wash off your hair in the morning.

Amla Remedy for Oily Hair

If you have oily hair, you may not like to apply oil to your hair. In such a case, you can use amla water to treat your hair. For making amla water,

• Take a cup of water.
• Mix 1 tsp amla powder in it.
• Boil the water till it reduces to half of its quantity.
• You should get at least 3 teaspoons of amla water.
• Mix 3 teaspoons of lemon juice with the amla water.
• Now add this amal-lemon juice mix to the required amount of water that is needed to wash your hair.
• Wash you hair with this water.

Interesting fact: Amla or Indian gooseberry is a fruit with a diameter of only 1 inch but it has the same antiscorbutic value as two oranges have in them. Also, amla doesn’t lose its qualities whatever you do wih it- boil it, make jam or pickle with it, eat it raw or process it in any form- it won’t leave its properties!

3. Apply Ridge Gourd for Hair Color

Ridge gourd, often also called ribbed gourd, is widely used for treating premature graying of hair. It helps in enriching the hair roots as well as in restoring pigment. You again need to make a hair tonic using coconut oil to use it for your graying hair.

You will need:

• Dried ribbed gourd pieces- half a cup
• Coconut oil- 1 cup

Directions:

• Take the pieces of ridge gourd and dry them out in shade.
• Soak the dried pieces in coconut oil for about 3-4 days.
• Now boil the coconut oil along with soaked pieces of dried ribbed gourd.
• Boil it on low flame till the oil gets darkened, black in color.
• Strain and store.
• Use this oil to massage your scalp, at least twice a week.

Interesting fact: One of the common everyday name of ridge gourd is Luffa, also spelled loofah. In fact, the naturally dried ridge gourd is used as an external body cleanser which is popularly known as loofah sponge. Also, ridge gourd has medicinal use in some other color related diseases like leprosy (white skin) and jaundice (yellow skin).

4. Create Sesame-Carrot Wonder for Changing Gray Color of Your Hair

You can prevent your hair from growing gray. What about those that are already gray? Here’s a recipe using sesame oil, carrot juice and fenugreek seeds that is used in South India- one of the main centers of Ayurvedic practitioners- for premature graying of hair!

You will need:

• Sesame Oil
• Carrot Juice
(both sesame oil and carrot juice should be in equal amount. For example 1 glass each or 100 ml each)
• Fenugreek seed powder- Half the amount of oil and juice (For example, ½ glass or 50 ml if the oil-juice is one glass each or 100 ml each respectively)

Directions:

• Mix sesame oil, carrot juice and fenugreek seeds powder in a clear bottle, jar, bowl or any other container
• Keep the mixture in sun for 21 days.
• Apply the resultant oil mixture after 21 days on your scalp and hair.
• Use this for at least 3 months.

This mixture can also be used for graying hair on your other body parts like beards, moustaches, eye-brows, chest etc. This can miraculously change the graying color of your hair.

Interesting fact: Solar radiation can purify (read disinfect) water to make it safe for drinking. The UVA rays of sun terminate many germs present in water when exposed to sunlight for minimum 6 hours.

5. Get Buttermilk to Prevent White Hair

While we have known, right at the beginning, that curry leaves with coconut oil is a wonderful remedy for premature graying of hair, we can also use buttermilk with curry leaves for similar effect. Especially people with oily hair will benefit from buttermilk-curry leaves remedy because they may not like to use coconut oil in their already oily hair. Here’s how you go about it.

You will need:

• Buttermilk – ½ cup
• Curry leaves juice- ½ cup

Directions:

• To make curry leaves juice, you can simply grind the leaves and squeeze out their juice.
• Buttermilk can also be made at home by churning plain yogurt with warm water and then removing the frothing butter from it.
• Mix curry leaves juice and buttermilk.
• Boil the mixture on low flame for 5 minutes.
• Let it cool to become lukewarm.
• Apply this lukewarm buttermilk-curry leaves juice mixture on your scalp.
• Leave for half an hour.
• Wash hair with lukewarm water.

This not only prevents gray hair but also is a good remedy for hair loss.

Interesting fact: The term ‘butter’ in the name of buttermilk belies the fact that it is one of the dairy products having very low fat contents. A cup of buttermilk has only 2.2 g of fat and 99 calories where as a cup of whole milk has 8.9 g fat and 157 calories! Regarding curry leaves benefits, recent researches have found out that the extracts of curry leaves can considerably reduce the side effects of both chemotherapy and radiation therapy used for cancer treatment.

Apart from applying the above home remedies for preventing gray hair, it is also important not to use harsh chemicals on your hair. Avoid using shampoos and other hair products that contain such chemical ingredients and go for natural hair products.