 Hello guys and welcome back to my channel. For today's video I will be doing a DIY hair mask using Shikakai powder. I've seen many great reviews about this DIY and since I'm trying to add more Ayurvedic DIYs in my hair care regimen, I thought this would be a great one to try. This will be my first time using a clay type of mask so this should be interesting. For those that have never heard of Shikakai, let me just briefly explain what it is and the healthy hair benefits it has. Shikakai, also known as Akesha Consina, is a small shrub-like tree which grows in India. Its pod-like fruit is collected, dried, and then grounded into fine powder. It has been used traditionally for hair care in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times. Shikakai is used to cleanse your hair. It promotes hair growth, prevents dandruff, strengthens your hair from its roots, and adds shine and softness to your hair. Due to these benefits, this powder was named Shikakai which means fruit of the hair. Typically Shikakai is mixed with water to make a paste which is worked through the hair. It lathers moderately and cleanses hair beautifully. It has a natural low pH, is extremely mild and doesn't strip hair of its natural oils. Traditionally no conditioner is used since Shikakai also acts as a detangler. This ancient product is probably the world's oldest pH balance shampoo. All you need to make this DIY is simply some warm water, that's it. I'm not using any specific measurements, I'm just eyeballing it to the consistency I'm looking for. I don't want it too thick or too runny, but somewhere in the middle. Just a word of caution, this powder is very fine so be careful not to inhale it. It has a pretty strong smell. Once I get that consistency I'm going to pour it into an applicator bottle to easily apply it to my hair. Next I will be blending an aloe vera plant for added conditioning and also to prevent any irritation just in case this powder doesn't agree with my hair. I love using aloe vera whenever I can because it prevents hair loss, it promotes hair growth, soothes itchy scalp, it's a great conditioner, it detangles and it also strengthens and repairs your hair. Now that I have everything prepped and prepared for this DIY, I'm going to go ahead and start the application. So without further ado, let's get started. This DIY was very cleansing to my hair, I felt that it gets drippled all over the product in my hair. Without leaving my hair extremely dry, of course it was a little dry because it is a mask so I wanted to follow it up with the aloe vera. But my hair feels amazing, my curls are popping and it also feels very strong. I do feel that through the process of using this DIY that I had less shedding, I experienced less shedding. I actually expected to have more shedding than I did but it actually lessened the shedding a lot so I was very impressed and pleased by that. And overall I think my hair just held up very well. So going forward I will be using this DIY and incorporating it into my natural hair care and just doing more things with it. But it definitely will stay in my natural hair routine just going forward. I was a little hesitant initially to use this. I've actually been sitting on this DIY for quite some time because the first time I used it as a patch test, it did irritate my scalp. But I noticed that this time I did not experience any irritation which was really great. So I really didn't have to use the aloe vera but just in case I just want to use it, just in case it started to get irritated later. But no problems, no irritation whatsoever. It took to my hair nicely. It cleaned my scalp really good. And I think a lot of that is due to the shampoo bar that I had been using because it does have the shikakai in the shampoo bar. So I think over time of using the shampoo bar it just kind of conditioned my hair and my scalp to really take this ingredient. So yeah, I will definitely be continuing this in my DIY. So I'm very glad that I gave this product a try, a fully gave it a try because it does make your hair feel really good and cleansed. And again, it's a great alternative to using a traditional shampoo. If you don't want to get the shampoo you can definitely get a shikakai powder and get a real deep cleansing of your hair. So I really enjoyed this DIY. If you guys would like to give it a try just watch this video again. It's just two simple things that you need to do but I'm sure you will love it as well. So also don't forget to check out my Amazon store. A lot of the products that you see me use in my videos that you see me do DIYs and product reviews on are in my Amazon store. You can check it out. I'll purchase it. But I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you did don't forget to like, comment, subscribe. It's Jess Janine. I will see you guys on the next video. Bye guys!