The green revolution has turned the wheels of fortune in favour of India’s long-standing tradition of massaging the scalp with herb-enriched oils. Aparrna Gupta traces its triumphant comeback.
Picture this: an intricately carved bathtub is filled with herbal water painstakingly infused by boiling barks of over a dozen trees. On one end are three intricately carved silver bowls, each containing a different oil: for face, body and hair. After a dip in this bath, hair is dried with a muslin towel and spread over a basket suspended over burning, herb-scented coals. The resultant smoke dries the strands gently and leaves them mildly fragrant.
A treatment fit for any luxury spa today, this is how South Indian princesses used to look after their long, black lustrous tresses. To oil or not to oil is a choice we as Indian women face today. For royalty, long, black hair oiled and combed was a ritual; for our humble ancestors, applying oil on hair was a habit.
To quote an ancient text, the Charak Samhita, ‘one who applies oil on his head regularly does not suffer from headache, baldness, graying of hair. Nor does his hair fall. Strength of his head, forehead is specially enhanced; his hair become black, long and deep-rooted.’ Thus, oiling is encouraged as the primary haircare regimen in Ayurveda.
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Denne historien er fra August 2016-utgaven av Verve.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Making Amends
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Diamonds With Provenance
In keeping with the company’s commitment to environmental and social responsibility, Anisa Kamadoli Costa, chief sustainability officer at Tiffany & Co. and chairman and president at The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, enlightens Shirin Mehta on the efforts that make the jewellery giant an industry leader in transparency
SARTORIAL ECONOMICS
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NOTES TO SELF
An anthropomorphized tiger’s perspective, a viscerally worded futuristic interpretation of loss, a critique of performative activism, a meta reflection on the earth’s crises. Told through different lenses, Janaki Lenin, Indrapramit Das, Keshava Guha and Roshan Ali’s stories — written exclusively for Verve — attempt to make sense of the fraught reality that we exist in today
The Eternal Optimist
As Generation X and xennials grapple with fully transitioning to conscious living, young millennials and Generation Z are leading the charge to reverse human-caused environmental damage. Sahar Mansoor, founder and CEO of the Bengaluru-based zero-waste social enterprise Bare Necessities, has a simple overarching philosophy: consume less and stay positive. Verve gets deeper into the mindset of the action-oriented earth advocate
Redemption SONGS
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THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
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NATURAL JUSTICE
Most of us are only just waking up to the urgency of climatic action. When the stakes are so high, what can individual action solve? Mridula Mary Paul, an environmental policy expert, is proof of the tenacity needed to effect systemic change. It’s not glamorous, and the rewards are few and far between, but that doesn’t stop her from aiming big, finds Anandita Bhalerao
Along For The Ride
Navigating Indian streets as a woman is hard enough. But what is it like while riding a bicycle? Bengaluru-based Shreya Dasgupta, a regular cyclist, speaks to five urban women about the pros and cons of this increasingly popular means of transport.
