How to Make Amla Oil At Home?

There are two methods for preparing amla hair oil, first is using fresh amla and second using dried amla. You can use any of them you find easy and on availability of ingredients.

Willing to prepare amla hair oil at your own, but don’t know how?

If yes, then you are at the right place. Home made Alma oil is the key to all your hair problems. But, when Alma oil is easily available on shops then why you should prepare it at home? Here are the reasons:

It is quite easy to make amla oil at home.
You can be sure of ingredients and their quality.
No added chemicals, colors, preservatives and fragrance; therefore purity is guaranteed by yourself.
It is very cost effective.

What is Amla Hair Oil?

Amla hair oil is an oil prepared from extracts of Amla (Indian Gooseberry or Phyllanthus Emblica). Amla is rich in vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, iron, vitamin B- complex and antioxidants, which are known to promote general health and wellness. In Ayurveda amla is known to have properties to promote scalp and hair health.

Benefits of Amla Oil

Amla hair oil is known to serve following purposes:

Nourishes the scalp
Strengthens hair follicles and reduces hair fall
Stimulates hair growth
Adds to volume of hair
Make the hair stronger
Prevents premature greying of hair
Reduces itchy, dry scalp and dandruff
Prevents and treats bacterial or fungal infections of scalp and hair
Adds natural shine and make hair darker, giving it a nice dark chocolaty hue
It is equally useful for hair as well as beard.

Methods of Preparing Amla Hair Oil at Home?

Method 1 (using fresh amla)

Ingredients

Green/ fresh amla in sufficient quantity to produce 500 ml of juice
Sesame (gingelly seed) or coconut oil 500 ml

Steps:

Wash amla and chop them roughly into pieces and remove the pits (seeds).
Grind the amla pieces in a mixer without adding water.
Strain the amla paste through a strainer or muslin cloth to get the juice.
In a heavy bottomed, stainless steel pan, add equal amount of oil and amla juice (in a ratio of 1:1).
Put the pan on a medium to low flame.
Bring it to a boil, once it starts bubbling, reduce the flame to low.
Stir occasionally.
Do not cover the pan while boiling.
Initially solution will appear muddy or cloudy. Slowly, as the water starts evaporating the oil starts getting separated and the liquid gets clearer. You will hear sizzling sound due to evaporation of water.
After 10-15 minutes, sound stops and froth sets in, indicating that all water content has been evaporated, switch off the stove and allow it to cool.
You will observe a brown color residue at the bottom of the pan.
Now strain the oil with muslin cloth and store it in a glass container as glass is non-reactive in nature.

Note that instead of amla juice, you can also use grated amla or amla paste or finely chopped pieces of fresh amla. In this case continue heating until amla pieces turn brown.

Method 2 (using dried amla)

This is traditional ayurvedic approach of preparing amla hair oil. It is little time consuming.

Ingredients

Dried amla, without seeds 250 grams (200+50 grams)
Sesame (gingelly seed ) or coconut oil 500 ml

Steps:

Take dried amla and break into small pieces.
Soak 200 grams of dried amla overnight in 2 litres of water.
Now boil the soaked amla along with the water in a wide mouthed steel vessel on low flame, stirring in between until it reduces to half (1 litre) of the quantity.
Allow it to cool. After cooling mash the amla thoroughly and strain it through muslin cloth to get amla decoction.
Transfer oil, strained amla decoction and remaining 50 grams amla pieces in a thick bottomed stainless-steel pan.

Important: Reason for using amla decoction and pieces both is that decoction will extract water soluble components of amla, while heating dried amla pieces in oil decoction mixture will extract fat soluble components.

Put it on medium flame for few minutes. Once it starts bubbling, reduce the flame to the lowest and let it simmer.
Stir occasionally in between. Continue heating until bubbling stops and clear oil is seen at the top in pan with brown residue settled at the bottom. It will take around 1-2 hours.
Now put off stove and allow oil to cool. Strain it with a clean muslin cloth and store in a glass bottle.

Note that you can also use amla powder instead of dried amla pieces.

Points to keep in mind

Both sesame and coconut oil are excellent for hair but I prefer sesame oil. It is the most commonly used base oil in Ayurveda for its calming, warming and nourishing properties. Secondly, coconut oil has cooling properties because of which few people develop cough, cold or headache. Sesame (gingelly) oil doesn’t not harden in winters too.
However, the choice of oil is totally up to you. You may consider sesame oil for winter and coconut oil for summer or mixing them in equal proportion.
It is better to use cold pressed, organic oils for getting maximum benefits out of it.
Color of home-made amla hair oil will have a slight yellowish tint (if using fresh amla) or a brownish tint (if using dried amla) and will not have any smell, contrary to the color and scent of store- bought oils.
If you like to have fragrance you can add a pinch of camphor or few drops of essential oil. Rosemary, tea tree, lavender or peppermint essential oils are good for hair and scalp.
You can add 6-12 drops of essential oil per ounce of oil. Remember essential oils are highly concentrated and do not overuse them assuming more will do better. If you are adding two or more types of essential oils, total number of drops should not exceed from what is recommended.
For enhancing properties of amla oil you can also experiment with adding a handful of other herbs known for hair health like fenugreek (methi), curry, rosemary, hibiscus, henna (mehndi), brahmi, bhringraj leaves, while heating the oil mixture. They will turn brown once oil is ready.
Do not use an aluminium or iron pan, it reacts with amla juice.
Always heat the mixture until bubbling stops. Any traces of water if left in will spoil the oil.
Amla oil has a good shelf life of 1-2 years, but it is always better to prepare in small batches initially until you master it. In case if something goes wrong, you will waste less.
Discard your oil if there is change in color, consistency or smell.

How to Apply Amla Oil for Best Results?