How to use Reetha or Soap Nuts to Wash your Hair in Natural Ways – Home Remedies

Soap nut (Indian name Reetha) are an Indian herb widely used for natural cleaning purpose in old times when there were no soap, shampoo and detergents. Soap nuts contain mild soapy in its outer surface with is a natural surfactant that makes it effective to clean anything. People of India used it to wash clothes, clean ornaments or as natural household cleanser in old time but used mostly to wash hair.

Reetha for Washing Hair

Reetha is anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and mild in natural that makes it most useful ingredients for hair washing is a main component in many herbal hair care products and shampoo. Application of reetha make hair cleaner, softer and smoother naturally and promotes clean and healthy scalp because of its deep cleansing, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties. It is also an effective home remedy to get rid of dandruff naturally.

How to use Reetha to wash hair?

Reetha can be used on hair in mild and powder as shampoo or hair pack. Either you can buy herbal shampoo containing soap nuts or if you want to go with complete natural way, you can prepare your own homemade reetha shampoo. There are some home remedies given below to use reetha for hair washing both in mild and powder form.

Home remedy to make reetha shampoo

You need dried reetha fruits and water to prepare your own homemade reetha shampoo. Take 12-15 fruits of reetha fruits in an iron container (not necessary, but reetha soaked in iron container gives black and shiny looks to hair) and add 1-1/2 glass of water in it. Boil the water with soap nuts in iron container and leave it for overnight.  Crush soap nuts thoroughly at morning, strain thick liquid containing reetha extracts and store in an air tight container and use it to wash your hair anytime. You can also add some dried Indian gooseberries and Shikakai along with soap nuts to enhance the benefits of this homemade shampoo.

Homemade Reetha shampoo is ready to use now. Wet you hair with normal water and rub this prepared shampoo on your hair and scalp for 10 minutes and rinse off. This soap nuts shampoo produces very little leather as compared to commercial shampoo but it is cleanses hair and scalp thoroughly. Reetha is mild in nature, so it does not leave your hair dry after washing but make them softer, smoother, silky and shiny.

Reetha Powder to wash hair

Reetha powder is easily available in all herbal stores as compared to its fruit and you can apply it on hair by preparing hair pack. Add plain water and some yogurt to reetha powder to make hair pack. Apply it on your hair and wait for an hour. Rinse hair with lots of water to remove reetha powder and smell of yogurt completely. Yogurt is just to condition your hair and you can skip it if you don’t like its smell.

You can also prepare shampoo by soaking reetha powder in water for 8-10 hours same as mentioned above. This remedy also cleans impurities, excess oil and dandruff from hair to make them soft, silky, shiny and beautiful looking.

These home remedies to wash hair with reetha are completely natural and free from chemical and as effective as commercial shampoo that have side effects on prolonged use. Mild nature of soap nuts prevents moisture loss thus add extra shine, strength and softness to your hair. Application of soap nuts remove dandruff  completely and keeps scalp free of any infection, thus promotes healthy growth and make hair stronger from roots.