The term “natural floor cleaner” is a popular search on the Krya website. This is a marked difference from about 20-25 years ago, when many households fell for the strong anti bacterial santiser trap, and we outdid each other looking for more and more “powerful” disinfectants to thoroughly “sanitize” our floors and surroundings. There used to be a time when households used plain water to mop the floor after thoroughly sweeping the floor. Sometimes if the season was particularly muddy, or if this was pre festive season, a canny housewife would sprinkle cow dung / dried cow dung cakes plus a handful of turmeric powder into this water, and use this solution to mop the floor. Cow dung was considered a sacred dravya, infusing pranic energy into the home and also an effective insect repellent and anti bacterial agent. Slowly, to increase their share of business anti bacterial liquids began to advertise, extending their use to cleaning the floor. Evocative images of babies eating off the floors, pets sleeping on the floor would be used to illustrate that our floors (the horror!) were JUST not good enough to eat off . Just when households started getting reluctantly used to the smell of a strong anti bacterial liquid on the floor, convincing their families that the hospital like odour was for their own good, someone finally launched a specialised floor cleaner. In several toxic fragrance options. Concerns with synthetic floor cleaners: At Krya, we have several concerns over the rampant use of synthetic floor and toilet cleaners. We have listed these below: 1. 99% germ removal or 100% growth of Super bugs? Urban Indians today already suffer from “too clean” homes which are almost sterile. Children rarely play outdoors and schools and homes are sterile, air conditioned environments already. In this scenario, […]
If you are suffering from a visible Pitta imbalance like premature greying, acne outbreaks, then a Pitta balancing diet can help holistically heal your condition. Ayurveda believes in following a holistic approach to understanding skin and hair issues. Hair and skin reflects the body’s state of balance. Diet, emotional well being, quality of sleep, quality of daily Vyayama (exercise) all affect the body. These factors create changes in the subtle alignment of doshas in our body. This reflects in the quality of our skin or hair. Pitta dosha: qualities and life stage Pitta is “snigdha” (oily), “teekshna” (sharp), “ushna” (hot), “laghu” (light) “vishra” (mal-odourous), “sara“ ( flowing / laxative), and “drava” (liquid). Hence when we have Pitta aggravation in our body, we could experience sharp discomfort in the abdomen, diarrhea, gastritis, temper flares, strong body odour, high sweating, oiliness on hair and skin, etc. We could also develop acne flare ups, experience premature greying & also hair thinning. Ayurveda tells us that every lifestage is dominant in a certain dosha. Middle age, i.e. 30 – 60 years is considered Pitta dominant lifestage. In this age period, we naturally tend to harness and utilise Pitta’s qualities to help us focus on our career, manage our responsibilities, etc. Hence at this stage, we become even more sensitive to Pitta aggravation. Pitta aggravating foods: We had written earlier in detail about foods that trigger or aggravate Pitta in the body. This includes fermented foods, salty foods, spicy foods, and sour foods. We have a pretty detailed list of don’ts in the earlier blog post. This list includes commercial packaged RTE foods which are high in hidden salts and imported delicacies like Greek yoghurt, tahini sauce and hummus. Consumption of these foods is tolerable when our doshas in balance. At this time, Pitta […]
Looking for a quick way to get some of the benefits of a regular abhyanga? Dont have the tie to do a full abhyanga snana everyday? Try a mini abhyanga instead. Here's how.
Are you also looking for a nourishing shampoo? Read on to find out why we believe the term” nourishing shampoo” is an oxymoron. We often come across a weird statement when we quiz people with severe hair loss – they tell us rather proudly that they are using a very mild, very nourishing and very gentle shampoo. Some of them hasten to add, that they are using a mild nourishing baby shampoo. Some more, tell us that they are using an SLS free nourishing shampoo. There are many oxymorons in the above statement. One is the oxymoron of the “nourishing shampoo”. The other is the oxymoron of the SLS free shampoo. The third is the oxymoron of the “mild baby shampoo”. Why is a nourishing shampoo an urban myth? A shampoo is a synthetic cleaner made from 2 sources: a degreaser invented in the 1940s to clean factory floors and cars and petroleum based emollients to artificially coat hair.SLS and SLeS are 2 common synthetic surfactants that come from the original degreaser invented in the 1940s. Because of the strong customer backlash against SLS and SLeS, many other surfactants are now in use: For example, Sodium Lauryl Sarcosinate, Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, Decyl Glycoside, PEG 40 Glyceryl Cocoate . A synthetic surfactant is scarily efficient at removing grease and dirt from any surface. This makes it great for a non living thing like a car or a shop floor, but terrible for a living organism like you and your hair. Human body: adapts to changes in weather and environment The human body is a complex, living mechanism that adapts quickly to changes in our diet, environment, age and other factors. So in winter, when the weather is cold and winds are drying, the body conserves moisture and oil by […]
Desperately Seeking Susan a Damage Repair Shampoo for chemically damaged, over processed hair that actually works? We’ve all been there. Flush with a salary cheque, and dreams of transforming the way you look, you find your way into the high end salon. Every single salon “artiste” there is sports a sharp cut and a heady mix of colours on the hair. Emboldened by this, you throw caution to the winds and go all out. a hair cut and a completely new style, recommended by the “Salon director” himself and a fresh new head of hair emerges. It looks great on day 1. A week later, after your first wash, the disaster strikes. A few months later, to your horror, you notice that your hair is dull, rough, limp a day after shampooing, and is JUST NOT GROWING! Your salon artist now says: “ Hair growth these days is weak due to pesticides / pollution / toxins in the air. Try our new salon conditioning spa / remineralising service / hair vitamin makeover treatment”. Several visits, hair treatments and several thousand Rupees later, you realise NOTHING is working – your hair is damaged. If the above account sounded eerily personal, it is because I too was there. Flush with cash and all the self confidence of a 25 year old, I started on my 5 year hair destruction journey. It started innocuously with a perm, then a hair cut. Then several hair colours. Then hair straightening. And before you knew it, I was 29, with oily limp hair, a decided case of hair receding and thinning and abysmal or no hair growth. It took me many years of concerted effort and working on my hair to see results. You can read my hair repair journey in this earlier post. So, […]
When we describe our products and talk about how our products contain only purely natural, ayurvedic herbs, we often hear a counter: “But how can I tell if my shampoo is truly natural” (or face wash or body wash). This…
As a modern factory making traditional, purely natural products made ONLY from herbs, several challenges come our way. One such challenge we faced is on how to safely and effectively fumigate the factory without using dangerous chemicals. Is there such…
Ayurveda places great emphasis on habits to balance vata dosha. Aggravated vata dosha is a common root cause of many conditions like dry skin and dry hair , difficult bowel movements, constipation and scanty periods. If you are frustrated with…
————————————————- My baby has dry & sensitive skin – how can I help her / him? – this is a question we often receive at Krya. Dry & Sensitive skin: an alarmingly common problem in babies One in 5 children…
We are in an interesting and contradictory world today. One the one hand, the rise of Western science has taken basic hygiene to unimaginable levels. So household products can successfully wipe out every last germ in our clothes or our…
—— Our wide range of hair and skin products can sometimes confuse people who are not sure what they are choosing. The same confusion occurs in Krya’s range of baby products. Choosing a Krya hair product for your baby is…
“What are the ingredients in a baby soap and why do you recommend we use a baby ubtan instead?” This is a common question we receive at Krya. My curiosity about this question prompted me to do a search. Google…
