Buckwheat is the ideal ingredient for the wavy-curly haired person who follows a lifestyle that is ruled by healthy, raw and pure practices. It is a perfect substitute for rice and wheat, making it a main go-to for being on a strict gluten-free ingredient. Whether it is ingested or added to a DIY topical treatment, buckwheat has plenty of benefits for helping you grow long, healthy at a hair fast level.
Health Beckon describes the buckwheat plant as having “a pleasant fragrance with rich, pungent, malty, molasses and an earthy taste.” Its starch is often used in processed foods as a fat replacement that is easy to digest. Buckwheat contains flavonoids like rutin that are antioxidants necessary for protection against vitamin C deficiency and harmful diseases.
According to The Fit Indian, buckwheat contains fewer calories compared to barley or wheat. It is also cholesterol free, and contains the good fats, proteins, and fiber that aid in thicker, fuller hair. Containing 80% of complex whole grain carbohydrates, buckwheat has a high zinc, vitamin A and B6 (Pyridoxine”> content as well. This vitamin is water soluble and cannot remain stored in the human body. Therefore, it must be replenished from a source of food like buckwheat in order to reap the benefits.
Eating buckwheat as part of a daily diet will help with more noticeable hair growth soon after regular consumption. Buckwheat is also great as an “anti-aging” ingredient for dull hair that looks lifeless and limp because of its rich antioxidant properties.
Include Buckwheat In Your Diet
- Breakfast: Vegan, gluten-free vanilla buckwheat pancakes (recipe from Oh She Glows here”>
- Snack: Berry buckwheat berry binge bars (recipe from Healthful Pursuit here”>
- Lunch: Buckwheat garden salad (recipe from The Healthy Foodie here”>
- Dinner: Buckwheat soba noodles (recipe from The Nourishing Gourmet“>
- Dessert: Buckwheat chocolate chip cookies (recipe from The View From Great Island here”>
2 Buckwheat Treats For Your Hair
Davines SOLU Shampoo, $25, uses fair trade buckwheat from the Italian farms of Valtellina.
Green Mama Taiga Series Re-Generator is a slippery leave-in cream from Russia that uses buckwheat to replenish.
Make Your Own Buckwheat Flour Shampoo
Try this recipe by Jonathan Evatt.
You need:
- Three tablespoons of finely ground buckwheat flour
- Some water
- One teaspoon of baking soda
- Some essential oils (as you like”>
- A few tablespoons of organic, unfiltered, raw apple cider vinegar
Directions
- Dry mix the flour and baking soda.
- Add the essential oils. Rosemary is nice, as is sandalwood, lavender, cedar, rose, and or geranium. Or any other none-irritating pure essential oil you like. Add 5 to 10 drops.
- Add in enough water to make a thick paste. Almost like a soft bread dough.
- When you are in the shower and ready to wash your hair, make sure you have the dough in a mug and the apple cider vinegar, and a tea spoon, handy.
- Pour just enough vinegar into the dough so that by the time it’s all mixed you will have a paste of shampoo consistency. It might take around 3 table spoons, but just experiment until you get the hang of it. I never bother to measure it out. Rather I just pour it in directly from the bottle.
- Thoroughly mix the vinegar into the dough. It will foam up into a frothy paste, perhaps 10 times greater in volume than the lump of thin dough you started out with.
- Rub this foamy paste into your scalp and all through your hair.
- Rinse thoroughly with warm water after a minute or two.
