Week 1: Laying the groundwork

Welcome back readers! 

This week, I started off with reading research papers and exploring Ayurvedic hair products on websites. After understanding the scientific aspect of Ayurveda in improving health care, I wanted to see how people apply these scientific findings to coming up with formulas of doses of these products they make from combining numerous Ayurvedic herbs and oils. I got a good understanding of which products have worked for customers by seeing the best sellers on vēdixTM, and noting how often people are recommended to apply these products. 

Through reading papers on hair and Ayurveda, I learnt about the three Ayurvedic doshas: Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. We all have different proportions of these doshas in our bodies, and that can affect how our hair needs to be maintained. For instance, I examined coconut oil’s impact on people with dandruff through a 2021 study that studied chronic scalp disorder on 140 participants over 16 weeks, noticing that their results highlight coconut oil’s impact on regulating the scalp microbiome. I also learnt how different textures of hair can affect which oil people use. For example, people with dry hair need relatively more oil, which is why castor oil would be the best for them since it is viscous. After exploring Ayurvedic hair products and research papers, I’m steps closer to making my own formula, or the set of instructions and doses I will be giving participants, for this study. As of now, I’ve noticed a common pattern: coconut oil is recommended by several sources to be applied overnight. Additionally, incorporating amla, or Indian Gooseberry, into diets seems to be very beneficial for our hair due to the Vitamin C it contains. 

I contacted people from my project and randomly selected twenty people for either control or experimental group. Each group will have 10 participants. I made a survey to assess participants’ backgrounds in order to contextualize my results from my experiment. Participants from both control and experimental groups are completing this survey that asks them about their age, gender, ethnicity, hair characteristics, previous hair concerns, the hair products they use, and much more! 

I also started watching videos on YouTube on how to make educational and accessible data models and websites so I can have an efficient end product.

That’s it for this week and I hope to share more with you next week! Thank you for your time!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8012655/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12715094/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268805677_Medicinal_benefit_of_coconut_oil

https://www.banyanbotanicals.com/info/ayurvedic-living/living-ayurveda/health-guides/an-ayurvedic-guide-to-healthy-hair/

https://us.vedix.com/pages/hair-landing1-adw?utm_source=GoogleBrandSearchUSA&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=G_BrandSearchUSA&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA84CvBhCaARIsAMkAvkKAdVtH1O81aoKnYPfZBWN49mIIXRkLh5qLx6LbthtX8tIV6FcHpPsaAvNuEALw_wcB