Ayurvedic hair care · Single herb
Bhringraj
Eclipta alba — Kesharaja, the king of hair
A scalp herb, not a colour herb.
Radico Organic Bhringraj Leaf Powder is a single-ingredient treatment for the scalp and roots, milled from Eclipta alba leaf grown on our own certified organic farms. Of the herbs in this range, bhringraj is the one Ayurveda names for hair specifically. It carries no lawsone and no indigotin, so it does not dye hair or cover gray. That is precisely why it can sit inside a colour formula without affecting the shade — and it does: bhringraj is one of the herbs in 22 of Radico’s 24 shades.
What each herb is for
Radico makes eight single herbs for hair. They are not variations on one another — they do three different jobs.
Cleanse
Used in place of shampoo. Both foam gently from natural saponins.
Scalp and roots
Worked into the scalp with the fingertips, where hair begins.
-
Neem
Azadirachta indica
A flaking or tight-feeling scalp
-
Bhringraj
Eclipta alba
Roots and thinning-feeling hair
You are here
-
Brahmi
Bacopa monnieri
A sensitive or irritated scalp
Strand
Drawn through the lengths, where the hair itself needs help.
Two of the eight touch colour. Amla cools and deepens a henna result — which is exactly why it is in 23 of our 24 shades, as a deliberate part of the recipe. Add it yourself and it will shift a henna result cooler. Colorless henna is named for what it does not do, but a long application can leave a faint golden cast on white or very light hair. The other six — including bhringraj — are colour‑neutral and can go into any Radico shade without changing it.
- Botanical name
- Eclipta alba, syn. E. prostrata
- Plant family
- Asteraceae
- Key compound
- Wedelolactone, a coumestan
- Acts on
- Scalp and roots
- Effect on colour
- None
- In Radico’s shades
- One of the herbs in 22 of the 24. The two without it are Violet and Honey Blonde
- Mixing with colour
- Colour-neutral. Safe to add to henna, indigo, or any shade
- Typical use
- 30–45 minute mask, once a week
Composition
What is actually in bhringraj
Radico Organic Bhringraj Leaf Powder has one ingredient: milled Eclipta alba leaf, grown and processed on our own certified organic farms. Nothing is added — no fillers, no synthetic preservatives, no fragrance — so what reaches your scalp is what was in the plant.
Principal compound
Wedelolactone
A coumestan — a class of plant compound related to the flavonoids. It is the marker researchers use to identify and standardise Eclipta alba material.
- Formula
- C16H10O7
- Molecular weight
- 314.25 g/mol
- CAS number
- 524-12-9
- PubChem CID
- 5281813
Look up wedelolactone on PubChem, the NIH chemical database →
| Compound | Class | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Wedelolactone | Coumestan | The marker compound for the species |
| Demethylwedelolactone | Coumestan | Occurs alongside wedelolactone |
| Luteolin, apigenin | Flavonoids | Widely distributed plant antioxidants |
| β-Amyrin | Triterpene | Part of the leaf’s waxy fraction |
| Stigmasterol | Plant sterol | A structural lipid of the leaf |
A note on vitamin claims
Many bhringraj listings state that the powder contains vitamins A and D. We do not make that claim. We have not found it supported in the peer-reviewed phytochemical literature on Eclipta alba, and vitamin D in particular is not something a leafy plant produces — dietary vitamin D comes largely from fungi and animal sources. We would rather name the compound that is actually there.
Why the paste has to stay damp
Bhringraj is applied as a water-based paste, not an oil. The plant compounds travel in that water. Once the paste dries on the scalp, nothing further moves — the herb is simply sitting on the skin.
This is why covering the hair matters more than extending the time. A dry paste left on for two hours does less than a damp one left for forty minutes. Thirty to forty-five minutes under a shower cap is the useful window; past sixty minutes there is nothing more to gain.
What the research has examined — and what it has not
Laboratory work on Eclipta alba has centred on wedelolactone. Computational binding studies have modelled how the molecule interacts with proteins involved in the hair growth cycle, and animal studies have looked at concentrated extracts applied to skin.
Here is the honest position. That work is preclinical. It uses concentrated extracts rather than milled leaf, and it does not establish that applying bhringraj powder to a human scalp produces hair growth. We are not claiming that it does.
What we can tell you is what is in the powder, and what bhringraj has been used for in Ayurveda for a very long time: as Kesharaja, the herb named for hair, applied to the scalp and roots.
Before you use it. Eclipta alba belongs to the Asteraceae family, alongside ragweed, chrysanthemum, marigold and daisy. If you have a known Asteraceae allergy, patch test on your inner forearm 48 hours before a full application, or choose Radico Brahmi Leaf Powder instead — Brahmi is in the unrelated Plantaginaceae family. Radico Organic Bhringraj Leaf Powder is a cosmetic product for external use on hair and scalp. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any condition, including hair loss.
In practice
What using bhringraj looks like
Bhringraj is a powder you mix with warm water into a paste. There is no developing, no timing window to catch, and nothing to rinse out twice. The only real decision is how far down the hair you take it.
- Time on the hair30–45 minutesLonger than 60 adds nothing
- How oftenOnce a weekIt does not build up on the strand
- Effect on colourNoneSafe on coloured and uncoloured hair
Two ways to use it
Most people only ever apply bhringraj to the scalp, which uses a fraction of the powder. Take it through the lengths when the hair itself wants conditioning too.
Scalp treatment
Roots and scalp only
- Powder
- 5–8 g (about ¼ oz)
- Warm water
- 15–25 ml (½–1 fl oz)
- Per 100 g pouch
- 13–20 treatments
Amounts shown for short to shoulder-length hair. This is how bhringraj is used most of the time.
Full-length mask
Scalp through to the ends
- Powder
- 30 g (1 oz)
- Warm water
- 90–115 ml (3–4 fl oz)
- Per 100 g pouch
- About 3 masks
Amounts shown for shoulder-length hair. Long or very thick hair needs 50–60 g.
Weigh the powder rather than spooning it. A spoonful of milled leaf varies by as much as a third depending on the spoon and how it is scooped — which is why the numbers above are in grams.
It is already in most of our colour
Bhringraj is one of the herbs in 22 of Radico’s 24 shades — every one except Violet and Honey Blonde, which are built from shorter recipes. If you have coloured your hair with Radico, you have almost certainly used it: not as a dye, but as the scalp herb inside the formula. It carries no pigment, so it can sit in a colour recipe without affecting the shade or the development time.
The same is true when you mix your own. Bhringraj can be blended into henna, indigo, or any Radico shade without changing the result. Blend the dry powders together before adding water so it distributes evenly.
What it will not do in a mix: it will not darken the result, will not improve gray coverage, and will not speed up or slow down development. If a colour is coming out too light on gray, the answer is indigo or a different shade — not more bhringraj.
Full method, step by step →Organic Bhringraj Leaf Powder, 100 g →
If what you want is colour
You already know how to do this
Radico’s colour is not a dye with herbs added to soften it. It is herbs — henna, indigo, amla and others — some of which happen to carry pigment. Nothing else is in the pouch. Which means the application is not something new to learn.
Bhringraj mask
Colour Me Organic
Those two captions are the same sentence. Nothing has been left out of either one — the powders are different, and the method is not.
| Bhringraj mask | Colour Me Organic | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Milled leaf powder | Milled herb powders | Same |
| Added to it | Nothing | Nothing | Same |
| Mixed with | Warm water | Warm water | Same |
| Consistency | Thick yogurt | Thick yogurt | Same |
| Applied | Scalp first, then the lengths | Scalp first, then the lengths | Same |
| Kept | Damp, under a cap | Damp, under a cap | Same |
| Contains bhringraj | Yes — it is the whole pouch | Yes — in 22 of the 24 shades | Same |
| Time on the hair | 30–45 minutes | Varies by shade class | Differs |
| Result | No colour deposits | Colour deposits | Differs |
Six of the eight are identical. If you have used bhringraj, the only genuinely new thing is timing — and that is decided for you by the shade you pick.
Twenty-four shades, sorted by what is in them
Radico’s shades are built from the same family of herbs in different proportions. Which pigment herbs a shade contains — henna, indigo, or a ratio of the two — decides both the colour it gives and how long it needs to develop.
We group the twenty-four shades into five classes on that basis, so the development time follows from the recipe rather than from guesswork. It is the same logic you have been reading on this page, applied to colour: what is in the powder determines what it does.
You have used it already
Bhringraj is one of the herbs in 22 of the 24 shades — all but Violet and Honey Blonde. It is in the pouch as a scalp herb, not as a dye, which is possible precisely because it carries no pigment of its own. So the scalp care does not begin when you buy the powder and stop when you start colouring. It is the same herb, doing the same job, in both.
Choose a shade
Which shade you need comes down to two things: how much gray you have, and whether you want a warm or a cool result.
See the colour chart Choosing for gray coverage
No PPD, no ammonia, no peroxide — in any of the twenty-four.