Use roughly equal proportions of all the green leafy ingredients listed above.

Powder the vendhayam/fenugreek seeds and the poolaan kizhangu if it’s not already in powdered form, using the small jar of a mixie or a coffee grinder. Set aside.

Shred all the greens roughly by hand and then pulse them with very little water in the large jar of a mixie grinder. Do not make a very fine paste, but one that will hold together well.

Alternatively, you can use a stone grinder and pound these together by hand (or a mixed approach—pulse in mixie, then come to the hand pounding).

Now mix in the dry fenugreek and white turmeric powders. Sprinkle again with water if needed just to be able to form the paste into small vadais or patties the size of your palm.

Fashion the herbal paste into vadais and set them out on a plate to dry in shaded but hot area. They should dry quite fast, in a day or two.

Once they are completely dried, you can store for a few weeks or make the hair oil right away.

Heat either the coconut or the sesame oil in a heavy-bottomed vanali or pan until you can feel the heat distinctly when you hover your hand just above.

Reduce the flame. Drop in ½ of the herb vadais and let them fry for a minute or so. Switch off the flame.

Let the oil cool, then bottle, with the vadais intact.

Repeat the above process with the other oil.

Leave the oils to steep for a few days, then strain out the vadais and any residual bits.

Thatha’s recommendation is to use the coconut oil daily, to keep your hair lustrous and healthy. The sesame oil is for once-a-week “oil baths” and massages.

I don’t oil my hair daily, so use a very small quantity of the coconut oil after hair washes, almost the way we tend to use “hair serums” these days.