Haritaki | Kadukkai Health Benefits and Uses for hair and skin

Haritaki | Kadukkai Health Benefits and Uses for hair and skin:


Haritaki is an amazing gift from mother nature to treat multiple diseases and to maintain overall health of body. Dry Haritaki fruits are widely used in natural remedies. It is known as Kadukkai in Tamil Nadu and widely used in tamil medicines. Haritaki is one of the popular ingredient in ayurvedic formulations too.



Kadukkai | Haritaki in different Indian languages like Hindi, English, Tamil and more:


Botanical Name - Terminalia Chebula
Tamil - Kadukkai
Hindi - Harad | Harra | Harada | Haritaki
Sanskrit - Pathya, Abhaya, Haritaki
Marati - Hirada | Hirda
Kannada - Alalekaayi
Horitoki - Bengali
Xilikha- Assamese
Karakkaya - Telugu
Malayalam - Kadukkai
Kannada - Alalekaayi
Gujarathi - Hardo
Bengali - Haritaki | Horitoki
Telugu - Karakkai | Karakkaya
Oriya - Haridra
Punjabi - Har | Harrar
Assamia -Hilikha
Urdu - Harad

Kadukkai also has some more common names like Chebulic myrobalan, ink-nut, Harde Whole in English.

Kadukkai | Haritaki Health Benefits:


Kadukkai is believed to balance three doshas as per ayurveda. Many ayurvedic medical preparations include kadukkai as one of the ingredients because of its amazing healing properties.

Kadukkai is used in popular ayervedic medicine called 'Triphala'. Triphala helps to detoxify and cleanse the colon. It detoxifies the liver. It is a natural blood purifier. Triphala is made from Nellikai, thandrikkai and kadukkai. It can be taken without any side effects. It suppresses all the side effects from other medicines and gives good health.

Haritaki is also used as one of the main ingredients in making natural medicines for lyme treatment.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for stomach problems like stomach upset, indigestion, acidity, constipation:

Haritaki has laxative properties. Mix a teaspoon of kadukkai powder in a glass of hot drinking water. Stir it well and consume it. You will get good relief from many stomach problems like constipation, dysentry, diarrhea, indigestion, acidity. It is recommended to drink before going to bed.

Haritaki is good in inducing appetite. As it increases the digestive powder of the body, you can maintain healthy diet.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for cough and cold:

Haritaki can be used to treat cold and cough in kids and adults. Most of the tamil marundhu for infants and babies include kadukkai in it. Continue giving those homemade natural medicines when they suffer from cough. They will become normal soon.

Mix a pinch of haritaki powder with honey. Give it to babies above 1 year. Mix 2-3 pinches with honey for toddlers. For adults, you can give 1/2 teaspoon of haritaki with honey.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for diabetes:

Haritaki is good in lowering blood sugar levels. Hence it is good for diabetes people. However, you need to consult your doctor if you are already taking medicines for diabetes. There have been studies about it.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for weight loss and obesity:

Because of the cleansing effect of haritaki, it is useful in controlling obesity and weight loss process. Include haritaki powder when you want to lose your weight and obesity. As it can remove the toxins from your body, you can easily shed your weight along with healthy diet and regular exercise.



Kadukkai | Haritaki for sore throat:

Boil a glass of water in a pan. Mix a teaspoon of haritaki powder with hot water. Once it comes to bearable temperature, gargle with it. Haritaki is good in treating sore throat. You can do this regularly to maintain the health of gums and teeth.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for anemia:

Mix kadukkai powder with jaggery powder. Eat it daily to treat anemia.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for urinary problems:

Haritkai is useful in getting rid of excessive urinary problems.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for health of gums and teeth and treating dental problems:

Haritaki is very good for treating dental problems like bleeding gum, other gum diseases, infections and teeth problems.

After brushing your teeth, you can massage your teeth and gums with haritaki powder. Leave it for a minute after massaging well. Rinse your mouth. You can do it regularly to strenghten your gums.

You can also mix a teaspoon haritaki powder in a glass of hot water. Gargle with this mixture regularly to maintain the dental health.

Haritaki | Kadukkai for hair:

Kadukkai is one of the wonderful herb that can be used for different hair problems and maintain your health of hair. You can efficiently control hair loss by taking haritaki.


I got a recipe for kadukkai hair pack from my mom's friend. She got this input from a naatu marundhu kadai(country medicine shop). It is really a good nattu maruthuvam | iyarkai vaithiyam | natural therapy for hair. Kadukkai is good for promoting hair growth, controlling hair loss, treating lice, treating dandruff problems, preventing grey hair(white hair) and maintaining the natural color of your hair.

Kadukkai | Haritaki is one of the main ingredients in triphaladi oil in ayurveda. Trihphaladi oil helps to maintain the dark color and health of the hair when used continuously.

How to make Kadukkai Hair Pack or Haritaki hair pack at home?

To make amazing hair pack with kadukkai, take equal quantities of amla powder, kadukkai powder(Haritaki powder), Bhringaraj powder and curry leaves powder in a stainless steel or iron bowl. Add drinking water to make a fine paste. Do not add more water at once. Add little by little while stirring the mixture with a spoon. Just press the mixture with the spoon so that the herbs can release their power quickly. Leave it overnight. Apply this amazing kadukkai hair pack in the next morning on your hair. Concentrate on your scalp more. Apply on the hair strands too. Leave it for 1.5 hours. Wear a shower cap for best results. After 1.5 hours, wash your hair normally. You do not need to apply any shampoo. You can add 1/2 of a lemon in half bucket of water and have lemon rinse at last. Adjust the powders and lemon quantity according to your hair. You can apply this kadukkai hair pack once a week. You can add henna or indigo or both to color your hair naturally with thsis kadukkai hair pack.

How to make Kadukkai Hair oil or Haritaki hair oil at home?

Crush the kadukkai/inknut/haritaki and soak it in pure coconut oil. You can also make a coarse powder of kadukkai and soak it in coconut oil. You can heat it till the haritaki turns brown color and store it in a glass or stainless steel bottle once it becomes cool. Otherwise you can close the bottle and keep it under sun for 3 days.

Kadukkai | Haritaki for skin and face:

Haritaki is one of the amazing natural ingredient to cleanse the skin. As it can remove the toxins of your body, taking haritaki powder internally can get your skin become cleansed. You can get glowing skin by taking it regularly as the toxins will get out of your body. It helps to treat acne problems too. Mix required haritaki powder with little water and make a paste out of it. Just apply the paste on the affected area on your face. Triphala powder is good in treating eczema. 

How to make Kadukkai Powder | How to make Haritaki Powder at home?


Kadukkai powder is available in all country medicine shops and ayurvedic shops. If you cannot get pure kadukkai powder, you can make it on your own. Just crush the whole haritaki and remove the seeds. Sun dry it for few days till it becomes crisp. Make a fine powder it in a mixer. Keep it in an air tight container.

How to use Kadukkai Powder | How to use Haritaki Powder at home?

Mix Haritaki powder in hot water or hot milk and drink it. Add honey to the water if you cannot consume it as such because it is slightly bitter in taste. You can also mix haritaki powder with honey and eat it. 

Triphala(Vara Churna) has haritaki as one of the main ingredients. You can consume it too for getting the health benefits of kadukkai. You can find Triphala churna in ayurvedic shops and consume it after checking with ayurvedic doctor.

Divya Haritaki Churna by Swami Ramdev is available in market which got good reviews.


How to make Haritaki Rasayana at home?

Crush the dry haritaki fruit and remove the seeds. Boil the dry haritaki fruit peel in milk. Once the haritaki fruit peel becomes soft, switch off the stove. Mix little ghee and honey with the mixture. 

Kadukkai | Haritaki Storage - Shelf life:

You can store Kadukkai for even a year. You should keep it dry always. Do not keep it wet. Even if gets wet, sun dry it very well till the moisture is gone. It is good to store it in an air tight container.

Where to buy Kadukkai | Haritaki?

Haritaki is mostly available in whole dry fruit form or in powder form. It is available in most of the country medicine shop, ayurvedic shop and some grocery shops. You can find it online too.

Kadukkai Side Effects & Warnings:


1. Never take kadukkai in more quantity. Kadukkai is an amazing herb which has to be used only a little amount.

2. Haritaki is not advisable for pregnant ladies. Better consult a doctor about it.

3. People with diabetes should take Haritaki after consultation with doctor.

4. Haritaki when taken in right quantity will not have side effects. If you see any side effects, stop consuming it and consult a doctor about taking it.

5. Always use pure haritaki powder. It is better to make it on your own at home.

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5 comments:

  1. I do have kadukkai in my home, but don't know that it is very useful for hair... Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  2. Can I make yea with haritaki dried whole friut?

    ReplyDelete
  3. how much Kakukai should one take. One teaspoon or one tablespoon? Can I take it together with milk instead of water?

    ReplyDelete