THE JOURNAL

Notes from the atelier.

Long-form writing on Ayurveda, herbs, traditional process, and what we are learning batch by batch. We publish slowly, like everything else we make.

Why we cook hair oil in iron — and what the metal actually does
May 16, 2026 ·1 min read

Why we cook hair oil in iron — and what the metal actually does

Loha patra, the black iron pot, is not nostalgia. It is a slow chemical conversation between the vessel and the herbs. In the kitchens of north India, hair oils have...

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Kumkumadi tailam — the saffron oil that the Ashtanga Hridayam wrote down twelve centuries ago
May 14, 2026

Kumkumadi tailam — the saffron oil that the Ashtanga Hridayam wrote down twelve centuries ago

A face oil whose recipe is older than most languages spoken today. We trace its lineage from a 7th-century Sanskrit treatise to...

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