In this interview, Ayurvedic practitioner Salila Sukumaran speaks with Jeevan, a product manager from Toronto who has been a participant in Salila’s two‑year "Crowning Glory" group program – a fully natural, Ayurvedic hair‑care regimen. Jeevan describes how he followed a daily DIY oiling routine (bihangam) using a homemade oil based on an e‑book provided by Salila, along with natural shampoo, conditioner, and hair‑detox practices. Over the course of the program he reports a roughly 20% increase in hair density, a dramatic reduction in daily hair shedding (from about 10 strands to 1‑2), noticeable reversal of greying, and the ability to grow his hair longer and keep it healthier. He also shares that his older family member (a 60‑year‑old) experienced new hair growth after using the same oil. Beyond physical results, Jeevan highlights the discipline, community support, and mental‑health benefits of the program, recommending it to others as a low‑risk, knowledge‑rich practice that can improve confidence and overall wellness. The interview emphasizes the program’s natural, chemical‑free approach, the adaptability of ingredients to North‑American markets, and the broader Ayurvedic lifestyle learnings gained through participation.
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Oh, today we have with us Jeevan. Jeevan has been a client for nearly 2 years, and last October Jeevan joined the Crowning Glory. This was a group course that I created for women from all over the world to take care of their hair with completely natural shampoo, completely natural conditioner, oiling our hair, getting into the discipline of caring for our hair because Hair is all about confidence. Hair is about beauty. And I had over 100 lovely women from all over the world sign up. And Jeevan was the only gentleman in that room. And it makes me so happy to say that Jeevan has been the most diligent student. And he is here to share with us his crowning success.
Thank you, Salila Sukumaran. First off, it was great experience experiencing the journey of seeing my hair grow back. A little bit about myself. My name is Jeevan and I am based out of Toronto, Canada, and I work as a product manager in an energy technology company in the clean tech space. So primarily a desk jockey. I've always been interested in fitness, holistic science, taking care of your body. And the same goes with my wife. I used to always talk to her a lot about yoga and Ayurveda. And one day she stumbled upon Salila Sukumaran's Instagram page and I was like, yeah, why not? Let's get on the call. And then first and foremost found Salila Sukumaran very compassionate. And then she was listening and understood the different issues that we had. I felt she was one of those Ayurvedic practitioners who would understand our current scenario better since we are away from homeland and in North America, I was experiencing a little bit of hair thinning. As every man, hair is your biggest confidence booster. Since university, I started seeing that thickness in my hair was reducing and always felt there was something wrong internally. Other than it being on Hair Detox as part of the program, learned a lot about different practices of Ayurveda that are complementary towards your hair growth. Hair oil practicing, how often you got to do it, and then how you wash your hair, everything natural, nothing chemical-based. I personally like DIY, so I created based on the ebook that Salila Sukumaran provided. I make my own hair oil using ingredients that you find local in any big city in North America. I use that hair oil every day in the morning. So as soon as I wake up in the morning, then I do a routine where I do a bihangam. So it usually gives me at least 30 to 40 minutes of time for my scalp to absorb the oil before I take shower. And right now my hair looks a lot thicker. There were also instances where I had gray hair. Now my partner cannot find them, but no one should quote me on colors since I'm colorblind. My wife says she cannot see it, so I'll trust that. So it's all black right now. I had great experience. Best thing is all natural can do it, can tinker with the ingredients once you understand what each ingredient does from heating, cooling perspective.
What I'm most proud of you, Jeevan, is that since October you have maintained this routine on a daily basis. So Ashita was saying that there were patches where your hair was thinning badly. Would you say that?
20% would be a fair conservative number to see. The hair growth and not just the hair growth. The biggest thing, the quality of hair, the strength in hair, there's a big difference in that because earlier when I used to pull or play or do rigorously brush my hair, I used to see at least 10 hair falling in the sink. Now it's hardly 1 or 2. And then sometimes I need to pull it really hard because your hair is not breaking as often. The density improves. It's got thicker, but Even if hair follicles are staying there and then if it's still around, it looks a lot thicker.
What about the length, Jeevan? Did you, do you notice that you are getting more frequent haircuts? Has it been growing faster?
I am keeping my hair longer for longer time. Earlier, since the density wasn't great, there were times where there would be places where it used to come up and then there used to be a depression because the hair follicle there are not as dense. So it used to not look very well kept. So that's where I used to prefer cutting it short, and now I prefer keeping it a little medium long because I feel that's the perfect length for my hair. I can certainly say I did grow it longer than I did in the last 3 or 4 years. There's more confidence in leaving it longer for longer time.
Wonderful. So it's even, it's growing thicker, it's growing stronger, and the hair follicles themselves are not falling as quickly. Like before, you would see at least 10 strands on your sink, and now you see barely maybe 1 or 2. And then the graying is also drastically reduced.
Also, Ashwita's dad actually made the hair oil for them, and I asked him to do it every day, and he has been doing it every day, and he feels it is growing for, for even a 65, 60-year-old. Amazing. He felt it's growing some baby hair.
Amazing.
I told him, give it 6 months and then maybe you might have another client then.
I will have another interview.
This is great.
This is nature's gift to us, these wonderful herbs. This is our heritage from our ancestors. This is our ancestral knowledge. What would you say to someone who is sitting on the sidelines right now wondering, is it worth it? Should I sign up for this? Crowning Glory program?
Yeah, you should. The reason being, considering it's all natural, no chemical, there's nothing to lose. You're only gonna gain. And also you'll gain a lot of knowledge doing that practice. Even if not about hair, there'll be a lot about Ayurveda and other practices that you might learn. So it might just open the doors for new wisdom when it comes to health, wellness. There are multiple benefits of joining this program. Not only will your If you're diligent, your hair will grow, your hair quality will improve, length will improve, density would improve. That's been in my case. Everybody is different, so it might react differently, but at least it will teach you even discipline of getting into that program. So there'll be other benefits that you might not associate to just a hair growth program. And also you have a great community that will help you and support you in that journey. And Salila Sukumaran will try to keep you accountable to do that over the workshop. So it's a good practice to get in the groove. And then once you're into it, it's quite addictive. I'll be honest, you don't want to leave it. And then the days when I don't do it, I'm like, I don't feel good. I'm like, my day hasn't started. So it has multiple benefits. So it'll also help your mental health and you'll be more confident because you would feel you're doing the best that you can do with the resources that you have.
Ivan, it was such a pleasure. I appreciate you so much.
No problem. It is all your effort that got us into this path. And now, as I said, it's very addictive. So once you're in it, you just want to grow and learn. The more the knowledge you have about your own body, the more you can help it. Sustain this external environment that's changing constantly and at a rapid pace. So you have equipped us with the right knowledge, and there's a lot to grow, a lot to learn, but we are very confident we are in right hands and we'll learn together.
