SDG – the best kept secret in Ayurveda

SDG – the best kept secret in Ayurveda

A few days ago, I was introduced to a product called Shatha Dhautha Ghrita (SDG).

• Shatha – 100
• Dhautha – Washed
• Ghritha – Clarified Butter or Ghee.

So it is ghee that is washed a 100 times in water! The process is quite simple. The homemade ghee (I don’t trust the market ones 🙂 ) is placed in a copper vessel and then mixed with purified water. It is then washed ten times, with the water poured away after each cycle of ten washes; and it is literally washed one hundred times!!! Incredibly simple, a little time consuming but the result is a cream of whipped cream consistency that penetrates all seven layers of the skin. It is an excellent anti-aging treatment that smooths wrinkles, fades sun spots, heals burns, and soothes the inflammation of rosacea, eczema and acne.

Of course, after reading about it, I had to try it and the result was amazing. What I made was a beautiful, silky, creamy wonderfulness that went into my skin without any oily residue!!!! It left me with a deeply moisturized, silky feeling that stayed with me until I washed my face again. It does smell of ghee when it goes on, but the smell dissipates upon contact with the skin! Its absolutely magical.

My mind started ticking and I wondered how it all worked. So started my research. The results were mind boggling! Ghee (something I have been brought up on but had no idea) is high in butyric acid which is a short chain fatty acid that is linked to an immune response that decreases inflammation. It’s the same stuff that’s added in steroid creams, you know – those that knock out acute inflammation (but have a lot of adverse effects).

Well, this is butyric acid made by nature. It also explains why Ayurveda recommends it for inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis, eczema, rosacea and acne.

Ghee is packed with Omega 3 and Omega 9 essential fatty acids. It is also high in Vitamins A, D, E and K, all good for you and your skin. It also contains high levels Conjugated Linoleic Acid, when made with milk from grass fed cows. This in turn makes your skin more resilient to external factors such as stress, sun and pollutants, especially as you age. Ghee is also high in antioxidants and numerous other minerals which are good for your skin.

Why copper I wondered. The truth is that you can make it in any bowl glass, steel whatever. But in the days when Ayurveda started utensils were made from naturally occurring dhatu or metals, like lead and copper. Lead was considered less preferable to Copper. Added to that Copper acts like a catalyst to promote fat splitting, and also increases the copper content in the emulsion, and copper is known to have anti-inflammatory effect on skin. So you can (and I did) use your Kitchen Aid to make the cream. But I tried it with copper the second time (I had one left over from a religious ceremony) and mixed it by hand and the difference is noticeable!

Washed ghee starts as a lipid (fatty) emulsion and with each introduction of rinsing water, as the pressure from mixing gets applied to the fat particles, it splits them and makes the emulsion more aqueous (water infused).This ‘fat splitting is the process in which, fat is hydrolyzed in the presence of water to yield free fatty acids and glycerols. SDG lasts for about three months kept in hot and humid conditions. However, storing it in the fridge will increase its shelf life not to mention the additional cooling and soothing effect on the skin.

I find the smell of ghee a bit over powering so I add Saffron and Sandalwood and lotus EO to the ghee before I start the process. What I get in the end is a slightly yellowish creamy mixture that smells divine and glides on the skin giving it the most luxuriously soft and silky feeling. Safe to use on babies, incredibly helpful in burns, scars, inflammations and skin damage and super effective on mature skin… nature can’t get better than this!!!!
AyurDeva loves Shatha Dhautha Ghritha