Essential Oils For Hair
If you would like to improve hair growth, strengthen your locks, or just give your hair a deserved boost, essential oils may be your answer. Whether it is dry hair, an oily scalp, dandruff or hair breakage, essential oils may help maintain a healthy head of hair.
Certain hair troubles can stem from underlying health issues such as stress, poor diet, or even hormonal changes. But adding essential oils to your existing routine may help give you healthy, luscious locks for longer.
Benefits Of Essential Oils For Hair
Whether it’s creating your own hair mask using essential oils or adding essential oils to your shampoo and conditioner, essential oils for hair are known to have a host of benefits, including:
- Promoting hair growth
- Hydrating dry hair
- Repairing damaged or frizzy hair
- Adding more strength and shine to your hair
In fact, various studies show that essential oils may help reduce dandruff, prevent hair loss, and reduce side effects caused by some shampoos such as itching and dry hair.
Best Essential Oils For Hair
Each essential oil has versatile properties, which means that the same essential oil may be used for different hair conditions. Different essential oils may also help with a variety of properties from hair growth to adding more shine. Below are some of our favourite essential oils for hair:
Rosemary Essential Oil
Native to the Mediterranean, the rosemary herb is widely known for its refreshing aroma.
More so, Rosemary Essential Oil is recognised for its haircare benefits, making it one of the most popular essential oils for hair. It is also known to encourage hair growth by stimulating circulation on the scalp.
Rosemary Oil is further used to add volume and shine, while hydrating the hair and relieving dandruff. It may also assist with slowing down greying and moisturising the scalp.
With so many rosemary plants, some of the best Rosemary Essential Oils are Rosemary Essential Oil (Moroccan), Rosemary Essential Oil (Spanish) and Rosemary French (Natural Blend).
How To Use Rosemary Essential Oil for Hair
To use Rosemary Oil on the hair, combine Rosemary Oil with a carrier oil at a 1 – 2% dilution and massage into the hair and scalp; let the mask sit for 20 – 30 minutes before washing out with shampoo.
Lavender Essential Oil
Recognised for its calming and soothing powers, Lavender Essential Oil is also a popular essential oil for hair growth. Not only does it create a relaxing atmosphere, but Lavender Oil is known to promote hair growth, thanks to its ability to stimulate blood circulation on the scalp.
Lavender Essential Oil is also known to reduce dandruff, nourish and moisturise the hair and scalp, and promote hair thickness.
How To Use Lavender Essential Oil for Hair
To use Lavender Oil on the hair, combine Lavender Oil with a carrier oil at a 1 - 2% dilution, massage into the hair and scalp and let the hydrating hair mask sit for 10 minutes before washing out with your favourite shampoo.
Cedarwood Essential Oil
Cedarwood Essential Oil is known to naturally reduce hair loss and improve hair growth, making it a great essential oil for hair.
A small study found that people with alopecia areata (sudden hair loss) experienced significant hair growth when massaging their scalp daily using Cedarwood Essential Oil that had been diluted in a mixture of Jojoba and Grapeseed carrier oils. The study concluded that essential oils diluted with carrier oils could be used safely and effectively in the treatment of alopecia areata.
When added to shampoos and conditioners, Cedarwood Oil is known to add volume and shine. It’s also a common ingredient in many beard oils as it encourages hair growth by stimulating hair follicles.
With so many different species of cedarwood, the two most popular varieties are Cedarwood Essential Oil (Atlas) and Cedarwood Essential Oil (Himalayan).
How To Use Cedarwood Essential Oil for Hair
To use Cedarwood Essential Oil on the hair, combine Cedarwood Oil with a carrier oil at a 1 - 2% dilution and apply as a hair mask. Let it sit for 10 minutes before washing out with shampoo.
Bergamot Essential Oil
With a variety of different essential oil properties, Bergamot Oil is known to be a great essential oil for hair.
In fact, Bergamot Oil is used by many to soften and tame curls. Bergamot Oil is also known to strengthen hair follicles, stimulate hair growth, relieve dandruff and itchiness, and soothe irritation on the scalp.
How To Use Bergamot Essential Oil for Hair
To use Bergamot Essential Oil on the hair, combine Bergamot Oil with a carrier oil at a 1 - 2% dilution and apply as a hair mask. Leave in for 20 – 30 minutes before rinsing with your favourite shampoo. You can also add a few drops of Bergamot oil to your usual shampoo.
Other Tips On How To Maintain Healthy Hair
There are other natural remedies you can try to strengthen, restore and stimulate hair growth. You can try:
- Massaging the scalp
- Coconut oil (use before washing)
- Ginseng supplements
Where To Buy Essential Oils For Hair
While essential oils are generally available to purchase at health, wellness and retail stores, it is important to keep in mind that the purity and quality of these essential oils will vary. That is why we recommend finding a reputable supplier.
Here at AWO, we have a wide selection of 100% pure essential oils and organic essential oils that are sold at reasonable prices. Because our stock is purchased in bulk quantities our costs are significantly less, which allows us to offer our high-quality products at affordable prices. We are also based right here in Australia!
Essential Oil Safety
Whilst essential oils are natural products, they are extremely potent and can cause serious harm if used incorrectly. For this reason, we recommend the following:
- In line with the Therapeutic Goods Act, we do not recommend ingesting essential oils without the guidance of a registered Aromatherapist or Naturopath.
- Avoid using Essential Oils during pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding.
- We recommend storing your Essential Oils in a cool, dry place at room temperature, ensuring that they are not directly exposed to sunlight and are out of reach of children or pets.
- Essential Oils can be very concentrated and are likely to cause irritation or reactions if applied directly to the skin. For this reason, it is important to first dilute your essential oils before using topically (on the skin). Our recommended dilution percentages can be found under the ‘Best Essential Oils For Headaches’ section.
Resources
Chaisripipat, Lourith, Kanlayavattanakul, 2015, 'Anti-dandruff Hair Tonic Containing Lemongrass (Cymbopogon flexuosus) Oil', Forsch Komplementmed, vol. 22, pp. 226 - 229.
Hay, I.C., Jamieson, M., Ormerod, A.D., 1998, 'Randomized trial of aromatherapy. Successful treatment for alopecia areata', Archives of Dermatological Research, vol. 134, no. 11, pp. 1349 -1352.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness.