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Essential Oils For Hair

Here are my best tips and ideas that you can use on your hair, whether you have thick or fine hair, oily or dry hair. Essential oils are a great way to help with all kinds of hair issues including thinning, growth, shine, dandruff, dry scalp, almost anything that you might be experiencing!

Essential Oils For Hair

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Essential Oils For Hair Care

Everyone wants to have a great head of hair.  It sounds easy enough, but most hair care products are fraught with artificial ingredients that can actually harm your hair or scalp over time.  There is an easier way to care for your hair:  essential oils.  Yes, even for oily hair!  

Essential oils can be used in two ways for hair and scalp.  You can add essential oils directly to your shampoo and conditioner or add to a carrier oil and massage into the scalp and hair prior to shampooing.  

Just be careful using some directly on your scalp.  Also, if you have plant allergies (like ragweed) test the oil on a small patch of skin for reaction prior to using.

As a general rule, to mix with carrier oils in a guideline, add about 1% of essential oil in the carrier oil.

Additional Resource :: How To Make Essential Oil Shampoo

What Carrier Oil Should You Use For Your Hair?

Carrier oils are the “neutral” oils you use to mix with the more “active” highly concentrated oils. Generally they will be the base of your mix and will have more volume than the individual oils.

Fine Hair

For fine hair you should use sunflower, coconut, grapeseed, almond or jojoba oil which are lighter oils that will nourish and add volume to fine hair.  

Thick Hair

For thick, dry or coarse hair use richer oils like avocado, olive, sesame and almond for their hydrating properties.  

Speciality Carrier Oils for Hair

  • Almond oil soothes and moisturizes the scalp.  
  • Coconut oil softens hair and increases shine.  
  • Jojoba oil moisturizes the hair, adds nutrients, and stimulates the scalp.  
  • Moroccan argan oil moisturizes, nourishes, and provides antioxidants to hair.

Now, onto the essential oils for hair care!

Lavender

Lavender Essential Oils

Lavender oil has so many uses.  It’s truly a go to oil.  For hair, it can speed up hair growth because it has properties of improving hair growth of cells and reduce stress.  Its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties also improve scalp health.  

Lavender works for all hair types, conditions hair and improves shine, while helping to control dandruff by calming the scalp and balancing sebum production.

Lavender blends well with: clary sage, geranium, cedarwood, vetiver or patchouli oil.

Vetiver

Vetiver Essential Oil

Like lavender, vetiver has an innate ability to calm, cool, and soothe the mind and body. This cooling property makes it a good oil to use to prevent hair loss due to high body heat.  It also has an antiseptic and tonic action and helps treat acne and oily scalp.

Vetiver blends well with: sandalwood, lavender, ylang ylang, jasmine or patchouli oil.

Rosemary

Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary essential oil is one of the best essential oil for hair and enhancing hair growth. It stimulates the scalp and increases local blood circulation, thereby stimulating growth.  Another way rosemary improves growth is because its powerful antioxidant effect helps to fight against free radicals.  Free radicals are responsible for thinning of hair as well as greying.  Here’s a great reason to use it instead of chemical minoxidil:  it worked just as well in studies, but caused less itching of the scalp.

Rosemary oil blends well with: lavender, peppermint, basil, thyme.

Chamomile

Chamomile Essential Oil

You wouldn’t know it from looking at this “weed” found in lots of places, but this daily like flower makes an essential oil that sooths and heals the scalp.  

If you have dandruff, eczema, dermatitis of scalp its anti-inflammatory properties sooth, while adding shine and softness to the hair.  Once your scalp is healed, chamomile will promote faster hair growth.

Chamomile blends well with: jasmine, rose, geranium or lavender oil.

Ylang Ylang

This fragrant oil which is native to tropical Asia has been used there for centuries to stimulate the scalp to encourage hair growth.  It does this by relaxing the tight scalp muscles which can lead to hair loss.  It’s perfect for dry, dull hair and encourages sebum production.  This helps keep hair from becoming dry and brittle and reduces breakage.

Ylang Ylang blends well with: jasmine and vetiver.

Peppermint

Peppermint Essential Oil

Peppermint essential oil gives a cooling, tingling sensation which increases circulation where it’s applied.  This is very helpful during the anagen (or growing) phase.  Studies have shown that it also increases the number of follicles, follicle depth, and overall hair growth. 

Peppermint oil is astringent and refining and works best for those with an oily scalp. People with dry scalp may find it irritating.  Side scalp use… have you ever sunburned your scalp?  Cool it off immediately with some peppermint oil!!

Peppermint blends well with: rosemary, cedarwood, and tea tree oil.

Cedarwood

Cedarwood Essential Oils

Cedarwood has a beautiful woody aroma and it stimulates the scalp and promotes hair growth. This oil is well-known for centuries to treat thinning hair and various types of alopecia.  

It does this by balancing the oil-producing glands in the scalp.  Its antifungal and antibacterial properties can treat different conditions like dandruff, greasy scalp, fungal infection, and eczema.

Cedarwood blends well with: juniper, rosemary, ylang ylang, lavender.

Petitgrain

Petitgrain is a lovely cleansing and soothing oil and leaves your scalp feeling fresh and invigorated.  For those with oily hair, it’s a godsend.  It opens up clogged pores and reduces over-production of sebum.

Petitgrain blends beautifully with: rosemary, palmarosa, geranium, or clary sage oil.

Clary Sage

Clary Sage Essential Oil

Clary sage is herb that promotes hair growth and stimulates the scalp.   It contains same linalyl acetate that helps make lavender oil so effective in increasing hair growth and improves hair strength.  Ladies, if you have female pattern baldness, Clary sage’s plethora of antioxidants and phytoestrogens will help.  It also calms dandruff and flaky, irritated scalp because of its antiseptic properties.

Clary Sage blends well with: lavender, geranium, cedarwood, or frankincense oil.

Lemongrass

Lemongrass is a good treatment for dandruff when used daily. Mix a few drops into your shampoo or conditioner daily, and make sure to massage into the scalp. 

Thyme

Thyme promotes hair growth by both stimulating the scalp and actively preventing hair loss.  It’s a strong oil so a little goes a long way. 

Tea tree

Tea tree oil has powerful antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial properties.  Used for hair, it helps to unplug hair follicles and increase hair growth.  Tea tree is one of the most popular essential oils for successfully treating dandruff.  It has a strong smell, but that itch will stop almost immediately.

Juniper

Juniper berry is helpful for overly oily hair and helps strengthen brittle ends. Juniper berry’s antiseptic properties help fight scalp conditions, and its astringent properties tone hair follicles to prevent hair loss.

Juniper blends well with both lemon and cedarwood.

Essential Oils For Hair Wrapup

There you have it! Tons of fun essential oil ideas to help with your hair care routines.

I have to say that I have been super happy using essential oils in my shampoo to help with “issues” that come up from time to time (looking at you stress hair loss!)

Just so you know, the weird thing about essential oils is that you are allowed to use all different kinds of mixes depend on your hair needs! You can use Peppermint and Lavender or Ylang Ylang and Clary Sage.

You can mix your own essential oils concoctions, checking to see which work best for you!