| HAIR | 5 Essential Oils for Healthier Hair

Aroma therapy is quickly becoming one of the more popular forms of holistic healing, especially in the context of maintaining our health. People have witnessed an almost renaissance effect in alternative health care within the last 30 years; things such as herbalism, reflexology, acupuncture and reiki to name a few. While these practices have received (finally!) different degrees of credibility by health professionals, the general public is still pretty split between the pharmaceutical approach or natural approach when it comes to ailments.

The fact that synthetic drugs are prioritized and praised over natural herbs and alternative practices in the average family’s home is beyond me (slight rant). 

Nonetheless, I’m going to do my part and let you know about some pretty great oils that are going to help your mane blossom to its fullest potential.

1)                   ROSEMARY

Rosemary has a stimulating scent, comparatively to peppermint and tea tree oil, making it a great relaxation elixir to put in your home diffusors when you want to keep calm. It focuses on stimulating the body’s nerves and mind, and with continued use rosemary can bring a purifying, reviving and refreshing feeling to yourself and your home. But what I really want you to pay attention to is what it does for your hair. Its powerful antiseptic functions make it a great cleansing agent, this gem has the ability to cleanse the scalp from bacteria, and helps to remove dead skin cells. Prevention is always better than treatment, so adding rosemary to your herbal rinse will do so much more good than harm. This oil is better suited for those with oily hair, because it helps reduce the sebum production in the scalp. Mix it with orris root powder for a DIY dry shampoo 😊

2)CHAMOMILE

We know chamomile for its calming properties, and bodily maintenance when added as an infusion tea. Especially noted as a nervous and stress related remedy, it’s also a great anti-inflammatory herb. It can also be a hair lightener when used by itself, which can bring more of a natural high light for those with blonder coloured hair. Chamomile oil can help with issues involving head lice and dandruff, and like I said, prevention is always better than treatment, so adding a few drops to your hair routine will give you one less problem to worry about. I don’t want to forget that chamomile acts as a moisturizer. So yea, add that.

3)        LAVENDER

Now we knowwwww all the wonderful uses for lavender, right? I mean it’s the ultimate herb for tranquility as a tea, a meditative stimulant fragrance wise, and it’s also used to regenerate wounds!

I mean this bad boy can even treat asthma. Its also known to help with depression, headaches.

  oh my goodness I can go on and on because I love lavender oil, but the point here is hair.

What-can-it-do-for-your-hair.

When you massage it into your scalp, lavender oil promotes blood circulation, which in turn increases hair growth. It also moisturizes the scalp and increases its sebum production, which can help a lot if you have one of those crazy scalps that can be dry in some places and oily in others. If you haven’t gotten my enthusiasm for lavender oil, id say it’s a must-have in everyone’s beauty ritual! Definitely needs to be a staple in everyone’s home.

4)        TEA TREE 

Now tea tree oil is a scalp stimulant for sure, so you know that using it will serve as a hair growth treatment. You see it in a lot of hair products; it causes that “tingly” feeling you get when you use those extra cleansing shampoos. It’s like the all-around skin disinfectant- its antiseptic, fungicidal, and antiviral. Its also proven to moisturize the scalp, penetrate the cuticles of the hair, all which seriously promotes hair growth. Tea tree really gets into the skin cells, cleaning everything out so that the normal distribution of the hairs natural oils can regulate. Its beneficial to mix tea tree oil with almond oil or coconut oil, and give your scalp a massage 2-3 times a week.

5)        PEPPERMINT

Peppermint is also great in increasing blood flow, which makes it another great staple in hair growth. When you mix it in with your shampoo it rejuvenates hair by opening clogged pores during washing so that the blood flow is distributed more freely and evenly. Because it encourages so much oil distribution, its better suited for people with dry hair and scalps. Its not exclusively for dry hair, but it just brings better overall benefits from balancing out the scalps sebum production. Peppermint oil is a little intense, so before you go pouring it all over your head test it out on your skin first to see how it reacts. Crazy that this natural herb can be that powerful, but I don’t think nature has any problem that it hasn’t given us plants to solve 😊. This one here is proof of that.

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Now each of these can be used individually (diluted and mixed with water, of course) or mixed with a base / carrier oil to maximize its benefits. I usually make an herbal rinse to apply to my hair after rinsing out my conditioner- I add about 10 drops of a few oils I like to a pot of water, combine it with some natural herbs like oregano and thyme, then bring the water to a boil to mix everything in. After it cools, I strain the herbs from the water, and add the water to a bottle to take in the shower with me. Once I rinse out what is more than likely following a deep conditioning session, I pour the herbal rinse into my hair, and rinse it with cool water to seal up the cuticles and lock in all the goodies that my hair has just absorbed.

I prefer herbal rinses because it gives me that extra clean feeling, especially during those wash sessions where I’m only co-washing and not using a cleansing shampoo. My strands feel stronger and thicker, plus the smell during the process puts me in such a spa day mood… maybe because I’ve literally turned wash day into a spiritual ritual. These oils aren’t the only ones that you can utilize, you can research your favourite oil on its properties for hair, then make your own mix to nourish your inches. Happy growing family!

To purchase any of these oils, you can check out my amazon recommendations below.