Learn how to use essential oils to grow your hair thicker, stronger and faster. Essential oils are natural oils extracted from plants by water or steam distillation, or by cold pressing for citrus peel oils.
Essential oils are the go-to natural remedy of most major hair and scalp concerns that slow hair growth. The key to hair growth is blood circulation and essential oils are your best ally when it comes to unclogging pores and improving the blood flow. Discover the benefits of essential oils for hair growth and how they work.
1. Coconut Oil
Adding coconut oil to your hair care routine has multiple benefits and can actually help your hair grow thicker and healthier. Coconut oil is full of fatty acids that deeply condition your hair and decreases protein loss in hair, a common issue for everyone who straightens or curls their locks often.
READ: 5 DIY Coconut Oil Hair Mask Recipes To Try
Because of the structure of its molecules, coconut oil is able to penetrate the hair even better than most other oils and protect your hair from protein loss as well as environmental damage. It helps detangle hair. Check out this Coconut oil DIY Detangler Recipe.
2. Castor Oil
Castor oil is one of the most-widely known humectants, which means it attracts and retains moisture and helps your hair keep its healthy shine. Extracted from castor seeds through the process of pressing, this oil is rich in antioxidants, proteins and minerals as well as omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids.
Castor oil is extremely rich in ricinoleic acid which helps improving blood circulation and a healthy and residue-free scalp is one of the determining factors when it comes to hair growth.
3. Rosemary Oil
Rosemary oil has been used for hair growth and mitigating hair loss for centuries. Because of its anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties it improves blood circulation and promotes hair growth. It’s also a great moisturizer for your scalp, prevents flaking, dandruff and spreading of gray hairs and acts as a great conditioner, leaving your hair shiny and smooth.
Mix several drops of rosemary oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil and apply to your scalp, leaving it in to do its magic for around 10 minutes. Shampoo and condition as usual.
4. Olive Oil
Derived from pressing olives, olive oil’s protective and moisturizing properties give damaged hair a healthy shine, while providing it with essential nutrients. It is rich in natural antioxidants so massaging it into your hair and scalp improves blood flow to the follicles and stimulates hair growth.
Because of it protective properties, olive oil also shields the natural keratin in your hair, making it a great choice for for damaged, dull, dry hair.
5. Neem Oil
Rich in fatty acids, triglycerides and calcium, neem oil is a great addition to your hair care routine. Neem oil is naturally high in vital antioxidants as well as vitamin E that help your skin cells regenerate, promote cell division and growth of hair follicles resulting in a healthier scalp and, subsequently aids hair growth.
It acts anti-inflammatory and helps cure and relieve of most of major hair and scalp concerns, such as dandruff, eczema and other fungal ailments.
6. Lavender Oil
Essential oils all contain exceptional nutrients that when applied correctly benefit your scalp and improve the health and natural hair growth. Lavender oil is light enough that it can easily penetrate into your hair follicles and provide them with all the necessary nutrients.
Massaging lavender oil into your scalp helps blood circulation and because of its antiseptic properties, it protects your scalp from various fungi and other microbes (even head lice!), allowing your hair to grow stronger and thicker.
7. Horsetail Plant Extract Oil
The horsetail plant is one of the richest sources of silica, a mineral that is crucial for healthy growth and development. Silica’s alkalizing properties improve the hair texture and health.
Unfortunately, we lose large amounts of silica as we age, so adding a few drops of horsetail extract oil to coconut or extra virgin olive oil and massaging it into your scalp can greatly benefit the overall health of your scalp and promote hair growth.
8. Peppermint Oil
Increasing the blood flow and rejuvenating hair follicles is essential if you want to stimulate hair growth. Menthol, one of the main components of peppermint oil, not only smells amazing but also causes the cold, tingling feeling that actually increases the blood flow to the area where it is applied.
The most direct way to get all the wonderful benefits of peppermint oil for hair growth is to use it for a gentle scalp massage. If you have a very sensitive scalp, peppermint oil might prove to be a bit too intense and cause skin irritation so make sure you first do a patch check, just to be sure.
9. Cedar Wood Oil
Used by the ancient Egyptians in the embalming process, cedar wood, or simply cedar oil is well renown for its preserving and anti-inflammatory properties.
There are many ways to incorporate cedar wood oil into your hair care to improve hair growth. The best results are achieved by diluting cedar wood oil into a carrier oil such as jojoba oil and massaged into the scalp. When done on a regular basis, such treatment increases the blood circulation which contributes to hair growth.
10. Thyme Oil
Thyme oil is one of the most potent essential oils and is often added to hair shampoos and conditioners because of its anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties.
This exceptionally fragrant oil promotes hair growth by stimulating your scalp and increasing blood flow and subsequently preventing hair loss. Mixed with a bearer oil and even other essential oils, thyme oil helps in unclogging the hair follicles and improving hair growth.
11. Clary Sage Oil
The musky, woody clary sage oil improves the strength of your hair and overall health of your scalp as well as aids hair growth. When massaged into the scalp, it provides a balancing effect and normalizes oil production and aids in controlling dandruff.
Because of its unique properties it can also be used as an antibacterial agent, as well as regulate sebum production. Clary sage oil is very rich in phytoestrogen which promotes hair growth and helps in preventing or reversing premature balding.
12. Tea Tree Oil
There are number of ways you can use tea tree oil for longer, thicker hair. This essential oil derived from the leaves of the tea tree is rich terpenoids, such as eucalyptus, cineole and nerolidol, all of them being having strong antimicrobial and antiseptic properties.
Tea tree oil is effective in treating many fungal scalp conditions, such as dandruff by unclogging the hair follicles and nourishing the roots of your hair. Tea tree oil does wonders for an oily scalp and helps to balance scalp pH level.
13. Carrot Seed Oil
If you want to keep your hair long and avoid split ends, include carrot seed oil in your hair care routine. This highly nourishing essential oil promotes healthy hair growth and strengthens and conditions your hair.
Carrot seed oil is a great natural source of beta-carotene and well as vitamins A and C, that serve as a shield protecting your hair from outside damage, including UV rays and pollution. You can use it on its own and gently massage it into the scalp or make a carrot oil rinse which will leave your locks silky smooth and shiny.
14. Cypress Oil
This refreshing essential oil will help get your dry, dull hair it’s natural shine and strength back. Because it’s proven to increase blood circulation to the area where it’s applied to, it is an essential ingredient of many hair care products that improve hair growth.
Because of it’s astringent properties cypress oil helps in strengthening your hair follicles, which means they are far less likely to fall out. Cypress oil is very effective in treating various scalp issues, including alopecia areata.
15. Helichrysum Oil
Helichrysum oil is native to the Mediterranean region and had been vastly used for centuries because of its regenerative properties to all body tissues. Applied topically, it is known to “strengthen hair and fight hair loss” although these claims haven’t been proven scientifically. But research studies have shown that Helichrysum has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties.
It’s highly effective in fighting itchiness and dryness due to inadequate sebum production. Helichrysum oil will drive out excess oils and other impurities that clog the pores and slow down the normal flow of skin cells.
16. Baobab Oil
If you’re trying to revive dry and dull hair, adding baobab oil to you hair care might just do the trick. Baobab oil might not be as popular as some other essential oils, but it’s actually a powerful moisturizer and when massaged into the scalp it penetrates deep into the hair follicles.
Baobab oil has a high content of vitamins A, C, E and D3 as well as omega 3 fatty acids that act anti-inflammatory. It’s proven to be effective in protecting your hair from environmental pollution as well as heat damage.
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