Essential Oils for hair care

**Renora25** · June 24th, 2017, 08:51 AM

Hi everyone!

I have recently been researching essential oils for hair care and feel like I would like to take the next step to actually try them. So a couple of questions for those who already use them.
1. What would be the best light carrier oil for them? My hair is not a fan of coconut oil or olive oil.
2. Which essential oils would be best for a dryer, itchy scalp, while also helping with hair growth?
3. Methods: should I be considering essential oils only during weekly/monthly moisturizing treatments? Or is there something I could do every day/every couple of days?

Thank you all for your help!

**lapushka** · June 24th, 2017, 09:48 AM

You can use any oil you like. I like sweet almond, personally. I even use baby oil (regular J&J), but only in small amounts and on the lengths or tips only.

I would try the oils on your scalp, but keep in mind that not everyone can "take" oils on the scalp. If you experience more shedding from using an oil on your scalp, stop doing this immediately! It will lead to more thinning, it's not just some hairs loosening up!

**mistythebandit** · June 24th, 2017, 03:49 PM

I love using sweet almond oil, but I find it feels really dry on my hair unless I use a bit of coconut oil beforehand. I like adding a few drops of lavender oil, I'm sure there's benefits to it but I just love how it smells. I don't add any oil to my scalp anymore, I did until fairly recently and my scalp would be really itchy and it would always look too greasy for daily use, so I just starting using only a dab on my ends.

**Ophidian** · June 24th, 2017, 03:57 PM

Jojoba might be a good carrier oil to try, as well as sweet almond. Avocado is nice and nourishing but might be better for deeper treatments since it's on the heavier side. If you go to the "recipes and herbal haircare" section of the forums you will find many threads on essential oils that might give you some more ideas and helpful info.

**Nymphe** · June 24th, 2017, 04:34 PM

1. Any light oil will do; try getting little samples for testing. The lightest oil I know is meadowfoam; the lightest oil containing ceramides is rice bran.

2. Aloe vera gel or juice is good for a dry, itchy scalp. I do not recall any EO being moisturizing. According to my notes, the best ones for growth are
a. Rosemary (my fav for life)
b. Thyme
c. Cedarwood
d. Ylang-ylang
e. Peppermint
f. Lavender
g. Basil (holy & sweet)
h. Clary Sage
i. Chamomile
j. Frankincense
k. Myrrh

There are others, but those are the ones I have tried.

3. You can use them as often as you like, something you will have to see for yourself. I add patchouli, lemon, sweet orange, and/or tea tree in my mixes to maintain scalp health.

**Ophidian** · June 24th, 2017, 07:23 PM

To Nymphe's first point, Nightblooming on Etsy offers sample sizes of many different oils if you have trouble finding them locally.

Also check out this article (an old one from LHC). Down at the bottom is a section on essential oils and some nice looking recipes you might like to try:
http://gossamerstrands.com/Hair/Westherbart.htm

I personally use a combination of lavender, cedar wood, and rosemary and like it a lot. I think the biggest piece of advice with EO's other than experiment to find what you like is dilute dilute dilute. Start with a few drops in a larger quantity of carrier oil and add more if you want. Better to dilute too much at first than overdo it in my experience.

**Dark40** · June 24th, 2017, 08:05 PM

I love using Indian oils for hair. Like, Alma Dubar Indian Hair Oil and Jasmine Indian Hair Oil. I also love using Tea-Tree Carrot oil too for growth and moisturization.

**DarklingAndy** · June 24th, 2017, 11:27 PM

I'm really into aromatherapy but I've never considered essential oils for hair! Though now that I think about it, I have heard that rosemary oil is great for brunettes. I may have to start using it. Is there a guide somewhere about what different essential oils do for hair?

**Kat** · June 25th, 2017, 05:31 AM

Keep in mind that essential oils' scent will be in your hair, and treat as you would perfume-- don't use too much! People used to comment on mine because I could no longer smell it and didn't realize how strong it was to everyone else.

Also, if your hair is porous, make sure it doesn't retain smells even after washing. I also found out my hair does this, the hard way, when someone asked me to "stop wearing that perfume" and I said I had washed my hair several times since the last time I'd put any oils in it...

**Alissalocks** · June 25th, 2017, 07:04 AM

Originally Posted by DarklingAndy

I'm really into aromatherapy but I've never considered essential oils for hair! Though now that I think about it, I have heard that rosemary oil is great for brunettes. I may have to start using it. Is there a guide somewhere about what different essential oils do for hair?

I'm not aware of an LHC guide but I've done a lot of reading just by Googling different EOs. As mentioned also, the Herbal Recipes forum here is chock full of EO advice though

I use many that are already mentioned here, usually in a personal combination that smells good that day, & all are good for hair growth: clove, Lavendar, eucalyptus, sweet orange, peppermint, spearmint, and my favorite, rosemary. One or two (even 3) of these together can make an amazing blend. Enjoy!

(PS For female members, Rosemary is contraindicated during pregnancy, so beware if you're preggers.)