Essential Oils For Hair Loss and Shedding

[mamaherrera]

do you guys always do an oiling just before a hair wash, or do you oil daily and does it accumulate?? I get nervous to oil on a non wash day, knowing it's going to stay on my scalp for another day and a half yet. And how do you mix the aloe vera gel, isn't that sticky?? Mine is anyways. I'm curious because I've made essential oil mixes, but always inside a carrier oil and I don't want that to cause hair shedding or not allow pores to breath.

[Arctic]

Jessie58, good to know about wet vs. dry hair. My situation might be slightly different than yours, seeing that (diluted) aloe gel is already waterbased, and doesn't have same effects as base oil would have. Hope you'll get your trusty mix done again! I'd love to try your recipe one day too (in aloe base), I've heared so good reviews of its smell and effects! I like how my mix smells too, especialy the rose aroma seems like linger forever! Mmm...roses...


MamaHerrera - You can browse or use search function on the thread, Jessie58 has shared her method and recipe many times, and many people have shared how they do it too. The first post tells many thing you need to know. I'm sure many people are very busy and everyone should try to find the answers before asking others to do the searching for them - I know Jessie has repeated her method over the years several several times.

I think most people love using carrier oils the most, and if your skin doesn't object, that might be the best approach aromatherapywise. If you know oiling scalp causes shedding, then you can think of alternatives. Someone up the thread uses vinegar as base for EOs.


I try to do my scalp massage with aloe+EOs about every other night or so. I could do it on daytime too, because it doesn't make my hair look bad in any way. My aloe vera gel is not sticky. It mixes very easily with the essential oils (I use small spatula for cosmetics, and never touch the mixture with my hands, always use spatula to take what I need from the mixture.). The aloe gel does make my hair tangly, unless I dilute it with water a little bit - when I do that, it acts more like aloe juice would on my hair. My scalp doesn't mind whether I dilute it or not, but my hair takes the diluted aloe gel much better (it doesn't tangle and feels moisturizing). Note, I dilute it just before use to prevent bacteria (etc) growth, and mix quite little batches for the same reason.

[Bergelmir]

Against hair loss or treatment of loss: Sure, almost any essential oil may be able to have an effect but not all of them are truly proven to be useful or they can easily be replaced by a better essential oil without having a lack on the tonic effect, so the recipes are always lot of guessing. According to indian ayurveda knowledge, and i just know a few things so far but i am probably gonna study it, it is no use just mixing endless amount of herbs or oils together because the interaction with other ingridients can either power up or even weaken a certain effect. In my mind, everything above 5 useful and proven ingridients is most likely overkill and without a real effect. Instead i would pay more attention to the quality of those ingridients and not its amount. Mind the quality of the essential oil, it can vary a lot but supplier of finished products may rarely declare those values and almost nobody is asking anyway. Essential oils or herbs containing essential oils i always consider delicate, to much and the scalp will be irritated with bad effects, to less and the tonic effect may be to weak, so it will surely need lot of tryouts in order to find the optimal routine and application.

Personally, i do not use any essential oils in a direct way. I use a indirect applications using Indian herbs for washing, many of them are containing essential oils naturally. For my hairline on the front (basically the weakest spot) i may blend rosemary herb, wild thyme herb (fresh if possible, else dried may work too), wild Pu Erh tea herb, with mainly sacha ichi öil/argan oil and some drops of seabuckthorn oil (rasperry oil works too), evening primrose and black cummin oil and then apply it on the front hairline (1-2 inch thickness). Reason for using this mix of oil is because this mix is providing almost any fat acids including lot of vitamine E and A known to be important for the skin. Black cummin oil is a natural carrier of a essential oil while the primrose got a rare gamma linoleic oil. May not be removed for a entire night for maximum tonic effect and not more than 1-2 times a week. Apart from that, i see no use for a special tonic. So in usual all i do need is ayurverda herbal washing... and at least 30 min of application on the scalp every 2 weeks. In term i feel the need for added treatment, i may use more of the herb containing essential oils and maybe even in a weekly period. So far i seem to be fine with the 2 week period, not stressing myself to much.

Considering some oils used in recipes: Emu oil is usually of questionable quality and t i think people with lot of sebum simply have no need using a "sebum replacing oil" but in term the scalp is very dry then i may have to ask what is actually the cause of the hair loss... maybe the lack of sebum is playing a role aswell and not only hormones or whatelse. If there is a carrier needed, some actively vitalizing oil may work even better. I guess to people with acne issues and scalp with lot of sebum jojoba oil is useful as a carrier or partial carrier at least as it can fight acne but same may count for black cummin oil. However, black cummin oil can only be used as a partial carrier as it is simply to powerful because of the high essential oil amount.

[ddiniz]

jessie58, please, is there any possibility of you manipulate your formula oils and sell to me?

[Lize]

I think I would like to try this. I don't have any more shedding than usual, but if this could decrease shedding or promote hair growth it can't be bad to try it. I always oil my length using coconut oil before I wash so I could add scalp oiling to my routine too. I plan to get the four EOs used in the study to begin with and use jojoba oil as carrier. I just need to find a website who sells all the four EOs.

[Nymphe]

Thank you for bumping this. I was research this last night to see if anything new had been discovered. I am using a mixture of 5% EOs (rosemary, lavender, cedarwood, and a few drops of ylang-ylang to balance out the scent), 5% hemp seed oil, and the rest, castor oil. Since I am WO, I only use it when I wet my head, 2-4 times per week. Even if nothing happens, it invigorates my scalp and makes my hair smell so good.

[summergame]

I think I would like to try this. I don't have any more shedding than usual, but if this could decrease shedding or promote hair growth it can't be bad to try it. I always oil my length using coconut oil before I wash so I could add scalp oiling to my routine too. I plan to get the four EOs used in the study to begin with and use jojoba oil as carrier. I just need to find a website who sells all the four EOs.

Maybe you can try http://www.iherb.com/search?sug=esse...sentia&rank=41

[Lize]

Maybe you can try http://www.iherb.com/search?sug=esse...sentia&rank=41

Thank you for the suggestion. I already found a Swedish site that had them all so I ordered yesterday. I look forward to trying this.

[Lize]

The oils I ordered were delivered. I made a batch from 100 ml jojoba oil and added 13 drops of lavender oil, 13 drops of rosemary oil, 9 drops of cedar wood oil and 9 drops of thyme oil. I just took the recipe from the study and adapted the amount of EOs to the larger amount of carrier oil. The only thing I regret is not also getting peppermint EO. I think that might be nice to add to this mix. I have read that it also has benefits for hair growth. It smells nice as it is though. I am doing a patch test now on my arm. If that goes well I will try it on my scalp for a few hours tomorrow before I wash. I plan to use this as a prewash treatment. I will be able to let it sit on my scalp for a few hours in the week and possibly longer in the weekends if I am not going anywhere. I think this will be fitting in nicely in my routine.

[renia22]

Not sure if I responded to this thread before or not, but I wanted to mention I've had great results with rosemary eo. I did try the recipe mentioned above that had good clinical results, but that increased shedding one me. Not sure if it was the carrier oil, or if one of the oils in the recipe made things worse. But a couple of drops of rosemary eo in about a tablespoon of pure aloe, dabbed gently on the scalp in the evening, and washed out the next morning, decreased my shedding dramatically, and didn't trigger any kind of additional shedding.

I have also tried clary sage in aloe, that doesn't seem to bother me either. Rosemary is my favorite, though. I use Mountain Rose Herbs brand pure aloe (refrigerated after opening) and rosemary essential oil. I mix a fresh batch every time. I used it nightly for over a year, and now I'm down to a couple of nights a week.

[Lize]

I am trying my oil mix on my scalp for the first time today. I found it a bit difficult to get the oil on my actual scalp and I had to use a lot of oil. I did a scalp massage at the same time but I feel like most of the oil ended up on my roots and not on my actual scalp. I did shed a bit while massaging but I guess that's normal when putting something slippery in your hair and I reckon I will lose less hair in the shower than usual. I was wondering if someone has any advice how to get the oil on your scalp. How to apply it?

[meteor]

I was wondering if someone has any advice how to get the oil on your scalp. How to apply it?

Applicator bottles and pipettes can be pretty helpful. Some transfer to roots/length is normal and practically impossible to avoid though.

[Lize]

Applicator bottles and pipettes can be pretty helpful. Some transfer to roots/length is normal and practically impossible to avoid though.

Thank you. Either of those should probably work better that just the fingers. I don't mind oil getting in my hair, I just want to get enough on the scalp for it to do it's job there.

[Lize]

Today I am trying my oil mix for the second time. I plan to do this before every wash if I have time to let it sit for a few hours. This time I parted my hair and put oil in the middle of the part using my fingertips. I kept parting it in different places until my scalp was covered. This was a better way of applying it than the random massaging it in that I did last time. When the scalp was covered I did a scalp massage. I didn't lose anywhere near as many hairs as last time. I guess that the hairs that were meant to fall soon fell last time because of the slip.

Last time I CO washed as usual and I think the conditioner got the oil out decently. Felt a bit waxy when it was still wet, but when it dried it was just wonderfully soft and felt hydrated and like it wasn't stripped. As I understand it conditioner is the best way to get oil out of your hair anyway.

I like doing this. I like the smell of the EOs and I like the idea that I am doing something extra for my hair besides my ordinary routine. I guess it will take some time to see if it helps my growth in any way, but it feels nice to do it regardless. My hair likes oil in general.

[Lize]

I went a week without applying any oil to my scalp since it's a bit hard for me to get it out. I doubt I will be able to do this before every wash, but I might do it in the weekends if I have nothing planned and feel like pampering my hair. Now I am at home with a cold and decided that I can use this time when I am inside anyway to have the oil mix on my scalp. This time I found an even better way to apply it. I parted my hair like last time but instead of my finger I used a cotton swab to apply the oil on my part. This way i used much less of the oil and got much less on the hair. I am gonna let this sit on my scalp for a day or two before I wash it out.

[Kat-Rinnè Naido]

I went a week without applying any oil to my scalp since it's a bit hard for me to get it out. I doubt I will be able to do this before every wash, but I might do it in the weekends if I have nothing planned and feel like pampering my hair. Now I am at home with a cold and decided that I can use this time when I am inside anyway to have the oil mix on my scalp. This time I found an even better way to apply it. I parted my hair like last time but instead of my finger I used a cotton swab to apply the oil on my part. This way i used much less of the oil and got much less on the hair. I am gonna let this sit on my scalp for a day or two before I wash it out.

Hi Lize if it makes it easier; you can try a medication syringe. That is what I use when I apply oil onto my scalp

[Lize]

Hi Lize if it makes it easier; you can try a medication syringe. That is what I use when I apply oil onto my scalp

That's also a good idea. I am not sure where to get those, but maybe they have in the pharmacy. I'll check.