Essential Oils and Your Hair
Essential oils, simply put, are the highly-concentrated essence of plants. They are extremely potent and all-natural, making them useful in a variety of ways, including personal haircare. It is important to know that you should never use essential oils in their purest form. They have potential to be abrasive because they are so highly concentrated. You should always mix them with a carrier oil, such as olive or coconut oil, before applying to your hair or skin. Let’s look at a few essential oils and how they can benefit your hair.
Tea Tree Oil
Tea tree oil is a cleansing and purifying oil that comes from tea tree leaves. By diluting tea tree oil with a carrier oil and massaging into the scalp, you can stimulate hair growth. Tea tree oil can also be used for spot treatments for acne breakouts. It’s a healthier option than using acne skin products containing alcohol and other drying agents.
Peppermint Oil
The refreshing peppermint oil comes from the peppermint plant. The scent of peppermint oil can aid in alertness and help retain focus. Aching from a hard workout? Rubbing a few drops of peppermint oil on aching muscles can help relieve soreness.
Rosemary Oil
The fresh scent of rosemary oil can be used for aromatherapy. Rosemary oil can also be used during scalp massages, as it stimulates the scalp to promote hair growth.
Yarrow Oil
You can tell yarrow oil apart by its deep blue color. Add it to your shampoo and massage the scalp as it is known to regenerate the scalp and promote healthy hair growth.
Argan Oil
Women in Morocco have been using argan oil for generations to achieve more youthful, healthy skin. It reduces inflammation and redness, improves hydration, and can even been used to treat scars and acne. You can also use argan oil as a hair treatment for deep conditioning or as a pre-styling product-it restores shine to hair and helps mend split ends. It’s packed with twice as much Vitamin E as other oils so it’s also amazing for your nails and cuticles.
Chamomile Oil
Chamomile is known to soothe the nerves and it does the same for your hair and scalp, in fact it is the most soothing of the essential oils for the hair and scalp. Chamomile helps to retract skin cells that have been inflamed from chemical procedures, and harsh weather conditions and helps with itching scaly scalp and dandruff.
Essential oils often come in very small bottles because they are only used several drops at a time. The ideal container is dark colored, glass bottles, because they allow the oil to retain it’s strength and integrity for longer periods of time. Store them away from sunlight, and check out our Pinterest boards for recipes!
