If the idea of people rubbing their hands on your ‘shiny buddha belly’ head doesn’t fill you with glee, you’ll be happy to know that essential oils for balding can help stimulate hair regrowth.

Who can experience hair loss?

When people hear the words ‘hair loss’, they typically conjure the image of a man in his mid forties. And depending on who they think about, ‘hair loss’ can either be met with excitement (think Vin Deasel) or trepidation (think Danny Devito). However, as many as 1 in 4 women will experience hairloss at some point in their life.

Surprised? Don’t be! While women suffer from hair loss too, they’re much better at hiding the condition than men. While wigs, hair styles and accessories can disguise their balding secrets, hair loss in women is often less sever than men, as it’s often spread evenly over the head rather than concentrated at the crown.

It’s not all peachy for the gals though, as hair loss in women generally happens later in life than it does to men thanks to menopause. With the increase in testosterone in their body, women man find they start to sprout coars whiskers, have more mood swings and an increased llikelihood of balding. Lukcily, the effects of hair loss aren’t as extreme thanks to the presence of estrogen in their body.

What causes hair loss?

While we’d love to blame balding and hair loss all on the body, the truth is that stress plays a big role in the normal hair growth cycle. Traumatic events cause a condition known as Telogen effluvium, when a person experiences temporary hair less after a shock to the system. Car crash, death of a loved one, break up, an epic cliffhanger in Game Of Thrones.. You name it! Even pregnancy is a cause of Telogen effluvium, as the stress placed on a womans body, issues with thyroid glandes and diabetes can all trigger the condition.

Another type of hair loss comes as a result from a disease called Alopecia areata, when the immune system attacks hair follicles. If you suffer from Alopecia areata, you’ll notice hair fall out in small, round patches all over the head. Alopecia areata can be the result of natural deficiencies of proteins, likely iron. This is GOOD news, since with an adjusted nutritional diet, you can usually correct the deficiencies and lessen the likelihood of hair falling out.

Essential oils for hair loss

The condition of your scalp is incredibly important when it comes to hair growth and nutrients in your scalp. Using essential oils can stimulate the mocrocirculatory system, relaxing the scalp muscles, increasing the blood flow and carrying nutrients to the follicles. For this reason, essential oils have a wonderful ability to stimulate blood vessels in the scalp where hair follicles are created.

In 1998, the Department of Dermatology, Aberdeen in the United Kingdom ran a research project over 7 months to study how essencial oils could treat Alopecia areata (remember, that’s the disease where the immune system attacks healthy hair follicles).

They trialled thyme white, rosemary, lavender and cedar wood, blended with carrier oils jojoba and grape seed, and found that 44% of patients with the essential oil treatment shows an improvement in their hair regrowth than 15% of patients in the control group.

With those percentages, it’s hard not to see the benefits in trialling essential oils to treat your hair loss!

How to use essential oils for hair loss?

While the study found that carrier oils jojoba and grape seed were effective, there are additional nutritional and conditioning benefits from carrier oils such as:

• borage
• coconut
• evening primrose
• arnica
• calendula
• black seed
• jojoba and macadamia.

Blending one of these carrier oils with an essential oil can be a wonderful, power packed remedy for your hair loss condition.

Simply mix 5 drops of your preferred essential oil to every 10mls of carrier oil, and mix thoroughly. Pour a small amount on your hands and spread across your fingertips. Work evenly into your scalp, massaging in small, circular motions all over your scalp. Be careful not to massage too hard or you’ll damage your hair roots.

A few minutes into massaging your scalp, hang your head upside down (lower than your heart) to increase the blood flow, and continue to massage. For best results, leave the mixture ovenight and then shampoo it out the next day.

Note

While we’d love to tell you otherwise, this is no miracle cure, and as they say “it won’t happen overnight, but it will happen!”. Massaging your scalp regularly, improving your diet and adjusting your lifestyle to reduce stress are all ways to manage and prevent hair loss. It can take time and effort to maintain your long locks. If you’re prone to shedding hair, constant monitoring of your diet, nutrition, lifestyle and condition of your scalp can help fight the balding crusade!