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How to Use Essential Oils for Healthy, Gorgeous Hair
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Who doesn’t want healthy, shiny, gorgeous hair? Men or women, we all want to look our best, and your hair is often one of the first things people notice about you. Caring for your hair, both inside and out, will keep it in peak condition.
Using essential oils on your hair will work wonders for both your locks and your scalp. Essential oils can strengthen the hair, control scalp irritation, stimulate the hair follicles for faster growth, cleanse the scalp, and improve circulation.
How to Use Essential Oils for Beautiful Hair
To use essential oils, you will need to mix them with base oils. There are many base oils that will work, and we will tell you which one will work best for your type of hair. Some of the best oils are sweet almond, olive, jojoba, apricot kernel, or avocado oil. For each treatment, you can choose up to three essential oils and add a total of 15 drops of essential oil for every two tablespoons of base oil. For example, if you wish to only use lavender oil, you would use 15 drops into two tablespoons of base oil. If you wanted to use lavender oil, sandalwood, and rose oil, you would add five drops from each of these oils and mix them with two tablespoons of base oil. If you have long hair and need more of these mixtures, you could mix 30 drops of your chosen essential oil with four tablespoons of base oil, and so on.
When you have your mixture ready, you can apply this to either dry hair or damp hair. Massage it well into the scalp, starting from your forehead, down around through the temples, the sides, over the top (the crown) of your head, then to the base of the neck. Pull the oil through to the ends. Once your entire scalp and hair has been covered, wrap in a towel for a minimum of 15 minutes. Then shampoo as you normally would.
You can also make your own healthy, natural hair rinse by adding 10 to 20 drops of oil to one cup of water, then use this as a final rinse for your hair. You can even add 10 drops to every eight ounces of your favorite shampoo!
Are you ready? Let’s get started making your own special mixture of hair-healthy essential oils so that you can start having longer, stronger, more beautiful hair today!
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If You Have Dry Hair:
Dry hair is often thick in texture and feels rough to the touch. You can avoid drying out your hair by limiting — or avoiding entirely — perms and harsh chemical colorants, along with excessive blow drying. Use shampoo and conditioners with almond or jojoba oil. Heating your essential oils just a bit before applying will allow your hair to absorb them more easily.
The best essential oils for dry hair are sandalwood, lavender, geranium, rose, rosemary, and ylang-ylang. The best base oils for dry hair are sesame, borage, avocado, almond, jojoba, and cocoa butter.
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If You Have Oily Hair
Oily hair looks dull, limp, and lifeless, sometimes just hours after shampooing. Sometimes this is due to a hormone imbalance or environmental issues. Avoid harsh, degreasing shampoos and be certain that you are eating a healthy diet. Choose only light conditioners or use an essential oil rinse instead of a heavy conditioner. Try to massage your scalp at least once each day to help regulate the oil-producing glands.
The best essential oils for oily hair are rosemary, cypress, chamomile, eucalyptus, basil, cedarwood, lemongrass, lavender, peppermint, ylang- ylang, and sage. The best base oils are sesame, borage, or jojoba oil. Ylang-ylang is especially helpful as it stimulates blood flow to the scalp and helps to normalize sebum (oil) production.
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If You Have Normal Hair
Normal hair is shiny, soft, and easy to manage with good bounce and body. Using a scalp treatment will help keep it looking its best. Normal hair has generally not been colored or permed, and it doesn’t feel dry. If you aren’t sure if you have “normal” hair, look at a baby or toddler’s hair and compare it to yours.
SEE ALSO: 12 Incredible Uses For Patchouli Oil (#6 Is So Hippie Cool!)
The best essential oils for normal hair are rosemary, geranium, lemon, cedarwood, thyme, lavender, and lemongrass. The best base oils are borage, almond, or jojoba oil.
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If You Have Dandruff
There are several essential oils that you can use to treat dandruff, but the most effective one is tea tree oil, which is a known antiseptic. Using a shampoo with a minimum of five percent tea tree oil has been shown to be an effective treatment for dandruff. You can also buy tea tree essential oil and simply add 10 drops for every eight ounces of your favorite shampoo. To treat dandruff directly, use your tea tree oil-infused shampoo and work it well into the scalp. Allow it to sit for five minutes, then rinse well. This works much better than those commercially made dandruff shampoos that have coal tar oil in them. Use your tea tree oil infused shampoo daily and you should see results in a matter of days.
Another alternative is chamomile essential oil. Chamomile has anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, anti-itching compounds that can help to treat a dry, itchy scalp. This oil will also add beautiful golden highlights to light brown and blonde hair while giving black hair a beautiful sheen. You can add chamomile essential oil to your shampoo the same way you would tea tree oil, or blend 15 drops to two tablespoons of borage, almond, or jojoba oil.
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If You are Losing Hair
Although nothing can really be done about severe hair loss, such as male pattern baldness, it can be slowed down immensely. Sometimes hair loss is due to stress or anxiety, which is under your control, or even a hormonal imbalance. If you have unusual thinning patches of hair, see your doctor. But most people can slow down hair loss and encourage your hair to grow.
The best oils to encourage hair growth are rosemary and Vetiver (sometimes called Khus). Khus oil is especially good for hair regrowth as it helps cool the scalp and is deeply relaxing, allow the hair follicles to open. Rosemary is packed with antioxidants and stimulates blood flow to the scalp. You can add 10 drops of either of these oils to eight ounces of shampoo and allow it to sit on your head for two or three minutes before rinsing, or mix 15 drops with two tablespoons of either jojoba or borage as base oil.
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If You Have Grey Hair
Grey hair needs extra conditioning and is more porous. To improve the texture and soften grey hair, use the same treatments and oils that work for dry hair. You might also want to use sage oil as a final rinse to help darken hair (if you have black or dark brown hair) or chamomile oil as a final rinse (if you have light brown or blonde hair).
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If You Get Flakiness Only Occasionally
Some people get a dry scalp with flakes but only on occasion, such as in the dry summer months. To help keep your occasional flakiness in line, try using lemon, tea tree, rosemary, cedarwood, or thyme essential oil as a treatment once a month or more often if the flakiness continues. The best base oils would be borage or jojoba.
Once you try essential oils for hair, you will be amazed at how the gentle power of plant extracts can work wonders for both the hair and scalp.
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