subject: Thinning Hair? Create Your Own Custom Hair Growth Formula! [print this page] Essential oils are fast becoming recognized as important natural therapeutic ingredients to personal care products. Extracts of many plants, including Rosemary and Sage (now popular hair care essential oils) have long been used to stimulate hair growth, and promote truly healthy and beautiful hair. Here's a look at creating a personal formula specifically for stimulating hair growth for both men and women. The recipes are easy to make at home, with readily available ingredients.
Building a Super-Effective Hair Growth Stimulating Recipe
Many essential oils have found a place in today's ultra-high end skin and hair products, often listed as "botanical extracts". The active essential oils will generally fall into one of these categories: Stimulating, which enhance the "throughput" of the follicles -- increasing their metabolic rate, and thus hair growth. Then there's Nutrient Providing: several essential oils have a deep reddish or orange color, indicating a high concentration of growth promoting vitamins and vitamin-like compounds. Finally, the all-important Balancing oils create the optimum environment for the healthiest skin, follicles and hair, potentially moving out-of-balance conditions (over-oily, over-dry, or even hormone-deficient) to healthier states.
Revving Up Those Follicles
We'll begin by looking at the "stimulating" essential oils. These essential oils are used in skin and hair care to stimulate cellular metabolism (increasing the oxygen and nutrients used by the cell) or stimulate the growth of new cells. The most popular of these are Rosemary and Sage. Sage MAY be the more powerful of the two oils, but it should not be used by children, or by women who are pregnant -- or may becoming so. Rosemary is the most popular, and if you do choose Rosemary, be sure you find the type that's specific to skin and hair care: it's called "Rosemary Verbenone" -- and while a little more expensive than the common Rosemary, it'll be far more effective for this purpose. Use either or both of these two essential oils at a concentration of no greater than 1% in your base (we'll talk about calculating this figure at the end).
Add Some Nutrient Providing Oils
The nutritive oils include Sea Buckthorn and Carrot Root essential oils. These are both available as carrier oils as well, and you may choose to use them as a portion of your base, rather than as an "active ingredient". Up to you. Both these oils have high levels of vitamins that can promote healthy hair growth. Sea Buckthorn may be the mos popular and easy to find. Use at a 1/2% to 2% concentration. These oils are safe to use for everyone.
Getting The Scalp Back In Balance for Maximum Hair Growth
Many, many people have either over-dry or over-oily scalp conditions which wreak havoc on hair growth. Balance is what's needed here, and here's the oils to do it. Lavender is the most widely used "balancing" oil, that has a wealth of therapeutic effects. If you do not have an outstanding skin condition that really needs clearing up, add a little Lavender to your blend -- it is thought to really tie all the components together to help them work most effectively. If you've got an over-oily condition, a little Myrtle essential oil is thought to do the trick. It's cleansing and balancing at the same time, restoring sebaceous output to proper levels. Finally, for mature women, be sure to use a little Clary Sage, thought to restore cellular estrogen levels to their optimum for the most beautiful skin and hair.
How Are These Oils Applied? In Come the Carrier Oils!
One would imagine for an "oil treatment", there must be some oil involved somewhere. The essential oils, interestingly, are really not "oils" -- they are very complex natural mixtures made up of readily-evaporated compounds. "Oils" on the other hand, are made up of larger, longer chain molecules that don't evaporate so easily. Olive oil is an example -- though in aroma-therapy, generally seed and nut oils are used due to their diverse array of therapeutic activity. In these blends, the oils of choice are Coconut -- very therapeutic, and may stimulate hair growth all by itself. Rosehip Seed -- highly regarded for its regenerative properties. Jojoba -- important for those with dry, brittle, thin hair. And Evening Primrose, who's essential fats are excellent for inflamed scalp conditions, and can offer important nutrients which may be missing from the diet (Hemp seed is also an appropriate choice for the same reasons). Each carrier can be used alone, or in combination with others. Use all four if you like, you're hair won't be sorry!
Putting it All Together: Making Your Formula
Often folks are a little intimidated by blending. Really, it's no big deal -- far easier than baking virtually anything in your kitchen (and if you're a raw food fan, it's about THAT easy!). First, determine your base mixture. Equal parts of the carrier oils you choose is a fine way to go. If you're using virgin Coconut, Rosehip Seed and Evening Primrose, just use equal parts of each. Making one-ounce of oil treatment? Just estimate filling a 1oz dropper bottle about 1/3rd full with each oil. Then add the essential oils. Each 1 percent essential oil is equal to 8 drops per ounce of total mixture. Using 1 percent Rosemary? Add 8 drops to your blend. Two percent Sea Buckthorn? Use 16 drops. Making 4 ounces instead of 1? Multiply all these numbers times four! Still unsure? Here's some clear recipes...
High End Botanical Extract Hair Growth Stimulating Formulas
These are well-rounded, potent recipes that are easily made -- both of these are for two ounces of final blend. For women, use a base of 1/4 Evening Primrose, 1/4 Rosehip Seed, and 1/2 Jojoba. To this, add 16 drops Rosemary Verbenone, 8 drops Sage, 32 drops Lavender and 16 drops Clary Sage. For men, use a base of 1/3rd Coconut, Rosehip Seed and Hemp oils. To this, add 16 drops Sage, 16 drops Rosemary, 32 drops Carrot Root, and 16 drops Lavender essential oils.
Gently invert or "spin" the mixture until you feel it's blended. The best absorption occurs right after the scalp has been immersed in warm water and lightly dried. One dropper-full distributed evenly over the scalp is often enough for complete coverage. Massage in, and leave as long as you like. Overnight is great, just make sure to cover your pillows! And there you have it, your very own, custom, high-end botanical extract formula for stimulating the growth of bountiful, healthy hair.
