Garlic: A Natural Way To Stop Hair Shedding?

This post is all about the one ingredient every kitchen cannot be without, yes you guessed it…garlic! But this isn’t about garlic being a great ingredient for your favorite Italian dish but rather using it in your hair as part of your regimen to cure shedding.

If the hair found in your brush after a single use can be mistaken for a small weird looking rodent, chances are you are experiencing heavy duty shedding. Some shedding is perfectly natural but it can be a real issue when it is excessive.

I can empathize with the worry you would face if you found yourself experiencing a lot of shedding especially if you have no clue as to what is causing it or even how to stop it.

In the hair community you will often hear that garlic is a viable option for stopping shedding, even to the extent that manufacturers use the spice/vegetable in shampoos and beauty products for this very purpose.

This post will take a critical look at what makes garlic so special, how it can help with shedding and the ways that you can incorporate it in your regimen.

What is shedding

As I mentioned, shedding in a healthy scalp is perfectly normal, as a matter of fact we often lose about 50-100 hairs per day with the number being on the larger end of the scale during the autumn and winter months.

Beyond what is considered normal shedding is excessive shedding or the medical term telogen effluvium and this can be caused by a variety of things including a sudden drop in weight about 20 pounds or more, stress or anxiety, an operation, child birth (called postpartum shedding) and some women experience it if they stop taking birth control pills.

Excessive shedding should also not be confused with hair loss, even though you are still physically losing your hair. The difference is simple, hair loss occurs when there is no chance of the hair growing back until whatever is causing the loss is removed from the equation. For example a woman undergoing chemotherapy will experience hair loss until the therapy is stopped.

Why garlic?

Have you ever heard of allicin? If you haven’t, well it is a sulfur* compound found in garlic and in onions. Here is what’s crazy about the compound; it isn’t actually found in garlic until your crush it, that’s where that strong odor comes from.

Since we always crush garlic anyway we tend to reap the benefits of allicin which helps in the the elimination of toxins and stimulation of blood flow to the scalp. The blood flowing near the scalp is exactly what you need to get rid of shedding and help with hair loss altogether. But wait! There’s more! Garlic also contains other beneficial nutrients for our hair:

1. Sulfur – Hair is made from protein and sulfur* forms part of the building blocks of hair. Sulfur* makes for a great healthy hair additive and as mentioned before is very prominent in garlic.

2. Selenium – Yet another component great for preventing hair loss and improving the overall health of your hair.

3. Vitamins* B, C, B6 and B1 – These are all directly related to healthy hair, prevention of hair loss and circulation which is what your scalp needs to get the follicles going again. Vitamin C* keeps you hair strong and breakage free while vitamin B1 is directly related to blood circulation.

4. Iron, Manganese*, Calcium and Copper – These minerals are geared towards hair growth so once you recover from shedding the new hairs that are sprouting can be pushed along quickly using these components of garlic.

With all that said there is no question why garlic is great for our hair, it was almost like it was built for our strands! We cannot just examine the benefits of using garlic without knowing exactly how we can incorporate it into our regimen, right? So if you are looking for some recipes get your apron on because we are going to play mixtress.

Moisturizing Garlic Paste

1 tablespoon aloe vera gel*

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon garlic juice

2 egg yolks

3 table spoons of chamomile tea

24 ozs of water

Note: To extract the juice, you can use a very fine sieve or cheesecloth. The video on the next page also shows a good way of getting the benefit of the juice without the hassle of juicing the garlic.

Start by using a garlic press to mince the garlic then extract the juice. Mix into your honey in a bowl and place the bowl in the fridge until you are done with the other ingredients.

Boil water with your chamomile tea and set aside once you are done. Remove the honey and garlic from the fridge and add the egg yolks and the gel then mix well. Apply the garlic mix your hair and scalp, leaving it on for 30 minutes to an hour. Wash your hair with a sulfate free shampoo* and then use the chamomile tea as your final rinse.

If you prefer something a little less complicated or just want some product suggestions with garlic then flip over to the next page.

Garlic And Oil Prepoo

1 or 2 tablespoons garlic juice

1/2 cup – 1 cup of olive oil*

Mix the garlic and oil together in a microwave safe bowl, heat the mixture slightly for application.

Use enough oil and garlic to cover your entire head then cover your hair with a plastic bag and try to stay away from people with sensitive noses! *wink*

Leave the mix on for at least 30 minutes and use your best smelling shampoos and conditioners afterwards.

Check out this video by TwinGodesses as she demonstrates how she makes her garlic hot oil treatment with a great way of using teabags to gain the benefit of the garlic juice without the hassle of juicing it.

Let’s face it, some of us are not the ‘mixtress type’ so we would just prefer to buy a product that is geared towards helping you with shedding there are a few options. As with any product do your own research, these are not product recommendations but rather options that you can look at.

Nutrine Garlic Shampoo and Conditioner – $16.00

Alter Ego Garlic Mask Hot Oil Treatment with Garlic – $16.99

Queen Helene Unscented Garlic Shampoo – $4.39

Another option would be to perhaps use garlic oil added to your favorite prepoo, shampoo or deep conditioner* to make an easy shedding control mix as and when you need it.

You can stop the garlic shedding treatment once your shedding returns to normal levels as in the case of postpartum shedding, this should be between 6-12 months after baby is born. In other cases, using garlic as a precaution regularly is the best way to control shedding over the long term.

Well there you have it, everything you need to know about garlic as it relates to shedding, if you are really suffering from excessive shedding, try this vegetable on for size and then come back and let us know how it worked for you.