8 Oils You Should Be Using In Your Herbal Infusions For Hair Growth
If you haven’t already been put on to herbal infusions, you’re truly missing out. Herbal infusions are an excellent way to nourish your hair and scalp, so that it can grow healthy, thick and long. This is a method that our ancestors have used for many centuries and continues to be used in places like India. I personally love finding new, but old remedies that I can use on my skin and hair.
From what I can tell, the Indian women have a great system for growing beautiful luscious hair, which we now know isn’t only genetic, but trained using nature’s botanicals. If you have never used herbal infusions before, don’t worry, I’ll include a step-by-step process you can use to make it at home. So lets gets started.
Blend any of these 8 oils* to get a hair-loving concoction
You can easily create and play around with different oil blends to see which of them you like best. Here is a list of the 8 oils* that are known to help with hair:
Burdock root oil: This herb is commonly used in hair and skin products because of its many benefits. Also known as Bur oil, this golden liquid can be used to help with improving circulation in the scalp, which helps to stimulate hair growth. It also helps to relieve certain irritations of the scalp. If you have issues with hair thinning, this should be one that you include in your blend.
Rosemary oil*: This is one that you should be quite familiar with. In history, this herb has been used all over the world in hair growth remedies. It can also help with keeping graying at bay. This too helps to stimulate circulation in your scalp. You can purchase this as an essential oil or use the leaves.
Stinging nettle oil: Those who are battling with hair loss should include this herb in their infusion. It is known to block testosterone from being converted into DHT, which is known to cause hair loss in women and men. This too can be purchased as an essential oil or dried leaves and added to your blend.
Lavender oil*: This is more than just a smell-good ingredient to add to your home-made body butters. Lavender is known to help with preventing balding and stimulates new hair growth. It can also be used for healing scalp problems like dandruff and infections. If you want to add volume to your hair shaft, this is the oil to add to your mix. You can purchase it in essential oil form, or a lavender infused oil (make sure the infused oil is coconut or olive).
Argan oil*: This hair penetrating oil can provide deep nourishment for your hair shaft and scalp. It’s packed with antioxidants and assists with hair damage repair. It contains vitamins* F and E, which help to restore your hair’s health and make it more lustrous. Some folks even use it as a treatment for split ends. This liquid gold is an excellent choice if you have heat damaged or chemically processed hair.
Sesame oil*: Also known as tahini oil, is commonly used in ayurvedic remedies for hair growth. It can help to treat a variety of scalp infections and dandruff and is known to condition the scalp and hair. It has lots of vitamin E*, which helps to stimulate growth.
Saw palmetto oil: Anyone suffering from male pattern baldness, benign prostatic hyperplasia or other scalp conditions that stem from excess production of DHT (a male hormone). You can purchase this as an essential oil or use the herb to infuse in the other oils you pick.
Bhringjraj oil: Another popular ayurvedic oil that is used for hair growth. It helps improve circulation in the scalp. It’s commonly used in combination with amla, shikakai and sesame or coconut oil*. With long-term use, you’ll have hair that’s healthier and more lustrous. It also helps to keep away gray hairs and dandruff.
How to make your herbal infusion
You can use the leaf forms of the herbs mentioned above to include in your herbal infusion, or you can search for others that you can implement into your blend. Whatever herbs and oils you plan to use, here are the simple steps to follow using a slow cooker or pot on the stove:
- Place a hand towel inside of your cooker, then fill it up with water halfway (this prevents your glass jar from coming into direct contact with the heat).
- Set the temperature to warm/simmer. It should be between 100 and 120 degrees F.
- Start filling your glass jar halfway with equal portions of the herbs you plan to use. Then fill it with equal portions of your chosen oils. There should be an inch of empty space left at the top of the jar. Stir the contents.
- Place a cap on your jar and put it onto the towel in your cooker. Set your timer for 4 to 5 hours.
- Every few hours, shake the bottle gently.
- Once time is up, you can turn off the cooker and allow the jar to cool. Once cool, strain the oil.
- Store the oil inside of a glass jar for later use (best if the jar is tinted). Place it in a location that is dark and cool and far away from heat. This will ensure that your oil lasts up to a year.
You can now use your oil as a nightly scalp massage or as a hot oil treatment or even deep conditioner*. Have you tried making an herbal oil infusion before? What did you use or what do you plan to make yours with?
