The Power of Essential Oils for Alopecia Areata (and Hair Loss in General)

Aromatherapy is an age-old practice that harnesses the magical properties of plants. Aromatherapy has been around for thousands of years, across many different historical cultures. Plants have been used in a myriad of ways as nature's medicine, and essential oils have been used therapeutically since the 1800s. Today, researchers and scientists are studying essential oils to see how these magical plant essences can be used to treat a multitude of conditions.

Diffusion of essential oils is a beautiful way to fill your home with lovely scents, but there are so many other ways to use essential oils. We can drop lavender essential oil on our pillows to help us unwind and fall asleep, we can diffuse oregano in the home when someone is sick, and we can add lemon to our cleaning products to fight grease and grime (to name a few).

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on unsplash.com

Essential oils are used in many, many products on the market today, including skin and haircare products. One such use is for hair regrowth. Rosemary in particular is used in many different skin and haircare products, whose brands claim that it will aid in regrowth, thicken hair, and smooth out skin. And, excitingly: they may be right!

Essential Oils for Alopecia Areata

There are a few specific essential oils that have been shown to help in hair regrowth, specifically for use with alopecia areata (AA) patients.

In fact, a study done in 1998 took 86 people with alopecia areata and divided them into two groups: the treatment group massaged the essential oils of rosemary, thyme, cedarwood and lavender into their scalps, mixed with two carrier oils: jojoba and grapeseed. The placebo group massaged their scalps with the carrier oils only. After 7 months (and one follow up at 3 months), the researchers used photographic assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment. They found that 44% of the treatment participants had “significantly improved”, versus 15% of the placebo group. This was a double blind, randomized, controlled trial (the gold standard of clinical trials). These results led the researchers to conclude that aromatherapy could be a safe and effective treatment for those with alopecia areata (1). 

It's important to note that this is only one study. More studies need to be done to really prove efficacy. But, this is pretty exciting, and in my opinion worth a try to see if these oils work for you in stimulating hair growth.

Under the recommendation of my naturopathic doctor, I have used a homemade scalp rub on my bald spots before. I've mixed fractionated coconut oil with rosemary, cedarwood, and lavender essential oils. I do think it helped when I was very bald, and I don't think it was a placebo effect.

Can it work for other types of hair loss?

Maybe. The study was done specifically on people with alopecia areata, which is an autoimmune condition. Since this is a new area of research, we aren't sure how effective essential oils are at stimulating hair growth in general, or if there is a specific mechanism at work that affects the immune system, for example. In my opinion, it's worth a try! If you ask any herbalist, they will absolutely say that there are herbs that do assist in hair growth - rosemary being one of them.

Recipe

If you're curious about trying, mix 100mL of any carrier oil (I use coconut oil) with 30 total mixed drops of rosemary, cedarwood, thyme and lavender essential oil. Apply roughly 1 tbsp to the scalp, massage for a minute and let sit for at least 30 minutes. Apply daily. It might be fun to take some pictures of this and see how quickly you notice results.

A Note About Essential Oil Safety

Make sure not to overdo it and add a ton of drops to the bottle. I have double checked my ratios above with a friend of mine who is currently studying clinical aromatherapy. These things are strong and potent - they are safe in small quantities such as the ratios I've given above.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of synthetic oils on the market due to the extreme popularity of essential oils and aromatherapy. Synthetic oils will not give you the results you seek, so you'll need to do a bit of digging to make sure you are purchasing from a reputable company. Earlier this year, I posted some tips on Instagram on what to look for to ensure you are purchasing authentic essential oils. Here are my tips from that post:

AUTHENTIC OILS 101:

🌿They should always be in glass bottles, not any other material (especially plastic).

🌿Look for where the plant was sourced from - it should mention the country of origin.

🌿The bottle should say how the oil was extracted from the plant (steam distillation, etc). It might not be on the bottle depending on size, but the company website would absolutely have that info.

🌿The bottle should also indicate the botanical name of the plant. Ex. rosemary is “rosmarinus officinalis”.

🌿Some companies will be certified by third party quality assurance organizations - which gives you some peace of mind.

HOW TO SPOT THE FAKES:

🌿Don’t purchase large sets of inexpensive oils online. True EOs all have different costs - some are more expensive, like rose, neroli, frankincense, and others.

🌿Terms like “pure,” “therapeutic grade” and “grade A” are unfortunately meaningless.

🌿No other words should be on the bottle like “fragrance”. Some companies may add a carrier oil due to how expensive the EO is, and these are not meant to be diffused but are generally meant to be used topically.

The Takeaway

Essential oils have potential for stimulating hair growth, especially for alopecia areata, as shown by the study I cited above. Aromatherapy can be a powerful tool in our toolbox when dealing with our health on a holistic level. And with the DIY recipe I've mentioned above, it could be an inexpensive way to promote hair growth, in place of using one of the many haircare products on the market that are said to enhance hair growth. Along with a diet rich in nutrient dense foods, good sleep, movement, stress reduction, and all of the other amazing holistic health practices I write about on this blog, it could be helpful to add essential oils to the mix!

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#hair #hairloss #hairregrowth #essentialoils #aromatherapy #alopecia

Source

Hay, I. C., Jamieson, M., & Ormerod, A. D. (1998). "Randomized trial of aromatherapy. Successful treatment for alopecia areata". Archives of dermatology, 134(11), 1349–1352. doi:10.1001/archderm.134.11.1349. Accessed November 17, 2023.