Best Essential Oils for Hair

What are the best ?

This article is a guide to using essential oils on your hair, and choosing the best essential oils for fragrance and hair health.

When deciding which oils ot use, you need to consider:

• Your needs. This means what you want from an essential oil – whether it is hair care properties, health benefits, or a nice smell.
• How you will apply it. Do you want a product that contains your chosen oil, or will you apply a diluted version directly?
• Are you purchasing a product directly, or do you want to make your own product.
• Which oils are appropriate and safe for hair use.

This post describes the most common essential oils used for hair care and in hair care products, and explains why they are popular.

Some benefits of essential oils are backed up by science, and some are just hearsay. It’s up to you how seriously you take these claims, but as long as you use essential oils safely, there is unlikely to be any harm in adding them to your haircare routine.

Warning!

Do not use essential oils directly on your hair or skin! When used incorrectly, essential oils can result in a range of problems. For instance, they can cause a rash, allergic reaction, chemical burns, hair loss and can sometimes affect any other medicines you are taking.

You need to know which oils are safe and how to use them. This is important if you are interested in using essential oils as part of your hair care routine. If you have any medical issues, or if you are uncertain, it’s always best to consult a real medical professional – your doctor would be a good place to start.

Why use essential oils for hair?

There are three main reasons that people use essential oils for their hair and these reasons are:

1. Fragrance – you want a nice smell
2. Health – some people claim hair health benefits from using essential oils, although be careful as a lot of claims are not backed up by reliable science.
3. Lice deterrent – people say that headlice are repelled by some essential oils.

We’ll discuss all three in this article, and you can decide what will suit you best.

Fragrance

We all like our hair to smell nice! Adding essential oils to your shampoo bar, conditioner bar or other hair products is an excellent way to get the scent you want.

Popular options are lavender, lemongrass, and citrus oils.

You can check out recipies for shampoo bars here, and conditioner bars here.

To choose an oil for smell and potential health benefits, scroll down to the bottom of this post and you’ll see a list of popular options.

Health

Hair health is important, right? People have been using essential oils for health reasons for a very long time. Science backs up some claims. Others… not so much. Here are some of the most common essential oils that people use for hair health, and why. You can click on the image to buy each oil if you want to give it a try (less than $7 per bottle).

Healice deterrent

Headlice, or nits as they are commonly known, are a nightmare that most families face at least once. Children bring them home from school, and they are very difficult to get rid of without professional help or commercial treatments from the pharmacy.

Some people like to use essential oils to help deter headlice from their hair.

The most common essential oils that help deter headlice are tea tree oil and peppermint oil. You can use a produce that already contains the oils, or you can add a few drops to a bottle of detangling spray and spray the child’s hair every morning before school.

The most commonly used essential oils for lice deterrent are:

Some people say that coconut oil and apple cider vinegar help with lice problems. Click the images below for:

• For a shampoo bar recipe that uses coconut oil
• For a guide to how to use apple cider vinegar in your hair.

To deter headlice, you can:

• Spray the hair with a preventative spray
• Braid the hair or tie it back
• Check for healice and nits regularly

This will definitely help to reduce the chance of reinfestation. You can make your own spray very easily. Mix a tablespoon or two of conditioner with water and add 10 – 20 drops of tea tree oil, depending on the size of the bottle. Easy! If you want to buy one, there are plenty of options available, along with lice prevention shampoos.