As someone who’s always had a lot of hair, I’ve noticed my hair seems to have gotten thinner and finer as I’ve gotten older. Plus, I recently had another baby, and that has meant more hair loss than I’ve ever experienced in my life!
If you naturally have thinning hair, or are dealing with postpartum hair loss, this is for you! After my first, Owen, stopped breastfeeding, the dreaded postpartum hair loss began within a month and lasted about a month or two. With Jack, it came on faster and I swear, I lost even more hair with him. Somedays I’d pull chunks from the shower so big I wondered how I wasn’t bald.
I’m grateful that postpartum phase has passed and I’m now in the growth phase—I’ve got those little baby hairs growing around my face and look forward to the day they’re long enough to pull back into a ponytail again.
There are other reasons your hair falls out other than hereditary hair loss or child birth. It may be caused by hormonal imbalance, a scalp infection, your diet or something else. But, at the end of the day, I’ve been dying to get my thick, long hair back and I finally decided to do something about it.
Thankfully, there are so many products available to grow your hair naturally from hair oils, to masks to supplements and even fancy salon treatments. There’s also a lot of things you can do at home to naturally boost your hair’s growth, and that’s how I like to tackle the problem.
DIY Hair Oil for Growth
Right now, I’m focusing on eating a diet that supports my overall health, which in turn helps hair growth, washing my hair less frequently, using less heat tools and using this DIY oil for hair growth that’s easy and affordable to make at home!
For this hair growth oil, we’ll be mixing in 25-35 drops off essential oils into our carrier oil. This is the formula that I like, but you can tweak it to your needs! I’ve shared the benefits of these essential oils, as well as others down below.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup jojoba oil, fractionated coconut oil or another carrier oil
- 10 drops rosemary essential oil
- 10 drops peppermint essential oil
- 5 drops lavender essential oil
- 5 drops tea tree essential oil
- 5 drops cedarwood essential oil
Instructions
In a dropper bottle or small bowl, pour in a half cup of jojoba oil, or whichever carrier oil you’re using. I personally like jojoba oil because it’s the closest thing to your body’s natural sebum. You could also use fractionated coconut oil (that just means it’s in its liquid state), olive oil, castor oil, grapeseed oil, hemp seed oil or other oils too.
I also prefer using a dropper bottle because it makes putting the oil into your hair much easier!
Next, it’s time to add your essential oils. Drop them in and gently shake the bottle or stir the ingredients together. If you mixed in a bowl, store your oil in an airtight container.
Essential Oils For Hair Growth
Rosemary Essential Oil
Rosemary essential oil is one of the best oils for improving hair growth. It’s anti-inflammatory, so if you have an infection that will help. It also improves circulation which can bring life to hair follicles allowing them to be stimulated once again to grow new hair. Rosemary oil can also improve dandruff or an itchy scalp.
There have been studies that have scientifically-proven the positive benefits of rosemary oil for hair loss, making this one of the best ingredients to add to your hair oil.
Peppermint Essential Oil
Peppermint essential oil is also great for blood flow like rosemary oil. That means it can improve new hair growth and help prevent future hair loss. It also gives a wonderful cooling, and tingly sensation on your scalp.
Lavender Essential Oil
Lavender is well-known for its calming, stress-relieving properties, and it has great benefits for your hair and scalp too. Stress is not good for hair loss, so this helps reduce stress, while generating cell growth.
In this study, lavender essential oil promoted hair growth in mice, pretty promising if you ask me.
Cedarwood Essential Oil
Cedarwood oil helps hair growth by balancing the oil glands on your scalp and it’s antifungal properties can help get rid of dandruff. Overall, this oil is great for scalp health.
Tea Tree Essential Oil
Tea tree oil is known for its antimicrobial and antibacterial properties, that’s why it’s in a lot of skincare products (it’s amazing at shrinking pimples). It aids in cleansing and unclogging hair follicles and stimulates new growth. It’s also another great essential oil for dandruff.
Chamomile Essential Oil
If you have a dry, itchy or irritated scalp, I highly recommend using chamomile essential oil in your combination. It helps to calm the skin, which in turn stimulates the hair follicle and new hair growth.
Cypress Essential Oil
With regular use, this oil can help tighten pores to prevent future hair loss. It also helps to condition your scalp and keep it healthy. And, a healthy scalp, means healthier hair.
How to Use Hair Growth Oil
You’ll want to use this oil before you wash your hair, because you’ll be washing it out after, otherwise, you’d just have super greasy hair.
Start by sectioning off your hair and dropping a few drops at the scalp in between each section. Start at the top your head, where your hairline meets your face, then work back from there. Use your fingers to gently massage the oil into your roots and scalp.
Once it’s massaged in, you can let it sit for 10 minutes like a hair mask. Then, go about washing your hair as normal. I’ve been using Prose’s custom shampoo and conditioner for the past year and I know that’s made a huge difference in my hair growth and shininess as well. Since I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week, I have it shipped every 3 months and Rob uses it too!
After I’ve washed my hair, I either let my hair air dry, or use my Dyson hairdryer to dry it (read my review on the hair dryer here). Because I only wash my hair twice a week, I don’t mind blow drying it since it’s not an everyday thing. I find that washing less often strengthens my hair and has made it softer and shinier too.
I recommend using the hair growth oil twice a week for best results!
It feels a bit like a spa treatment, so I love to do it on Sunday afternoon while the kids are napping, and then at night on Thursday—those are my typical hair wash days!
Other ways to boost your hair growth naturally? Make sure to eat a diet high in fatty acids—I like avocado, flaxseed in my smoothies, and salmon. In general, when you eat a diet that supports your overall health and gut health, good things will happen throughout your body.
Make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep, reduce your stress and have fun! Do all these things and you’ll be well on your way to beautiful, shiny, healthy hair!
Have you experienced hair loss after kids or for other reasons? What tips do you have for boosting your hair growth naturally?
BTW, DIY face serum for clear and glowy skin, and the 3 best non-toxic dry shampoos.
