The Impact of Rosemary Oil on Hair

Aimlessly scrolling through TikTok and Instagram Reels, I am usually bombarded with a variety of videos: beauty, skin, and healthcare. The latest trend that has consumed my feed has been using Rosemary Oil (or any essential oil) to yield healthy and magic hair growth. The person in the video massages the oil into their hair, leaves it in for an hour or so, and then washes it out and styles it, presenting their new shiny locks of hair. A skeptic myself, I couldn’t believe that something so simple as rosemary could promote hair growth or help maintain healthy hair. 

Essential oils are concentrated liquid obtained extracted from a variety of plants and known for their essence or pungent fragrance. With a variety of uses, essential oils are seen in alternative medicine as a form of aromatherapy and also used for food, skin care, and now even hair care. While essential oils have become popularized through these outlets, it’s important to note that these concentrated oils can be harmful to the skin or cause toxic symptoms without proper dilution in a carrier oil (Cleveland Clinic, 2021). 

Certain essential oils such as cedarwood, thyme, almond, lavender, rosemary, and ylang-ylang oil have claims to benefit hair health and promote hair growth. And, with rosemary oil, water, and soap becoming popular on TikTok I just had to see if the research was there to back up the claims stated by these alleged TikTok and Instagram Reels influencers. According to study Uronnachi et al., the oils mentioned above have been “used anecdotally for over 100 years to treat hair loss” and the study focuses on oleogels containing cedarwood and rosemary essential oils (individually and then together) to evaluate how it affects hair growth (2022). In the paper, oleogel was made utilizing olive oil and beeswax, which acted as the carrier medium to which the essential oils would be added. Additionally, eighteen albino rats were used for the study and different batches of the oleogel utilizing different concentrations of the oleogel-essential oil mixture was tested on the rats. The positive control group were given minoxidil (the current hair loss treatment drug on the market that is FDA approved) and the negative control group were given nothing (no minoxidil or the oleogel mixture).

After viewing the results of the study, it was shown that cedarwood and rosemary oils used in combination did not produce a “synergistic effect,” but the oils separately did cause hair growth and hair fullness effects. The positive control (minoxidil drug) increased hair growth the most, but one specific batch (containing beeswax, rosemary oil, propylene glycol, and olive oil) had growth and enhancement effects to the same level as minoxidil. They concluded the study claiming that oils could be an alternative hair growth method, but further research needs to be completed on the toxicity and adverse side effects of their batch compositions for regular use hair growth applications (Uronnachi et al., 2022). 

While the article does show evidence that essential oils could be used as a natural alternative to hair growth, I think it’s important to note that essential oils can be toxic to the skin and scalp as is. It needs to be emphasized that we still need to understand and research the best concentration of essential oil to use that allows for hair growth, but is still safe for our delicate scalp. That being said, I think those TikTok and Instagram Reels aren’t wrong for claiming that rosemary oils promote hair growth, but influencers need to explain the science behind the oils and fully elucidate how to use essential oils safely.

References

Uronnachi, E., Atuegwu, C., Umeyor, C., Nwakile, C., Obasi, J., Ikeotuonye, C., & Attama, A. (2022). Formulation and evaluation of hair growth enhancing effects of oleogels made from Rosemary and Cedar wood oils. Scientific African, e01223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01223

11 Essential Oils: Their Benefits and How To Use Them – Cleveland Clinic. (2021, December 14). Cleveland Clinic; Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/essential-oils-101-do-they-work-how-do-you-use-them/