Using Rosemary Essential Oil For Hair: How To Dilute It Correctly

Nowadays, people are constantly searching for new ways to improve the health of their hair.

From supplements that help your hair grow to oils that make your hair silkier, there are lots of different things out there that can help your hair. One thing that many people have started using to help their hair is rosemary essential oil. 

Using Rosemary Essential Oil For Hair How To Dilute It Correctly

Rosemary essential oil has lots of benefits, and one of these benefits is making your hair glossier.

People have been using rosemary tea to make their hair glossier for as many as 2000 years, but nowadays, many people are diluting rosemary essential oil and using it directly on their hair. 

Oil will not dilute in water, so you might find yourself struggling to understand how to dilute this essential oil to use it in your hair.

In this guide, we’re telling you everything you need to know about how to dilute rosemary essential oil correctly. 

Keep on reading to find out more. 

Why Should You Use Rosemary Essential Oil On Your Hair?

Rosemary has been used for many years by people to improve the health of their hair.

Nowadays, most people are using rosemary essential oil directly on their hair to give it a glossier appearance. But you may wonder why you should use rosemary essential oils on your hair. 

In terms of scientific research, there are very few experiments that have been done to assess the effectiveness of essential oils on hair growth and health.

However, regardless of this, many people still use a combination of different essential oils to help their hair grow and to make it healthier. 

While there may not be many studies that prove the effectiveness of essential oils on hair health, the fact that many people use them is evidence enough.

As we said earlier, people have been using rosemary on their hair for as many as 2000 years, alongside various botanicals. These oils can be beneficial for the hair and skin, which is why they are so widely used. 

One of the biggest benefits of using essential oils on your body is that they can protect your hair and skin from the elements. This is the main reason why humans have been using essential oils for so long. 

Over the years, and through trial and error, rosemary essential oil has been found to be incredibly effective on hair health.

While it doesn’t help with hair growth, it is incredibly effective at improving the health of your hair and giving it a glossier appearance.

So, if you struggle with dry or frail hair, rosemary essential oil could improve your hair’s health and give it a much nicer appearance. That is why you should use rosemary essential oil on your hair. 

Using Rosemary Essential Oil For Hair: How To Dilute It Correctly

Do Essential Oils Help With Hair Growth?

As we have established, rosemary essential oil doesn’t help with hair growth but it does help with the health of your hair. 

Just because rosemary essential oil doesn’t help with hair growth doesn’t mean that other essential oils are ineffective in terms of hair growth.

There are some essential oils that people use to aid hair growth, but do they actually work? Let’s take a look at some of the limitations of essential oils. 

Limitations Of Essential Oils For Hair Growth

One of the biggest limitations of using essential oils for hair growth is that you have to dilute them before you can use them on your body.

There aren’t any essential oils that can be used directly on the skin simply because it is unsafe to do so.

To use essential oils safely, you have to dilute them before using them on your body. However, this does affect the properties of the essential oils. 

When they are undiluted, essential oils are incredibly effective and fast-acting (see also “10 Incredible Patchouli Essential Oil Uses“). When you dilute the essential oils, which is something you must do, the essential oils take longer to start working.

So, when you are diluting essential oils, you have to consider the amount of time it will take for the rosemary essential oil to start working. 

Generally, essential oils require around 19 minutes to travel through the skin, enter the bloodstream, and start working once they have been diluted.

With this in mind, you may need to apply the essential oil to your hair differently. 

Many people choose to add essential oils to their hair by diluting the rosemary essential oil into their shampoo or conditioner.

At first, this makes sense, simply because your shampoo/conditioner will work at diluting the essential oil, and also because you will be applying the shampoo and conditioner to your hair regardless. 

However, as we have just established, it takes around 19 minutes for the oil to penetrate your skin and enter the bloodstream. Until the oil reaches the bloodstream, it will not start working.

Generally, you do not keep shampoo or conditioner on your hair for that long, so adding essential oil to these toiletries will not work. Simply because you will wash it off your hair before the essential oil enters the bloodstream.

One of the easiest ways to get around this is to use a leave-in conditioner or hair mask to dilute the essential oil.

Both of these products will require you to leave the product on your hair for much longer than 19 minutes.

This will give the rosemary essential oil plenty of time to penetrate the skin, enter the bloodstream, and get to work before the product is washed off the hair. 

Is It Safe To Use Rosemary Essential Oil On Your Hair?

Before you use rosemary essential oil on your hair, you might want to find out more about the safety of using this essential oil on your hair.

Rosemary is an incredibly strong oil, and it is actually one of the most potent essential oils that exist. So, understandably, you may feel concerned about using it. 

If you have any allergies or sensitivities, you should be cautious when using any essential oils. But even if you have zero allergies, you should be aware of the main effects of rosemary essential oil.

While essential oils have very few side effects, they have quite a lot of main effects. As rosemary essential oil is incredibly potent, these main effects are quite strong. 

The Effects Of Rosemary Essential Oil

Rosemary essential oil works by pushing energy around the body at a high speed. It increases your blood pressure, increases your heart rate, and encourages ketones around the body. 

Ketones are carried into the bloodstream by rosemary essential oil, once in the body, these ketones encourage your body to break things down.

This can improve the health of things in your body, including the health of your hair. 

However, while the majority of these main benefits will be helpful for your body and its health, if you have pre-existing health issues they could prove problematic.

If you have high blood pressure, then rosemary essential oil could be dangerous for you to use. 

Likewise, the presence of ketones in the oil could be dangerous if you have epilepsy, schizophrenia, or have previously experienced psychosis.

Ketones have a neurotoxic effect on the brain, so they can be dangerous if you have previously experienced any of the health issues we have just listed. 

If you have any health issues affecting your heart or your brain, we would recommend staying clear of rosemary essential oil until you have spoken to your doctor.

Likewise, if you are pregnant, it is a good idea to avoid using rosemary essential oil until you have passed the first 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Using Rosemary Essential Oil For Hair: How To Dilute It Correctly

How To Dilute Rosemary Essential Oil For Your Hair

Now, let’s take a look at how to dilute rosemary essential oil appropriately before using it on your hair. 

When diluting rosemary essential oil, the maximum dilution should be 3%. However, this doesn’t necessarily help when it comes to figuring out how to dilute the oil. But to help you out, we’ve explained it all below. 

The science behind diluting rosemary essential oil is not at all user-friendly. But generally, you want a very small amount of essential oil in comparison to carrier oil.

A maximum dilution of 3% would mean that at most you should have 3 drops of rosemary essential oil in a ratio to 97 drops of carrier oil. ‘

But of course, you’re not going to sit there and measure 97 drops of carrier oil just to ensure you are getting the ratio correct. 

We would always recommend starting with too little carrier oil. This allows you to slowly increase the number of drops of essential oil if necessary. 

Generally, 5 ml of carrier oil will equate to around 100 drops of carrier oil.

Knowing this makes life a lot easier because you can easily add 1–3 drops of rosemary essential oil to the carrier oil without exceeding the maximum dilution.

So start off with 5 ml of carrier oil, then add your rosemary essential oil one drop at a time. 

If you are working with teaspoon measures of carrier oil, then life becomes even easier.

If you want a dilution rate of 3%, then you simply need to add 3 drops of rosemary essential oil to the teaspoon of carrier oil.

Likewise, if your body is weakened and you need to reduce the amount of rosemary essential oil, adding 2 drops will equate to a 2% dilution rate. 

So, if you want to dilute your essential oil as easily as you possibly can, you should start with a teaspoon of carrier oil and dilute it from there. Or follow one of the recipes below.

Rosemary Scalp Massage 

Ingredients

  • 10ml castor oil
  • 90ml coconut carrier oil
  • 15 drops of rosemary essential oil
  • 15 drops of cedarwood essential oil
  • 30 drops of lavender essential oil

Method

Combine the ingredients and then apply to the hair. Massage into the scalp for 5 minutes, then wrap your head with a hot towel.

Leave for an hour before rinsing then wash your hair as normal with shampoo/conditioner. 

Rosemary Henna Conditioner

Ingredients

  • 400ml henna wax
  • 30 drops of rosemary essential oil
  • 10 drops of cedarwood essential oil
  • 10 drops of patchouli essential oil

Method

Combine the ingredients, then apply a hefty handful of the mixture to damp hair.

Wrap hair in a warm towel, and leave for 20 minutes. Rinse out thoroughly with warm water or strong rosemary tea.

Summary

In short, rosemary essential oil can be really beneficial for your hair. When diluted properly, rosemary essential oil can help make your hair incredibly glossy, and that is the main reason why many people use it. 

In this guide, we’ve told you everything that you need to know about how to dilute rosemary essential oil properly. 

Thanks for reading!

Mia Greene
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