How to pick your scalp oil

Scalp oils should be an essential in your hair care routine. Your scalp gets a massage, which is effective for blood flow. You’re able to loosen up any scalp buildup. And the ingredients in a scalp oil help to nourish your scalp. But what are you supposed to look for in a scalp oil?

The answer, terpenes. And we find those in essential oils.

Scientific studies on the effectiveness of essential oils have just started in the 20th century, although the use of essential oils for medicinal purposes has been around since ancient times.

What makes essential oils so special? These highly concentrated and potent oils have so many benefits. Today we will focus specifically on terpenes, a chemical property that is abundant in essential oils and makes the magic happen.

It serves as a penetration enhancer

Essential oils like Rosemary and Thyme (used in our Scalp Elixir) are abundant in natural terpenes. Terpenes can penetrate the skin. In the medical field natural terpenes are referred to as “penetration enhancers”. Meaning it is added to medical topical ointments so that the ointment can penetrate the skin and deliver the required medication.

That alone is incredible, but there’s more

It has properties beneficial to the scalp

Terpenes make up over 60% of the chemical composition of Rosemary essential oil. P-cymene (at 44.02%) is anti-inflammatory and linalool (at 20.5%) which is anti-bacterial

Thyme essential oil has high concentrations of thymol (47.5%) which is anti-fungal and antibacterial and y-terpinene (30.9%) which is anti-fungal and antioxidant.

And lastly

It serves as a vehicle for other oils

Essential oils are highly potent and cannot be applied directly to your skin as it can cause irritation. They are often diluted in carrier oils. Now, as mentioned before, because essential oils are a penetration enhancer it is able to also take the benefits of the carrier oil and penetrate the scalp.

Using a scalp oil that has essential oils means that not only is the surface of your scalp nourished, but the oil is penetrating to really take care of your hair follicles. That is thanks to the magic of terpenes.

References

Koyama S, Heinbockel T. The Effects of Essential Oils and Terpenes in Relation to Their Routes of Intake and Application. Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Feb 25;21(5):1558. doi: 10.3390/ijms21051558. PMID: 32106479; PMCID: PMC7084246.

Ozcan MM, Chalchat JC. Chemical composition and antifungal activity of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) oil from Turkey. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2008 Nov-Dec;59(7-8):691-8. doi: 10.1080/09637480701777944. PMID: 18654909.

Borugă O, Jianu C, Mişcă C, Goleţ I, Gruia AT, Horhat FG. Thymus vulgaris essential oil: chemical composition and antimicrobial activity. J Med Life. 2014;7 Spec No. 3(Spec Iss 3):56-60.

Chen J, Jiang QD, Chai YP, Zhang H, Peng P, Yang XX. Natural Terpenes as Penetration Enhancers for Transdermal Drug Delivery. Molecules. 2016;21(12):1709. Published 2016 Dec 11. doi:10.3390/molecules21121709