Your scalp needs love too, and these hair oils can help
Written By Jenny Wu on
I discussed the importance of scalp care a while back, and said that I’m now on a search for hair products that cater to the skin on my head, because healthy scalp = healthy hair. Today I want to share 3 hair oils I’ve been trying out.
Oil for the scalp?
I feel like these type of products are pretty new to the market, so there’s really no standard term for them. Since they are mostly blends of different hydrating and essential oils, I’m going to refer to them as “scalp oils”.
#Skincaretip: Certain oils are great for our face, but did you know they can nourish our scalp too?
To risk looking like a greasy mess, you typically apply these oils to your 30 minutes (or overnight if you’re really ambitious) before you shampoo. Make sure to really massage the oil in, as this will help improve blood circulation as well!
So far, here are the 3 hair oils I’ve tried are and their key ingredients:
- Phyto Phytopolléine Botanical Scalp Treatment – $40 for 0.8oz – Rosemary essential oil, Sage essential oil, Cypress essential oil, Lemon Oil, Corn Oil. CosDNA analysis
- Kiehl’s Magic Elixir Hair Restructuring Concentrate with Rosemary Leaf and Avocado – $20 for 4oz – Rosemary Oil, Avocado Oil, Safflower Oil, Sweet almond oil. CosDNA analysis
- Flora Remedia Lavender Hair Oil Treatment – $21.07 for 3.38oz – Coconut oil, Castor Seed oil, Lavender essential oil, Rosemary essential oil, Peach oil, Safflower oil, Flower Essence (Gentian, Impatiens, Larch). CosDNA analysis
You’ll notice that all 3 hair oils contain rosemary (essential) oil, and that’s because it can help stimulate hair follicles and slow down hair loss. It can also help with dryness or flakiness and remove dandruff.
#Skincaretip: Look for rosemary oil in your hair products to help nourish + balance your scalp.
The other oils listed are just as good, helping either to nourish or balance the scalp and improve the overall health of your hair follicles. I definitely recommend researching more into them if you’re interested, but let’s get to the million dollar question – how well do they actually work?
Phyto Phytopolléine Botanical Scalp Treatment
The first oil I tried and the most expensive of the 3. I do like that it’s 100% blend of essential oils, so no filler ingredients. The dispenser is a difficult to use though. You have to shake really hard to get the product out, and it’s hard to tell how much you’ve used.
The oil itself has a nice woodsy scent that isn’t ovebearing, and surprisingly it doesn’t turn your head into a greasy mess. I noticed a very slight improvement in my scalp condition after using this, but nothing that blew me away. Still, it was better than nothing.
Kiehl’s Magic Elixir Hair Restructuring Concentrate with Rosemary Leaf and Avocado
Love that you get a huge bottle for $20, but it also contains some filler ingredients. It’s much easier to dispense the product though, so that’s an improvement from the Phyto Phytopolléine Botanical Scalp Treatment. The bottle does make me feel like I’m putting salad dressing on my head, but I digress.
Now you know I love Kiehl’s, but this was a dud. For one, it makes my head smell rancid, and no one likes smelling rancid. It also made my scalp itchy and even more flaky, which may be an allergic reaction to one of the ingredients. For a while I thought it was an issue with the Kiehl’s amino acid shampoo, until I switched to the Flora Remedia Lavender Hair Oil Treatment.
Flora Remedia Lavender Hair Oil Treatment
Maddy from Flora Remedia reached out to see if I wanted to try their products, so I jumped at the chance to try their hair oil treatment. First, let’s appreciate the pretty packaging, the 100% pure blend of awesome oils, and the nice glass pump bottle.
This oil is thicker than the other 2, so my head turned into a bit of a greasy mess when I first used it. At least my head smelled like lavender, so yay? But oh my God, this works. I usually accumulate a hairball every time I wash my hair, but after using this, hair loss went down by 75%!! Not only that, but the flakiness has gotten better, and my scalp doesn’t feel as itchy. YAAAS.
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Packaging
8.5
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Ingredients
9.5
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Texture/Application
7.5
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Performance
10
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Price
8.5
Forget the Kiehl’s and Phyto scalp oils, the Flora Remedia Lavender Hair Oil Treatment blows both out of the water. Of course, this was for my scalp, and YMMV. From reading the Phyto and Kiehl’s reviews, it seems like a lot of people had success with those as well. Also, Flora Remedia scalp oil costs $8 for international shipping (free shipping if you’re in Australia or NZ!). Meanwhile the other 2 products are readily available where those brands are sold. With that said, I still love the Flora Remedia Lavender Hair Oil Treatment and will gladly pay $29.07 for a bottle when mine runs out. If you suffer from hair loss and dry scalp, definitely give this a try, you won’t be disappointed!
A big thank you again to Flora Remedia again for reaching out and introducting me to this awesome product! Hope you guys enjoyed this review, and have a great rest of the week!
Passionate about science-based skincare. Tested hundreds if not thousands of products since my 20's. Working regularly with brands like iHerb, Ulta, CurrentBody, and MedStar Health to share my knowledge and experience in all things beauty. Learn more.
Skin profile: 35+, dry/combination, focused on well-aging, hydration, and a healthy glow ✨
Comments & Questions
Elisa
i don't have problems with dandruff or hair falls but i DO have problems with SLOW HAIR GROWTH! ugh, i envy people whose hair growth is so rapid in just 3 months! mine takes yeaaaaars to grow. i can never achieve my desired hair length (which is half-arm length) and currently, it stays at bicep length ew. i read about how coconut milk or olive oil can make hair grow faster but i'm not so sure about that... some people say that it won't work because hair growth is based on genetics. i never tried any of these oils before but i did try coconut milk before and i think it gave my hair too much protein LOL
Jenny Wu
I think the speed of hair growth is mostly determined by genetics, but what we can do is prevent the grown hair from breaking and/or falling out prematurely. That's where using these oils comes into play. Basically they nourish the scalp, which if you think about it, gets constantly stripped by the detergents in our shampoo, but we never apply any products to hydrate/nourish it! But no one like a gross greasy head, so that's why these scalp oils always suggest applying them right before you shampoo.
Applying oil on the ends of your hair also helps prevent breakage. My friend swears by coconut oil on the ends of her hair, and she went from having regular chest-length hair to waist length hair. She said that her hair has never been able to grow that long before, so I believe coconut (or any other type of oil) really helps.
Esnath
I love hair oils and use them as an oil treatment before, I wash my hair when I have time. The lavender hair oils has just on on my wish list and will be hunting it down really need to try it out.
Great review of these products
Jenny Wu
Thanks Esnath! Using hair oils can be a bit time consuming, but for me it's totally worth the effort (with the right product of course!). Lavender oil is actually great for hair and scalp as well, plus it smells lovely! :)
Jill
I expected the Lavender Hair Oil from Flora Remedia to be a bit greasier than usual hair oils. But you're definitely right that it smells great! It took about a week for me to notice that my hair is healthier.