Rosemary plant is an aromatic perennial herb with needle-like leaves that grows blue, purple, or pink flowers. The rosemary oil extracted from the plant is used to produce various organic products for medical, therapeutical, culinary, and cosmetic use.
Rosemary oil contains rich sources of antioxidants, which one common benefit is improving blood circulation. As a result, this is said to help prevent hair loss by reducing the inflammation of the scalp and hair follicles.
It is one of the go-to natural home and healing remedy of most people who can’t afford or don’t want to risk further on conventional treatments.
What is DHT?
According to Health Line, Dihydrotestosterone or DHT is simply a sex hormone that contributes to the natural “male” sex characteristics of a person that goes through puberty, such as body hair and muscle mass.
Though it is essential for development, DHT has its unwanted effects as well.
According to the American Academy of Dermatology, about 80 million, both men and women, in the US suffer from hereditary hair loss. Experts say that one of the common causes of hair loss, especially in men, is a high level of DHT.
When the level of DHT rises, it can reach through the receptors of your scalp hair follicles, and eventually weaken them. As a result, they no more have the capability of supporting and holding hairs on your head.
The production of DHT is a natural and continuous process, meaning that we can’t slow down or stop it. However, some remedies are said to cure this kind of hereditary hair loss. One of the most well-known solutions is rosemary oil.
The Effectiveness of Rosemary Oil in Blocking DHT
Several studies have been conducted to test and possibly prove the effectiveness of rosemary for hair loss treatment.
A 1998 research tested the effectiveness of aromatherapy, using rosemary oil for hair loss, on several people who have alopecia areata (an autoimmune disorder that can cause hair loss). It was concluded that the participants had shown improvements.
Meanwhile, experts made a study in 2015 about the efficiency of rosemary oil for hair loss treatment versus minoxidil. Regardless of the controversies, the study still had attested that rosemary oil helps treat hair loss due to a high level of DHT, after several months of continuous usage.
The latest study in 2017 found out that the rosemary oil can treat hair loss due to the infected and unhealthy scalp since it can kill some fungi and bacteria.
Above all, there is one study that says that rosemary oil can help lower the DHT levels by blocking androgen receptor activity.
Conclusion
Several studies have proven that rosemary oil is somehow an effective remedy for hair loss treatment. Here, we should also note that not all cases of hair loss are treatable by rosemary oil. Rosemary oil is recommended only as a home remedy for hair loss due to a high level of DHT and similar other cases.
