How To Make Herbal Homemade Hair Oil – Infusion & Decoction Methods

Nowadays because of increasing air pollution levels, dust, hard or chlorinated water, excessive stress, our hair gets frizzy, tangled, unmanageable, and damaged which often leads to hair fall.

Also in winter, the cold dry weather tends to dry out the scalp and hair which leads to dandruff problem and further increase the hair fall problem.

To fight all these, we need to take extra care of our hair.

One very important thing that everyone should include in their hair care routine is doing oil massaging twice a week with homemade herbal oils.

Okay, so in this article, I am going to share with you my recipe for homemade moisturizing hair oil.

There are two methods to make this homemade oil:

1. By Infusion method and
2. By Decoction method

Let’s talk about the first method which is Infusion method.

1. Making Herbal hair oil by Infusion method:

This is a lengthy method and requires time & patience but it is long-lasting and more effective. This method will require infusing all the ingredients in oil for almost 1 and a half to 2 months.

I am showing you 2 batches of infused herbal hair oil in this article.

For which we require;

• 1 cup of sun-dried curry leaves
• 1 cup of sun-dried hibiscus flowers
• 2 tbsps of black seeds
• 2 tbsp of Fenugreek seeds
• Organic Almond oil
• Virgin coconut oil
• Argan oil
• And 2 empty glass mason jars.

This method is very simple, just pour ¾ of the glass mason jars with the dry ingredients and fill the jar till its neck with oils.

Now if you wish you can bruise the seeds with mortar and pestle first. This will make sure the oil will get maximum nutrition.

*Make sure the herbs you are infusing are completely dry and there is no moisture left. Otherwise, moisture will lead to the occurrence of molds.

You can use one or more solvent oils in this method. In one jar I am taking only one oil which is coconut oil and in another jar, I am mixing argon oil, almond oil and coconut oil.

Now close the lids of both jars and make sure they are airtight. Shake the jars until all the ingredients mix well.

Label both the jars with date and ingredients and place them in a cool dark place away from sunlight for 2 and a half to 3 months.

(I’m storing them in my cupboard.)

After every few days take out the jars and give them a good shake and put them back. Do this on every 3 to 4 days intervals.

After 1 and a half to 2 months take out the jars and shake them well. Strain them using a cheesecloth/muslin cloth. Strain properly so that all the residue gets nicely squeezed leaving their essence. (We don’t want to waste any trace of this precious infusion).

Pour this infused oil in a tinted dropper bottle with the use of a funnel.

We are using a tinted bottle so that oil doesn’t get affected by the harmful sun rays and a dropper bottle so that it is easier to pour the oil in hair partitions effortlessly.

If you don’t have it you can store in an airtight glass container too. Just make sure you store it in a cool dark place away from the sunlight. Use glass container only to preserve the essence of the ingredients without any chemical interference.

You can add a few fenugreek seeds and black seeds to the tinted dropper bottle. As the seeds take time to lose out their essence and they don’t get spoiled for a long time.

You can either store it as it is or you can add your preferred essential oil and store.

I’m adding 10 to 15 drops of rosemary essential oil. (Rosemary is excellent for our hair too). Close the bottle and shake it well so that the essential oil gets properly mixed with the base oil.

(*In second mason jar I’ve added, 10 drops of lavender essential oil + 5 drops of rosemary essential oil and 5 drops of tea tree oil)

Voila, your homemade herbal hair oils by the infusion method are ready.

 

2. Making Herbal hair oil by Decoction method:

Decoction means adding the ingredients in hot water or oil and cooking them until they leave out their essence into the base oil or water.

This method is quick and the herbal oil gets prepared in a day.

For this method we will be needing;

• A stainless steel pan
• Virgin Coconut oil
• Organic almond oil
• Ixora oil (you can make it at home by infusing sun-dried Ixora flowers in oil for 1 to 1 and a half months. The same way I made rose-infused oil.)
• Black seeds
• Fenugreek seeds
• Indian gooseberry powder or dried gooseberries
• Fresh Aloe vera leaf
• The residue of the previous infused oil. (Part 1)

or

• Dried curry leaves
• Dried hibiscus flowers

First, pluck out a small leaf of your homegrown aloe vera, wash it and keep it aside in a bowl placing at 45 or 90 degrees to drain out the aloin.

Once the light yellowish liquid is drained out wash the leaf again and cut it into small pieces.

Meanwhile, put a stainless steel pan on low heat. pour 1 cup of coconut oil and ¾ cup of almond oil to it and let it get warm.

Add aloe vera pieces to the warm oil and stir them until they turn yellowish. (This will make sputtering noise because of the water content of aloe vera)

Add strained residue of infused oils to it and stir continuously. (If you wish you can add freshly dried curry leaves, dried hibiscus, black seeds and fenugreek seeds to it too. I have added this residue because I didn’t want to waste it.)

Keep stirring for 20 to 25 minutes until the oil reduces to 3/4.

Switch off the flame and put it aside and let the mixture cool down completely. This may take 2 to 3 hours.

Once the oil is cooled down strain it using a cheesecloth. Squeeze out the maximum residue.

Transfer this oil into a tinted dropper bottle or an airtight glass container.

Add 10 to 15 drops of essential oil for the fragrance. I am adding 10 drops of rosemary essential oil. Close the lid and shake the bottle so that essential oil gets properly mixed with the base oil.

Label the jar with date and ingredients.

How to apply this Herbal Hair Oil?

Make partitions in your hair and apply this oil in your scalp giving a light massage.

(Don’t rub harshly otherwise it would weaken the hair from the roots which can lead to hair fall.)

Just do a gentle massage.

Apply the oil on your hair from root to tip and keep it on for a minimum of 1 hour.

Do hot towel treatment for 15 minutes and rinse. Or you can keep the oil overnight and rinse your hair the next morning.

Do this treatment twice a week for best results.

*Always wash your hair with cold or room temperature water. In winter you can use lukewarm water but never use hot water else it will dry out your hair and scalp.

If you are regular enough it will start showing the visible difference to your hair in 2 months period. I have tried this and it has helped me a lot to reduce hair fall. If you can’t see any difference after 3 months too, you can switch to other methods.

Over to you..

Have you ever made homemade herbal hair oil?

Do give it a try and let me know how it goes..