31 Benefits of Rosemary Oil for Skin, Hair and Health

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Rosemary. What a sweet sounding name, isn?t it? More than the name, the herb by itself is a blessing to mankind. There are many benefits of rosemary. The amazing uses of rosemary are hard to keep track of because they are so many! If you have not been familiar with what rosemary does for you, this is the right time to know and make the best use of these 31 Benefits of Rosemary Oil for Skin, Hair, and Health.

An introduction to Rosemary

Rosemary is a famous aromatic herb that belongs to the mint family Lamiaceae. Its botanical name is Rosmarinus officinalis. This evergreen herb is widely found in the Mediterranean and Asia. It has a subtle beauty to its structure with its small needle-like leaves. Rosemary flowers come in white, pink, blue and purple. It is quite easy to maintain as well. Rosemary has been a sacred herb for many years. It was very popular among the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians. It was used both as an ornamental plant, owing to its striking prettiness; as well as in gourmet cooking.

Rosemary fragrance is wonderful and uplifting and it has a unique bitter flavour, which makes it perfect for roasted meat garnishing. Rosemary benefits one?s health in plentiful ways. It has an impressive nutritional value that takes all the credit.

How does rosemary benefit you? Well, rosemary is an all-rounder. The rosemary leaves and rosemary essential oil benefits are wholesome. You might be surprised to know that they help not just your physical health, it also aids mental health, emotional health, and to maintain beautiful hair and skin. Rosemary has a very potential composition that is filled with all the essential nutrients and minerals that one requires.

How to make use of rosemary?

You may have certainly heard of rosemary essential oil for all its potency. You can obtain rosemary essential oil by steam distillation from fresh flowering tops. These will yield 1 to 2% oil.

Rosemary oil cannot be extracted at home but you can have rosemary infused oil. For this, add few sprigs of dried rosemary leaves in a glass bottle filled with olive oil and secure the lid tightly. For 2 weeks, leave this undisturbed in a warm and dark place. This rosemary infused olive oil can be used in cooking, for massaging feet, hair or face.

Effective use of rosemary essential oil can be through an essential oil diffuser. Now, these are becoming quite the thing in trend recently. An essential oil diffuser will help to vaporise the oil and will spread the amazing aroma of the oils added inside. Rosemary essential oil along with other essential oils can be mixed and used in a diffuser. This will ensure that you are breathing in the aroma of rosemary along with its benefits. Isn?t that great?

You can use rosemary together with other carrier oils that it blends along with beautifully. Some of them include peppermint, basil, orange, lemon, jasmine, frankincense, lavender, and eucalyptus. You can use rosemary together with combination oil like rosemary with orange, etc., in an essential oil diffuser. It will prove to be a great aromatherapy for everyone around.

Rosemary Nutrition Profile

Rosemary is filled with an ample supply of nutrients and antioxidants. This is what makes it highly potent. It has an antioxidant?ORAC value?of 11,07o, as it is widely trusted for its ability to fight free radicals. The main chemical components in rosemary are ?-pinene, borneol, ?-pinene, camphor, bornyl acetate, camphene, 1, 8-cineole and limonene.?Among these, carnosol, a phenolic diterpene also found in mountain desert sage, is the hero. This is not alone a rich antioxidant, but it is also famous for its anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory property.

Carnosol in Rosemary

So what makes carnosol in rosemary famous? As aforementioned, carnosol makes rosemary essential oil potential with its anti-cancerous properties.

Carnosol helps with

Preventing cancer in prostrate, breast, skin, leukemia, and colon.
Balances levels of androgen and estrogen in the body
Lowers DHT (dihyroxytestosterone) improving hair growth and prostate health
Heals nerve tissues and promotes nerves growth
Possess selective toxicity towards cancerous cells versus non-cancerous cells. Therefore makes is very efficient in action against tumorous tissues and cells.

You prefer some detail when it comes to nutritional value in rosemary? You can check the chart below

Fresh Leaves of Rosemary Herb (Rosmarinus Officinalis) Nutritive Value per 100 g
PRINCIPLE	NUTRIENT VALUE	PERCENTAGE OF RDA
Energy	131 Kcal	6.5%
Carbohydrates	20.70 g	16%
Protein	3.31 g	6%
Total Fat	5.86 g	20%
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Dietary Fiber	14.10 g	37%
VITAMINS & MINERALS
Folates	109 ?g	27%
Niacin	0.912 mg	6%
Pantothenic acid	0.804 mg	16%
Pyridoxine	0.336 mg	26%
Riboflavin	0.152 mg	12%
Thiamin	0.036 mg	3%
Vitamin A	2924 IU	97%
Vitamin C	21.8 mg	36%
Calcium	317 mg	32%
Copper	0.301 mg	33%
Iron	6.65 mg	83%
Magnesium	91 mg	23%
Manganese	0.960 mg	42%
Zinc	0.93 mg	8.5%
ELECTROLYTES
Sodium	26 mg	2%
Potassium	668 mg	14%

Rosemary Oil for Face

The benefits of rosemary oil for skin and face are abundant. You will be surprised to know the many ways in which rosemary acts a natural beauty formula for the skin. Not many are aware of the rosemary oil uses for the skin. If you haven?t heard of them too, check these wonderful rosemary benefits for skin below!

Clear and glowing skin

Isn?t this what we all long for from our skin care product? To get clear and glowing skin, beaming with freshness and life. Regular use of rosemary oil for the face can give you skin that is fresh and glowing. Rosemary improves blood circulation and helps your skin to get the nourishment it needs. Nourished and moisturized skin is glowing skin, with even skin tone and improved complexion. And that is what you are left with!

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Younger looking skin

A skin that is glowing and fresh all the time is a youthful looking skin. The enhanced blood circulation and all the nutrients and vitamins in rosemary essential oil give you younger looking skin. Rosemary essential oil tightens skin and improves skin elasticity. This keeps wrinkles at bay and improves skin tone. The anti-oxidants in rosemary essential rejuvenate skin. Anti-aging, reducing under eye puffiness is the other impressive properties that rosemary essential oil offers. If you want to prevent wrinkles and get youthful skin that is full of freshness and glow, now you know where to turn towards.

Sun damage

Rosemary essential oil for skin comes with several uses. Fighting against sun damage using rosemary essential oil is one among them. Iron, calcium, and phytonutrients in rosemary essential oil help to fight against any sun damage that your skin might have faced. If you have returned from a rough day under the sun, all you need is some help from rosemary essential oil.

Battle with Acne

When someone says an oil can help you to fight acne and pimples, we say, ?Oh, give me a break?. But surprisingly, it does. There are many essential oils that are great warriors against pimples and acne. The use of rosemary oil for acne isn?t new either. Rosemary oil has natural astringents that help to fight against pimples and acne. It helps to keep skin infection at bay and reduce inflammation.

Good-bye cellulite!

Isn?t that shocking to know? Well, it has been reported to be true. Rosemary oil has the ability to penetrate deep into the skin and improve blood circulation, flush out the toxins and promote skin health. This, in turn, helps to lower cellulite formation and also helps to remove the existing cellulite.

Stretch marks

With regular use of rosemary oil for skin massage, you can also expect your stretch marks to disappear. A skin free form toxins and plumped with better blood circulation is a great way to prevent and get rid of stretch marks. By using rosemary oil as a part of your daily skin routine you can prevent stretch marks effectively.

Also read?What Are The Best Fat Cutter Drinks To Reduce Belly Fat In A Week

How to use rosemary essential oil for face and skin?

For regular facial massage with rosemary oil or for body massage, you can use few teaspoons of rosemary essential oil in olive oil. The carrier oil, olive oil here, by itself is an excellent choice of oil to maintain healthy skin. With the addition of rosemary essential oil, it becomes all the more potent. You can use this combination of olive oil and rosemary oil for the skin to reduce blemishes, stretch marks, and cellulite, get healthy skin tone, and to prevent wrinkles. You can also use coconut oil as a carrier oil for massage purposes.

Rosemary Oil for Hair

Are you struggling with various hair and scalp related problems? Making use of rosemary essential oil for hair and scalp might be the solution you need to address the problem. Rosemary for hair has been common practice for several centuries. Various ancient cultures used rosemary oil for hair loss, dandruff, itchy scalp, to promote hair growth and other problems. The rich supply of nutrients and vitamins in rosemary essential oil makes it an excellent choice to maintain healthy hair and scalp.

Carnosic acid in rosemary essential oil is responsible for healing damaged nerves. It is therefore believed and proved that this special ingredient in rosemary essential oil will also help to heal the nerves in the scalp and promote hair regrowth. Rosemary oil?s ability to improve blood circulation helps it to go deep into the scalp and rejuvenate hair follicles. It makes the hair follicles to be healthy with ample blood flow since poor blood flow leads to hair loss. The antiseptic properties of rosemary essential oil also help to prevent and reduce dandruff, itchy scalp, and other scalp related problems. Rosemary oil on the scalp helps to reduce inflammation as well with its analgesic properties. Studies conducted on human subjects with androgenetic alopecia or male/ female pattern baldness proved that rosemary essential oil does promote hair regrowth. You can find the different ways in which you can use rosemary oil for hair and scalp below…

How to use rosemary oil for hair and scalp?

You can do so by using

Rosemary hot oil treatments in a hair?mask

One of the best ways to extract the best from any oil for the scalp, and not just rosemary oil, is to have hot oil treatment. Rosemary oil hair mask or hot oil treatment is the best way to let the oil work its magic on your hair and scalp. You will derive all the necessary benefits that your hair and scalp need by doing this once a week or once in 2 weeks.

The method is simple. Use any carrier oil- coconut oil, olive oil or almond oil. All of these oils are also independently excellent for hair growth, hence you and make use of them.

Add 2 to 4 drops or 1 or 2 tsp of rosemary essential oil to the carrier oil. Warm this lightly.
Massage scalp and hair well with this warm oil.
Wrap a warm towel over the scalp. You can also use a shower cap.
Let this stay for 20 to 30 minutes.
You can rinse hair with mild shampoo and follow up with a hair conditioner.
For the last rinse use cool water to seal the cuticles.

Rosemary oil in shampoo

You can do this 2 ways. Rosemary shampoo can be made at home or you can simply mix few drops of rosemary essential oil shampoo and use it directly during shower. Both of these methods are effective ways to promote hair growth, prevent hair fall, and keep away dandruff and itchy scalp.

Homemade Rosemary Shampoo

You will need:

Rosemary shampoo bar- 1
Dried leaves of rosemary- 1 tablespoon
3 cups of water

Method:

In a saucepan, add grated rosemary shampoo bar and water.
Keep stirring on low flame until the shampoo bar dissolves completely.
Wait until the liquid cools and now fill it within a shampoo dispenser.
This homemade rosemary shampoo is an ideal choice to stay away from the effects of harsh chemicals as well as make the best use of the goodness of rosemary for hair.

Rosemary oil in hair conditioner

Before you apply your regular conditioner to your damp hair, you can add few drops of rosemary essential oil to a dollop of hair conditioner and apply the conditioner to your hair. Your hair is not only conditioned with your regular conditioner but is also receiving the benefits of rosemary oil for hair. Using rosemary on hair makes it smooth, soft and lustrous.

Read also?How to Grow Hair on Forehead In A Week?

Rosemary oil leave-in conditioner

You can make your own leave-in rosemary hair conditioner. This will help to get shiny and glossy hair, which is healthy and full of life. It is also a great way to let the rosemary oil on hair to seep in to improve scalp blood circulation and promote hair growth.

You will need:

15 drops of rosemary essential oil or 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary leaves
Water- 1 cup
Tea Infuser
Spray bottle

Method:

Bring the water to boil and add the rosemary essential oil to it. Let it simmer for few seconds on low flame. Remove from flame and allow it to cool. Pour into the spray bottle and reserve for use as rosemary oil leave-in conditioner.

If you are using dried rosemary leaves: Make use of tea infuser to prepare the leave-in hair conditioner. Steep the leaves in boiled water using the tea infuser for 10 minutes. This steeped rosemary tea will have a pale green colour. Allow the liquid to cool and pour it into the spray bottle.

You can spray the rosemary leave-in hair conditioner on damp hair and allow it to air dry. You can also use it when your hair is dry and can use some nourishment.

Rosemary hair rinse for hair growth

A simple but effective solution to use rosemary for hair loss and other hair problems is by using rosemary infused water as a rinse. This will help to promote hair growth and also helps you to maintain healthy and clean scalp.

You will need:

1 tablespoon of dried rosemary leaves
2 cups of water

Method:

Bring the water to boil and add the dried rosemary leaves to the boiling water.
Let it boil for 15 minutes on low flame.
Strain to collect the rosemary infused water.
Use this strained water as a final rinse after using shampoo and conditioner.
Once you pour this water on your scalp and hair, massage scalp for 2 minutes to allow the water to seep into scalp.
You can use this once a week for best results.

Rosemary Essential Oil for Health

Cognitive Function

This is a very interesting and useful benefit that one can receive from an essential oil and quite surprising to know too. If you can recall, rosemary sits as a silent crown on the head of many Greek scholars. This is because, rosemary leaves and rosemary essential oil have the ability to improve brain functions, enhance performance and boost memory! If you think you need to set aside distraction and become more alert, you need rosemary. As Shakespeare said,

?There?s rosemary, that?s for remembrance, pray you love, remember.?

~ Ophelia (Shakespeare?s ?Hamlet?)

Based on a research done, International Journal of Neuroscience published an article on a study that proved that rosemary essential oil increases cognitive functioning. 144 participants were subjected to lavender essential oil aromatherapy and rosemary essential oil aromatherapy.

It was found that-

?Lavender produced a significant decrement in performance of working memory, and impaired reaction times for both memory and attention based tasks.? This could be due to the calming effect that lavender essential has on the mind and body.
?Rosemary produced a significant enhancement of performance for overall quality of memory and secondary memory factors.? Since rosemary has the ability to improve memory and cognitive functioning, the participants seemed to be more alert with enhanced performance when they were exposed to rosemary essential oil aromatherapy.
Overall both the oils together helped the participants experience a feeling of ?contentment?.

Studies to learn the benefits of rosemary oil aromatherapy were also conducted on 28 elderly people with dementia. 17 of them had Alzheimer?s. All 28 of the elders were exposed to aromatic vapour therapy of rosemary oil and lemon oil in the morning, and in the evening, lavender oil and orange oil. As a result, it was noticed that the all patients showed ?significant improvement in personal orientation?, without any side effects! Rosemary has the great potency to treat and prevent Alzheimer?s!

Nervous tension and fatigue

Need a mood lifter? You can try inhaling some rosemary oil to improve blood flow, heart rate, and blood pressure. Rub few drops of the oil on your wrists to get an instant lift in your mood, relieve nervous tension and fatigue.

Less Stress

Stress has become inevitable in today?s world. The harmful effects of stress are that the hormone cortisol released when your body is stressed disrupts the hormonal balance and normal metabolic activities in your body. How rosemary oil aromatherapy can help with this is, it will find cortisol and lower the levels of cortisol in saliva. Thereby reducing stress.

Fight depression

Rosemary oil as an antidepressant is also not new. Carnosol and betulinic acid in rosemary oil can help to calm oneself, relax and ease out symptoms of depression.

Relieve anxiety

A study conducted on nursing students proved that rosemary oil aromatherapy helped to relieve anxiety and reduce their overall levels of stress.

Cancer warrior

As aforementioned rosemary oil can also be used to fight cancer. Remember, it IS NOT A CURE for cancer. It contains an effective cancer-fighting agent- Carnosol. Research on animals has proved that rosemary is effective as an anti-cancer agent, fighting against leukemia, cancer in colon, pancreas, breast, prostate, cervical, bladder, and ovarian cancer.

Better Immunity

For a healthy body that is free from the effects of toxins and free radicals that harm the growth of cells, you need antioxidants. Carnosol and myrcene are 2 very powerful chemical that acts as antioxidants in rosemary oil. Inhaling rosemary oil on a regular basis will provide you with better immunity against diseases and infections, thereby helping you to lead a long and healthy life, most importantly.

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Increased circulation

When circulation is to the point, there are a lot of other additional benefits like great skin and complexion, hair regrowth, faster wound healing and blood clotting.

Goodbye headaches!

Migraines and headaches are extremely disturbing physically and mentally. When you want to ease out the pain, you can take some help from rosemary oil for pain relief. Rub some rosemary oil on your palms, rub the oil to warm it up little and cup your palms over your nose and mouth. Rosemary oil?s ability to reduce pain, inflammation and heal nervous tension will give you relief from headaches and migraine.

Anti-inflammatory

Swollen and aching joints that cause you trouble? Maybe it is time you tried rosemary oil. The reason rosemary oil can actually help you to reduce pain from swollen joints is that it?is a good anti-inflammatory agent. Rosemary oil contains caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, and ?-pinene. Each of these acts as anti-inflammatory agents and reduce swelling and pain.

Reduced muscle and joint pain

Rosemary oil contains carnosol and camphor. These 2 compounds have properties that are analgesic- to reduce pain, anti-inflammatory- to reduce swelling, and anti-nociceptive-to block the sensation of pain. Pain resulting from sprains, swollen muscles, rheumatism, arthritis, etc., can be handled with rosemary oil to obtain relief.

Easy digestion

Can you believe that rubbing rosemary oil on your stomach and feet can actually help you to have better digestion? Surprising! Right? This happens because; rosemary oil improves the quality of the gastric acid secretion and the volume of bile produced by your liver. These 2 components are crucial to having trouble-free digestion and assimilation. So, next time you come across anything to do with constipation, stomach cramps, bloating, flatulence and symptoms of dyspepsia, you know what to do!

Liver detoxification and gallbladder functioning

The high antioxidant content in rosemary oil has been proved to promote the repair, healing, and prevention of spreading of cancerous cells (in rats). It is also capable of enhancing gallbladder functioning since rosemary oil can regulate the production and storage of bile.

Tooth decay

Rosemary oil for oral health is another important and common aspect. Rosemary oil has anti-bacterial properties, due to which it is strong enough to get rid of the bacteria Streptococcus sobrinus which is responsible for tooth cavity. If you want to prevent cavities, gingivitis, and plaque build-up, mix 1 teaspoon of rosemary oil in 1 cup of distilled water and use it as a mouthwash.

Action against cold, cough and flu

This is a great benefit of rosemary oil again. The anti-bacterial property of rosemary essential oil makes it an ideal choice to be used to relieve and also guard yourself against cold, cough and flu. To make this possible, you can make use of rosemary oil aromatherapy and vapour diffusers.

Improved respiratory activity

If you are facing any respiratory disorder and looking for relief, you must certainly try rosemary aromatherapy. Rosemary oil contains eucalyptol and camphor which aid to dilate bronchi in your lungs for better air flow. It also has antispasmodic properties, which is used to relieve muscular spasms and can be useful in treating bronchial asthma. If you are looking for relief or immunity against respiratory disorders like blocked chest and nasal congestion, cough, cold, and sore throat, symptoms of respiratory allergies and sinusitis; make rosemary oil your best friend!

Smell fresh!

Using rosemary oil as deodorant is not new. Add some apple cider vinegar and rosemary oil on a cotton ball and wipe it directly on your underarms. Rosemary oil has the volatile compound myrcene which gives rosemary oil the pleasant fragrance it emits. Rosemary oil as a room freshener and aromatherapy will leave your place smelling fresh and great!

Mosquito repellent

Did you even imagine that rosemary oil as a mosquito repellent could be effective? Well, it is! Limonene and camphor in rosemary oil are excellent repellents against mosquito, other insects, and bugs.

Protection against STD?s

Apart from being anti-bacterial, rosemary oil also has anti-viral properties. It has 2 important compounds beta-pinene and limonene. These have anti-viral properties that can provide protection and prevent herpes and STD?s.

Rosemary oil side effects

Any essential oil should be used only after being diluted, especially when using directly on the skin. Always remember to mix the oil with a carrier oil and then apply it to your skin.
Those with a history of blood pressure problems are best advised to stay away from rosemary oil. Rosemary oil has hypertensive property and can increase your blood pressure.
Pregnant and nursing mothers are also advised to use rosemary only under the supervision of their doctor. Rosemary has the risk of increasing bleeding; hence those with bleeding disorders are also advised to stay away from rosemary.
Rosemary might also aggravate seizures. Hence, those with epilepsy should also stay away from rosemary.
People with aspirin allergy are also recommended to stay away from rosemary oil since it contains the chemical salicylate that is very similar to aspirin.

Where to buy rosemary oil?

You can buy rosemary oil from any herbal store that sells essential oils or order it online. It is important to purchase pure and authentic rosemary essential oil.

Check Rosemary Essential Oil Price

Hope you have an in-depth idea of what rosemary oil can do now. Now that you know 31 benefits of rosemary oil for skin, hair, and health, rosemary oil side effects and how to use rosemary oil, we suggest you make the best use of it. Let us know how it worked for you in comments below. Good luck!