The Best Ayurvedic Oil for Hair Growth

Choosing an Ayurvedic oil for hair growth means understanding, first, how the classical tradition thinks about hair at all, because the oils follow from that thinking. Ayurveda links healthy hair with a cool, well-oiled head and a settled Pitta, and it groups the herbs that support the hair under the heading Keshya, meaning good for the hair. From these herbs, cooked into cooling oils, the tradition builds its famous hair preparations, of which Neelibhringadi Taila and plain Bhringaraj Taila are the best known. This guide sets out those oils, the herbs in them and how they are used, as classical hair care rather than a promise against baldness.

How Ayurveda thinks about hair

In the classical view, hair is not treated in isolation. The texts connect Kesha, the hair, with Asthi Dhatu, the bone tissue, holding that the hair is, in a sense, an outgrowth related to the bone. More immediately, the tradition links the fall and the premature greying of hair chiefly with aggravated Pitta at the roots and scalp, the heat and sharpness that it holds can weaken and grey the hair before its time. Excess heat in the body, and a hot, stressed, sharp constitution, are read as unfriendly to the hair.

From this follows the whole logic of Ayurvedic hair care: cool the head, oil it, and settle Pitta. This is why the classical hair oils are cooling, why they are often built on coconut, and why the daily and weekly oiling of the head sits at the centre of the tradition’s approach to the hair.

The Keshya herbs

A handful of herbs are named again and again as Keshya, supportive of the hair, and these are the ones the classical oils are built from.

Bhringaraj (Eclipta alba) is the foremost of them, so much so that its name is bound up with hair care. It is cooling and is the herb the tradition names first for the strength, colour and growth of the hair, and it anchors most of the classical hair oils.

Amalaki (Amla, Emblica officinalis) is cooling, one of the great Rasayana fruits, and long used for the hair. Amla oil is among the simplest and most traditional of hair oils.

Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri) and Bhrami-type herbs are cooling and are connected in the tradition with a cool, settled head, which is held to benefit the hair as well as the mind.

Neeli (indigo, Indigofera) is the herb that gives Neelibhringadi its name and its dark colour; it is classically associated with darkening the hair.

Japa (hibiscus flower and leaf), Yashtimadhu (liquorice) and Jatamansi are among the further herbs used, all fitting the cooling, soothing, hair-supporting pattern.

The classical oils

From these herbs the tradition builds several named oils, cooked by the slow sneha-paka method into a cooling base, usually coconut (kera taila), sometimes sesame, often with a little milk for nourishment.

Neelibhringadi Taila

Neelibhringadi Taila, recorded in the Bhaishajya Ratnavali, is perhaps the most famous Ayurvedic hair oil. It is built on Neeli and Bhringaraj (whence its name), together with Amla, Brahmi and other cooling herbs, in a coconut-and-milk base. It is a cooling head oil classically associated with the strength, growth and colour of the hair, and with soothing a heated scalp.

Bhringaraj Taila (Kayyunyadi and plain)

Plain Bhringaraj Taila and the related Kayyunyadi Taila of the Sahasrayogam place Bhringaraj at the centre in a cooling base. These are the straightforward Bhringaraj hair oils the tradition reaches for most often for daily and weekly oiling of the head.

Amla and Brahmi oils

Simple Amla oil and Brahmi oil, cooling and soothing, are among the oldest household hair oils, used to cool the head and nourish the hair and scalp. They are gentler, everyday preparations that fit the same cooling logic.

Their dravyaguna, in plain words

The classical hair oils share a character. They are cooling (shita virya), to settle the Pitta the tradition holds behind hair trouble; soothing and nourishing to the scalp; and Keshya, directed at the hair itself. The coconut base is light and cooling; the milk, where used, nourishes; and the herbs bring their cooling, hair-supporting qualities. This is the opposite pattern to the warming Vata oils used for the joints, and it is chosen deliberately, because the head and hair are held to prefer the cool.

How the oils are used

The oils are used as Shiro-abhyanga, the oiling of the head, one of the practices of Dinacharya, the daily routine, and a common weekly ritual as well. The method is simple.

The oil is applied to the scalp and along the length of the hair, and gently massaged into the scalp with the fingertips in small circular movements, unhurried and never rough. The tradition holds that gentle massage of the scalp itself matters as much as the oil. The oil is then left to soak in for a period; many leave a cooling oil on for an hour or more, and some overnight, before washing it out with a mild wash. Cooling oils are classically favoured in the evening and in the hot season, when a heated head most wants settling.

Regularity, in the classical view, is the point. Occasional heavy oiling does less than a steady, gentle habit of oiling the head, and the tradition frames hair care as a long, patient practice rather than a quick fix.

Oiling the head in the classical routine

The oiling of the head has a formal place in the classical texts under the heading Murdha Taila, the application of oil to the head, and the Ashtanga Hridayam describes several grades of it. The lightest is plain Shiro-abhyanga, the everyday oiling and gentle massage of the scalp. Above it are richer treatments given by trained hands: Shiro-pichu, in which an oil-soaked pad is held on the head; Shiro-basti, in which oil is retained on the head within a cap; and Shirodhara, the steady pouring of oil over the head. The texts credit the regular oiling of the head with strong, well-rooted hair, a cool and settled head, sound sleep and clear senses. Hair oils such as the Bhringaraj and Neelibhringadi preparations are used chiefly in the everyday Shiro-abhyanga grade, which is why they suit home practice, while the retained and poured treatments belong to the clinic. Seeing hair oiling as one grade of Murdha Taila places it within a whole classical practice of caring for the head, rather than as a cosmetic afterthought.

Diet and lifestyle for the hair

Because Ayurveda links hair fall and greying chiefly with heat and aggravated Pitta, the tradition does not rest hair care on oils alone but pairs them with cooling, settling habits. A diet that does not overheat the body is favoured: less of the very sour, salty, pungent and fermented foods that are held to aggravate Pitta, and more of the cooling, sweet and nourishing. The tradition also connects the health of the hair with sound sleep, a settled mind and the avoidance of excess heat, sun and strain on the head, since a hot, stressed, over-worked state is read as unfriendly to the hair. Amla, taken in the diet as well as applied in oil, is a classical favourite for the hair for exactly this cooling, nourishing reason. In the classical view, then, the best result comes from tending the whole picture, a cool and settled body, nourishing food, steady rest and the regular gentle oiling of the head, rather than from any single oil used on its own.

Which dosha it addresses

The classical hair oils are directed above all at Pitta, the heat and sharpness the tradition links with hair fall and premature greying, which is why they are cooling. Where the scalp is dry and Vata is more the issue, a nourishing, slightly warming oil and adequate oiling of a dry scalp are considered. The oils are matched to the person and the season in the usual Ayurvedic way, cooling for a heated head, nourishing for a dry one.

Precautions

Gentle oiling of the head is a soothing, low-risk daily practice, and the cautions are practical ones. Use a clean, suitable oil; work the scalp gently rather than harshly; avoid oils on broken, inflamed or infected skin of the scalp; and, if prone to sensitivity, patch-test a new oil first. Most importantly, hair care oils are classical support for the hair and scalp, not a treatment for medical hair loss. Sudden, patchy or heavy hair loss, or hair loss with other symptoms, should be assessed by a doctor rather than addressed with oil alone.

This entry describes the classical Ayurvedic understanding of oils for the hair and is for education, not medical advice. Speak to a qualified practitioner or your doctor if you have a scalp or hair condition before relying on any oil.