How to Support Scalp Health at Home

I’ve had quite a few people (patients and friends) come to me talking about how they have issues with their scalp. Their scalps are dry and flacking, some of them even ooze once in a while, if they’re picking at the spots. When I was in Toronto, I also had issues with my scalp. I found out that I had Seborrheic dermatitis, and I felt gross and embarrassed to have it. It was itchy, and I would admittedly pick at it, causing it to ooze - which again made me feel gross and embarrassed.

It was around this time, that I learned about a study by Hay, et al, that was done to help support people with alopecia recover some of their hair. I found this interesting and decided to turn it into a mask to use for myself. I used this mask 1 a week, and I would leave it in my hair overnight, and wash it out with a scalp rinse the morning after. This became a routine for a while, then before I knew it, my scalp was back to being nice and healthy.

Hair Mask

• Bottle that you can squeeze

• Olive oil - contains essential fatty acids that can hydrate your scalp

• Castor oil - contains essential fatty acids that can hydrate your scalp and ricinoleic acid reduces water loss through the skin

• Rosemary essential oil - has anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, it also promotes microcapillary perfusion, which can allow better blood flow to the area and improve hair growth

• Lavender essential oil - has antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, encourages hair growth, and accelerates cell turnover and wound healing

• Thyme essential oil - has antimicrobial, antibiofilm action, and stimulates blood flow to address any imbalances in the flora on your scalp

• Cedar essential oil - antioxidant and antibacterial. It also increases DHEA-S (which is considered the mother of sex hormones because it is a precursor to a number of them)and supports brain health when used as aromatherapy

Direction:

1. Fill 1/4-1/3 of your bottle with castor oil. This is a very thick oil, and also very good for your scalp and hair. You don’t want to add too much because of how thick it is, causing it to potentially be difficult to wash out

2. Fill the rest with olive oil

3. Add 5-10 drops of Rosemary, Lavender, Thyme, and Ceder essential oil. You may have to add less or more depending on the size of the bottle and the sensitivity of your scalp.

4. Mix the solution.

5. Pour some of the solution on your clean fingertips, and massage this mask into your scalp.

6. Cover your head with something to encourage the moisture to stay on your scalp, and if you’re sleeping with it, you may want to sleep with an additional toque or towel on your pillow to protect it from oil stains.

7. Wash out when you wake up.

Hair Rinse

Ingredients:

• Squeezable bottle or spray bottle

• Apple cider vinegar - cleanses hair of product and oil, balances skin pH, stimulates circulation, and makes your hair silky soft

• Rosemary essential oil - has anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, it also promotes microcapillary perfusion, which can allow better blood flow to the area and improve hair growth

• Water

Directions:

1. Fill your bottle up 1/4-1/3 with apple cider vinegar

2. Fill the rest with water

3. Add 10-20 drops of essential oil. You may have to add less or more depending on the size of the bottle and the sensitivity of your scalp.

4. 1-2 times a week, carefully massage the solution onto your scalp. Be careful to not get any of this in your eyes. Keep the solution on your scalp for 1-2 minutes before washing your hair as usual.

Note: If you do have open wounds, this will sting. You may want to wait until those have healed up before doing this.

The hair rinse in particular is great if you’re noticing you’re getting acne on your scalp, though I do like the combination because the oils can be really nourishing and hydrating to the scalp. So if you’re experiencing flakiness or dandruff, I highly recommend trying these out.

~Dr. Charmagne

Citations:

Hay IC, Jamieson M, Ormerod AD. Randomized trial of aromatherapy. Successful treatment for alopecia areata. Arch Dermatol. 1998 Nov;134(11):1349-52. doi: 10.1001/archderm.134.11.1349. PMID: 9828867.

Panahi Y, Taghizadeh M, Marzony ET, Sahebkar A. Rosemary oil vs minoxidil 2% for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia: a randomized comparative trial. Skinmed. 2015 Jan-Feb;13(1):15-21. PMID: 25842469.

Lee BH, Lee JS, Kim YC. Hair Growth-Promoting Effects of Lavender Oil in C57BL/6 Mice. Toxicol Res. 2016 Apr;32(2):103-8. doi: 10.5487/TR.2016.32.2.103. Epub 2016 Apr 30. PMID: 27123160; PMCID: PMC4843973.

Ben Djemaa FG, Bellassoued K, Zouari S, El Feki A, Ammar E. Antioxidant and wound healing activity of Lavandula aspic L. ointment. J Tissue Viability. 2016 Nov;25(4):193-200. doi: 10.1016/j.jtv.2016.10.002. Epub 2016 Oct 5. PMID: 27769632.

Kowalczyk A, Przychodna M, Sopata S, Bodalska A, Fecka I. Thymol and Thyme Essential Oil-New Insights into Selected Therapeutic Applications. Molecules. 2020 Sep 9;25(18):4125. doi: 10.3390/molecules25184125. PMID: 32917001; PMCID: PMC7571078.

N by Nebraska Medicine. University Health Center. Is apple cider vinegar good for your skin and hair? https://health.unl.edu/apple-cider-vinegar-good-your-skin-and-hair

Matsubara E, Tsunetsugu Y, Ohira T, Sugiyama M. Essential Oil of Japanese Cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) Wood Increases Salivary Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate Levels after Monotonous Work. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2017 Jan 21;14(1):97. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14010097. PMID: 28117719; PMCID: PMC5295347.

Huang K, Liu R, Zhang Y, Guan X. Characteristics of two cedarwood essential oil emulsions and their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Food Chem. 2021 Jun 1;346:128970. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.128970. Epub 2021 Jan 1. PMID: 33422919.

Insect Repellents

With summer here, people are wanting to go out and explore. This desire is even stronger since we've been isolating, social distancing, and not leaving our houses. Going out and enjoying the national parks by hiking or camping is a great way to get fresh air and a change of scenery. However, with being outside, and tall grasses, comes the potential of getting tick and mosquito bites.

Ticks can transmit diseases like Lyme's disease, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. These disease can literally change your life for the worse, and even if their rate isn't high, it's something shouldn’t risk getting. Lyme's Disease is incredibly complex, and we are still learning about it today. People who do have it are extremely passionate about educating other about it because of how dramatically their lives have changed. So the easiest way to prevent these diseases is to prevent them from biting you. This is were insect repellent and protective clothing becomes your friend.

In the event that you are bitten by a tick, you should extract all of it, including the head (this means nor twisting it off, because it might leave it's head in your skin). Do not irritate the tick by pouring alcohol, because you may cause it to vomit in you. There are tools you can get to help with this. After you remove it, you should keep it to be tested to make sure it isn't a carrier of Lyme's disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, etc.

I was researching different essential oils (EO) and their effectiveness against mosquitoes and ticks, so that you may be able to make your own. The problems arise because there isn't a lot of research on it, and of the research done, nothing is really definitive. One thing that is important to know if you decide to make your own is that the volatile oils are what makes it effective. So once the scent has evaporated, it is no longer effective. For most essential oils this is between 45 minutes - 2hrs. This means that you are going to have to reapply multiple times throughout the day.

Also, there are some oils that work well together and others that don't. This means they either boost each other's effectiveness, or the decrease the total effectiveness. So knowing which oils to mix together is also important. For example, there are articles that display that Mankua EO works well with oregano EO, while Manuka EO and clove bud EO don't work well together. You are able to combine these essential oils with 'fixer' to make them last longer. The one that pops up often in the studies is vanillin, which can be found in vanilla bean essential oil. It allows the effectiveness of other to last longer.

essential oils

Essential oils that have been shown to have insect repellent properties are the following (Asadollahi A, et al, 2019):

• Oregano + Manuka essential oils - work together to repel mosquitoes. Clove bud oil works against these two oils, making their repellent action weaker (Muturi EJ, et al, 2017)

• 2-undecanone - from the leaves and stems of wild tomato plants. It is able to repel blacklegged and lone star ticks (Cisak E, et al, 2012)

• Carrot Seed essential oil - against mosquitoes, and works well together with DEET

  • Carotol - displays a similar efficacy as DEET (Ali A, et al, 2018)

• Lemongrass +cinnamon bark essential oil - repellent against cool weather mosquitoes (Peach DHA, et al, 2019)

• Lavender essential oil - against mosquitoes (Bedini S, et al, 2018)

• Chinese lovage essential oil - has been found to be comparable with DEET, with complete protection from 9.1-11.5 hrs (Sanghong R, et al, 2015)

Please keep in mind that these are not hard and fast rules about essential oils. There are a number of other essential oils that have studies on them, but it can be difficult researching them with contradictory studies. These are some of the ones that I was able to find, but there are more. There are studies that display mixing too many oils together decreased their effectiveness, so make your mixtures as simple as possible.

Last thing to note, is that the studies were done all over the world, and believe it or not, there are a number of different mosquito species, and not all of them are repelled with the same oils. For example, the mosquitoes in Thailand are resistant to DEET.

Essential oils can cause skin reactions depending on how sensitive you are, and it is suggested that you mix them (can mix them in grain alcohol, I’ve seen people recommend using witch hazel as well), and to do a test patch to make sure that you are not allergic to it.

~ Dr. Charmagne

Ways to Improve Dry Skin

Living in Calgary, you think my skin would get use to the dryness, but when winter hits, my skin still has to adjust. The winters are more dry than the summer, at last in the summer, you are drinking more water with the heat there to remind you to drink. The same isn't true for the winter. There is a tendency to drink warm drinks - most of which isn't water - and some of them make you more dehydrated. 

Here are my go to's when winter hits, and my skin needs most moisture:

Drink more water - There is a tendency to drink warmer beverages during the winter, whether it's coffee or hot chocolate. Holding a warm cup also helps you warm your hands - or defrost them from the outside. But they don't hydrate you, so I've been opting for hot water, or hot teas (matcha is my favourite) - these drinks help to hydrate your body throughout the day. Drinking water first thing in the morning can also help hydrate your body and get it ready for the day.

Fish oil - The cells of our bodies are made up of phospholipids, which are made up of lipids (aka fat) - this includes your skin. So the best way to help your cells is by eating healthy fats, so that your body can use that as a building block for your skin and organs. By doing this, the body's ability to retain moisture increases. Barcelos, et al found that omega 3 oils, found in fish oil was able to restore and improve the integrity of the skin.

Using oil as a moisturizer - Oils are fantastic moisturizers! Contrary to popular belief, oil does not clog the skin. Olive oil is able to penetrate the skin, and moisturize from there, but it doesn't provide a barrier. This leaves the top of your skin vulnerable to dryness. Coconut oil is also a fantastic moisturizing oil, but it tends to stay on the top of your skin, and not moisturize the deeper layers like olive oil - the same can be said for avocado oil. The best thing to do is combine your oils, so they can work synergistically to moisturize your all of the layers of your skin. You can also add a few drops of essential oils of your choice (I use lavender, and tea tree) to add some aromatherapy when you moisturize. Try a few oils, and see which ones your skin enjoys, there are a number of amazing oils that are often recommended for the face, you can add some of these oils to your combination as well, but I wouldn't make it the main oil, because it can get quite expensive. Sweet almond oil is also a good choice instead of olive oil. Savy Homemade has a few really nice recipes on making your own body oils.

Milk baths - Use milk with a high fat content, and warm it gently before adding your choice of essential oil(s) (6 drops all of oil all together). Run your bath to the temperature that you want, and pour the milk + essential oils into the tube. Soak for as long as you wish (or the water allows before turning cold), then rinse off in the shower, and apply your choice oil. Milk contains a number of different vitamins and minerals that help the skin heal externally, along with small amounts of lactic acid to gently exfoliate the skin, decrease hyperpigmentation, and decrease acne by balancing the acid mantle. The milk bath helps to hydrate your skin with the fats and proteins found in the milk.

~Dr. Charmagne