A few weeks ago, as I and my friend enjoyed a salad for lunch, she began complaining about the onions on her plate, she has never liked onions. And so, I try to explain to her the importance of onions, as anti-oxidants in the body.
And she retorts, “why can’t I just apply them on my hair or something to gain these benefits instead of having a smelly breath?” And believe it or not, this got me wondering if we really can apply onion extract on our skin, mainly hair, and get these benefits.
I know what you are thinking, “onion juice? Really” Yes, and as I began researching, I realized that my friend was not crazy to think that you can apply onion juice on your scalp to reap the anti-oxidative benefits.
I love using natural products as much as possible on my hair, and if you feel the same, read on to find what I discovered.
Is onion juice good for low porosity hair?
Onion juice provides the following benefits to low porosity hair; promotes hair growth, prevents hair loss, fights dandruff, scalp infections, alopecia, and early greying, increases hair volume, and protects hair from environmental hazards.
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How To Make Onion Juice for Your Low Porosity Hair Growth
- The process of making onion juice is simple, you just need to peel and chop 3 to 4 medium-sized onions, the same way you do when planning to cook.
- After chopping them into small pieces, you can blend them with a blender or crush them with a pestle and mortar until they have turned into a thick paste.
- It is from this paste that you will need to extract the juice. To get the juice, transfer this paste onto a cheesecloth and squeeze out the extract. If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can simply pass the paste through a filter to squeeze out the juice.
- Once you have gotten all the juice out, transfer it into a spray bottle for use on your hair. You can dilute it with water for easier application. You can also add essential oils such as peppermint oil, tea tree oil, or lavender oil to it to improve fragrance and reap added benefits.
How to Use Onion Juice on Your Low Porosity Hair
As mentioned earlier, you can spray the onion juice on your hair or apply it directly to your scalp. Whichever way you choose, you need to massage it gently and thoroughly into your hair.
You can spray the onion juice anytime as needed.
However, if you want to wash the smell out of the hair, you can use it with pre-poo. Apply the juice to the scalp and after massaging thoroughly, proceed with your pre-poo process and eventually wash your hair.
The downside to this process is that the benefits you leap will be limited to how often you wash your hair.
How Does Onion Juice Help Low Porosity Hair?
Onion juice has several benefits for your hair, even if that hair is low porosity. Low porosity hair is the type of hair that does not easily absorb moisture/water because its cuticles are tightly closed, and repel water on the surface.
When washed, such hair does not easily soak water and does not easily dry. Also, it has problems retaining the little moisture that it absorbs.
If you want to find out whether or not you have low porosity hair, check out this article on how to know if you have low porosity hair.
Overall, using onion juice is beneficial because it is rich in sulfur, has plenty of antioxidants, and has proven antimicrobial activity against bacteria and yeast.
Enhance Hair Growth and Prevent Dandruff
A research article by the World Journal of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences shows that onion contains zinc, which stimulates the scalp to secrete important oils that promote hair growth. Also, zinc helps to fight dandruff which is associated with hair loss.
Similarly, onion juice contains Sulphur, an essential mineral that promotes hair growth by increasing blood circulation.
Sulfur also imbues hair follicles with anti-bacterial properties that can heal scalp infections and prevent hair loss.
Reduce Greying of the Hair and scalp Inflammation
Onion juice provides you with anti-oxidants especially enzyme catalase to prevent premature greying of the hair.
They not only prevent premature greying; they also reverse it. The juice contains antimicrobial activities as well as inflammatory and antiseptic properties on human skin.
Such antimicrobial activities might help to treat scalp issues such as yeast infections, scalp acne, and dandruff because of their antibacterial properties.
Thus, regular use of onion juice might help to fight infections of the scalp and prevent hair lice from inhabiting your hair.
Control or Reverse Alopecia and Increasing Hair Volume
Alopecia is one of the most devastating hair conditions a person can experience, especially since there is no known cure for alopecia.
It is possible, however, that onion juice can help to control the progress of alopecia or even reverse it.
As mentioned above, onions contain high amounts of Sulphur, which when applied to the scalp can help to increase blood flow.
Increased blood flow can help to stimulate or regenerate the hair follicles to promote hair growth.
In addition, this increased blood flow can help to ‘thicken’ thinning hair follicles and minimize breakage.
As a result, you will notice this difference as your hair becomes healthier, shinier, and has increased hair volume.
Research by the Japanese Dermatological Association shows that crude onion juice, just like garlic juice is effective in the treatment of alopecia and the person will notice improvements in a span of 8 weeks.
Also, the high amounts of Sulphur in onions help to regenerate hair follicles and stimulate hair regrowth.
Research has shown that naturally-concentrated Sulphur compounds have additional hair-restoring capabilities, meaning that onion juice can jumpstart hair growth for those with deficiencies.
Protection from Environmental Hazards
According to New Jersey Hair Restoration Center, the antioxidants in onion juice help to protect the hair from environmental damage and free radicals.
Every day, our hair is exposed to harsh environmental elements from smoke, snow, heat, and other pollutants present in the environment. Most of the time we are not aware of these damages, which is why onion juice can help to optimize the hair growth cycle.
Conclusion
Onion juice has numerous benefits for your hair growth and maintenance. It is effective in preventing any infections of the scalp such as fungal and bacterial, as well as fighting and preventing dandruff. Perhaps one of the most unexpected benefits of onion juice that I found was its role in the treatment of alopecia.
For those who have not noticed any positive effects with modern medicine for the treatment of their alopecia, onion juice can serve as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The high sulfur contents on onion juice help to restore thinning or dying hair follicles which can increase hair volume and thickness, or restart hair growth in cases of alopecia.
Enjoy Your Hair Growth Journey!