A Week of Hair Oiling: How to Rotate Bhringraj, Brahmi and Amla

Most people buy one hair oil, use it for three weeks, see nothing, and conclude that hair oil does not work.

The problem is usually not the oil. Hair fall is not one condition — it is a weak root, a stressed scalp and a dull brittle strand, often all at once — and a single herb only ever treats one of them.

One oil per cause

• Bhringraj — for hair that is actively falling. The strongest of the three. Keshraj, king of hair.
• Brahmi — for a scalp that is tight, itchy or stressed. Taken in Ayurveda for the mind as much as for hair, which is not a coincidence: much hair fall is stress two or three months earlier.
• Amla — for dullness, breakage and early greying. The gentlest, and the only one you take down the length.

The week, written out

First oiling — Bhringraj

Ten to fifteen drops, warmed. Scalp only. Massage five to ten minutes with the fingertips. Leave an hour.

Open the week with the strongest one.

Second oiling — Brahmi

Ten to fifteen drops, massaged in slowly, at night. Leave it overnight.

This is the one to do before bed. With brahmi the massage is half the point.

Third oiling — Amla

Ten to fifteen drops into the scalp, and take this one down the length as well. Good on the morning you wash.

The wash

Shampoo on dry oiled hair first, then wet and lather. Shampoo binds to oil far better without water in the way, and this single change is the difference between one wash and three.

The rules

Do not mix them. You pay for three oils and learn nothing about which one your scalp responded to. Rotation also lets you notice.

Three oilings a week. Not more. Oil sitting on a scalp for days attracts dust and, if your scalp is oily, feeds the yeast behind dandruff.

Ten to fifteen drops is the dose. These are concentrated infusions in 15ml bottles, not body oil. At that rate each bottle gives about twenty applications.

Fingertips, never nails.

Warm the oil. Stand the bottle in hot water. Never on a flame.

Eight weeks before you judge it. The hair cycle is slow and nothing changes that. Take a photograph of your parting today so you have something to compare against — memory is a poor instrument for this.

Adjusting it

Oily scalp: one hour before washing instead of overnight, and twice a week rather than three times.

Very dry hair: three times, overnight, and extend each oil with a few millilitres of coconut oil.

Dandruff: stop this routine and treat the scalp first. More oil on a flaking scalp makes it worse. See neem oil for dandruff.

Fine hair: the lower end of the dose, scalp only, never on the length.

What to expect

• Week 1–2: less itching, hair softer and less brittle.
• Week 4–6: less hair coming away on wash day. This is the one that matters.
• Eight to twelve weeks: visible difference at the roots.

If hair fall is sudden, patchy, or arrived with other symptoms, see a doctor before you see a hair oil. A thyroid problem or an iron deficiency will outlast any amount of champi.

The three oils together are The Three Oils, or with hibiscus essential oil as a booster, The Complete Hair Collection.