Use Onion For Hair Growth?
By: April Rorie
Tags: Hair, Hair Treatment, Hair Care, Onion

Treating hair damage with onion water or juice may probably be the last thing in your mind. Imagine applying and leaving onion juice on your hair. Some possibly cannot even stand the thought of applying it on their hair, let alone leaving it on for minutes or hours. However, did you know that using onion water for hair has proven benefits? You will be surprised to learn that onions have properties that help with overall hair health. Onions have been used for hair care for ages already! Now, how does onion juice help in treating hair damage? It will help to know the different types of hair damage and their causes to treat them with onion water properly.

Three Main Types of Hair Damage

Hair Cuticle Damage

The hair cuticle is the outer surface of the hair shaft that gives protection to the inner layers of the hair. When the hair cuticle is damaged, it opens up, resulting in rough, dull, dry, frizzy, easily tangled, and brittle. This happens when the hair is exposed to too much heat, UV rays, friction, and high PH hair products.

Hair Cortex Damage

The hair cortex is the middle layer of the hair shaft. It is responsible for hair strength, color, and pattern. When the hair cortex suffers from damage, the hair weakens and becomes brittle. Eventually, it leads to hair breakage and splitting. Moreover, when the cortex is exposed, it becomes prone to water damage. Usually, this hair damage type is caused by chemicals from hair color, straighteners, and perms, and heat styling.

Hair Follicle Damage

Hair follicles are small holes inside our skin. These pocket-like bulbs help with hair growth. Thus, there are episodes of hair thinning and hair loss when the hair follicle is impaired. Experiencing patchy and slow hair growth may also signify a damaged hair follicle. The main culprit for this hair damage is excessive combing and brushing, product build-up, extensions, and chemical treatments.

Knowing the three significant types of hair damage gives you a deeper understanding of your hair problems and guides you to the proper treatment. Trying to treat your hair problem with an inappropriate treatment may worsen your hair issue. Furthermore, being knowledgeable about the types of hair damages enables you to avoid them first and foremost.

6 Signs of Hair Damage

How do you know when you suffer from any of these? Try to check for the following signs.

Split Ends

Split ends happen when the end of a hair strand splits into two or numerous parts. This is the most common hair problem and is considered to be a sensitive hair issue since when the hair strand splits, the splitting may go all the way up to the root. It also will cause more tangles and breakages eventually.

Dull and Dry Hair

You will notice this hair issue when you try to run your fingers up and down your hair, and it feels rough and sticking out. You may also see that it’s not shiny, lacking smoothness and moisture. Moreover, even after deep conditioning, your hair still appears dry and dull.

Hair Loss

Losing 50 to 100 hairs a day is normal. However, experiencing more than this or suffering from patches and baldness shows that there might be a hair loss problem. Find out if this may be caused by your hair management ways and treatment or a deeper underlying health condition already.

Excessive Hair Breakage

Noticing unusual hair breakage when you run your fingers or comb through your hair is another sign. As previously mentioned, it is usual to shred hair daily, but if you see varying lengths of strands that look and feel dry and brittle, you are probably experiencing hair breakage.

Lacking Elasticity

The hair usually is flexible. If you try to stretch it and it breaks easily, it lacks a necessary amount of moisture, showing a possible hair problem. Lacking elasticity makes the hair difficult to style and manage, resulting in breakages.

Easily Tangled Hair

Experiencing knots forming when your hair strands wrap around each other is a hair tangling problem. Cuticles that are damaged and open intertwine with each other and form knots or tangles. Healthy hair is not prone to tangles since it is silky or smooth. Therefore, when you are experiencing hair tangles, your hair may be dry and damaged.

Treating Hair Damage with Onion Juice

Using onion juice is a proven remedy to help with hair damage repair. Various studies show that applying onion juice on hair promotes hair growth, renews dry and dull hair, and helps treat dandruff issues that are causing hair loss.

Preventing Hair Loss

A study conducted in 2018 and published in the “Journal of Drug Delivery and Therapeutics” shows the effectiveness of using onions on hair. The researchers mixed onions with coconut, castor, eucalyptus oils, and cleansers to make a shampoo. Upon testing, they found out that the shampoo deeply nourished the hair follicles. This extensively promoted hair growth and even provided moisture for the hair and scalp.

Onions contain a high amount of sulfur, which is needed for growing strong hair. In addition to that, this property actually encourages the formation of keratin, a kind of protein that is highly essential in hair growth. Onions also carry collagen, another compound known to promote hair growth and even skin health. Moreover, they boost blood circulation in the scalp. This increases blood supply in the hair follicles that ultimately improve hair growth.

Using onion juice on hair strengthens the hair follicles and strands, avoiding further hair breakage and loss and encouraging hair growth. However, it is essential to note that onion juice is not a cure for severe hair loss cases like alopecia and baldness. In these cases, it may only help prevent further hair loss damage.

Revitalizing Damaged Hair

Harsh chemicals from treatments, heat from styling tools, and improper mechanical handling of hair like excessive brushing and combing can damage the hair. These things may cause the hair to lose its moisture, eventually resulting in dry, frizzy, and brittle hair. Even regular use of shampoo with harsh properties may remove the moisture from the hair. One easy home remedy for this is to use onion juice or oil. The antioxidant properties of onions can deeply hydrate and nourish your hair, combatting the dryness and frizziness and bringing back the luster that will make your hair look shiny and healthy again. As a bonus, the antioxidants help prevent the early greying of hair as well.

Treating Dandruff

Although dandruff is primarily a scalp problem, it may also cause hair problems, especially hair loss. People with severe dandruff conditions tend to scratch their scalp so hard that it causes damage to hair follicles. Damaged hair follicles result in slow hair growth or hair loss since these are where the hairs take root and grow.

At times, dandruff is caused by a fungus called Malassezia furfur. This fungus is usually present on the scalp and skin. However, some people have a sensitive scalp and skin that produces this fungus faster than usual, resulting in a case of dandruff. The antibacterial content of onions helps soothe the itchiness and fights the bacteria that cause dandruff.

Onion Juice Recipes for Your Hair + Applications

Given the attractive benefits of onion juice for the hair, you may now want to try using it on your mane. Therefore, I gathered some tested onion juice recipes for specific uses.

Onion Juice for Hair Growth and Dandruff Treatment

1. chop one or more onions into chunks depending on your hair length.

2. Grind them using a blender.

3. Filter out the onions using a muslin cloth.

4. Massage your scalp with the juice using circular movements. You may leave it on for at least 30 minutes for better results.

5. Rinse it off with cool water and a fragrant shampoo to rid it of the strong smell.

Do this once a month for two months.

Onion Juice and Honey Hair Mask for Dry and Dull Hair

1. Prepare two tablespoons of onion juice.

2. Add one tablespoon of honey and mix well.

3. Scoop out a thin layer of the mask and apply it to your scalp and hair.

4. Leave it on for 20 to 30 minutes. You may use a shower cap and leave the mask on overnight.

5. Rinse it off with a gentle shampoo, conditioner, and serum.

Do this once a week or twice a month.

Onion Juice and Olive Oil Hair Mask for Hair Strength and Healthy Scalp

1. Prepare 4 to 5 tablespoons of onion juice.

2. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and mix well.

3. Massage the mixture on the scalp and hair in circular motions.

4. Leave it on for 1 to 2 hours.

5. Rinse with shampoo and conditioner.

Do this once a week. Olive oils promote blood circulation in the scalp, strengthening hair follicles and promoting hair growth.

Onion Juice and Yogurt Hair Mask for Hair Fall and Damaged Hair

1. Prepare 2 to 6 tablespoons of onion juice.

2. Add two tablespoons of yogurt and mix well.

3. Apply on the scalp and hair.

4. Leave it on for 30 to forty 40 minutes

5. Rinse off with shampoo and conditioner.

Do this once a week. Yogurt unclogs hair follicles and moisturizes the hair and scalp. It also controls the sebum level, giving a cooling effect to the scalp.

Onion Juice and Egg Mask for Hair Growth and Nourishment

1. Prepare one tablespoon of onion juice and one egg.

2. Whisk the onion juice with the egg until a smooth mixture.

3. Apply the mixture on your scalp and hair and put on a shower cap.

4. Leave it on for 20 to 30 minutes.

5. Rinse your hair with cool water and shampoo.

Do this once or twice a week. The egg helps nourish the hair and scalp, making it smooth and manageable.

Onion Hair Oil for Hair Growth

1. Grind a few onions until the mixture turns into a paste.

2. Place the onion paste into a saucepan.

3. Pour in some onion juice and coconut oil. Then, stir everything together.

4. Turn on the burner and bring the mixture to a boil.

5. Upon boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer while stirring continuously until the oil separates from the mixture.

6. Turn the heat off, and let it cool for a few hours.

7. Filter the oil through a muslin cloth.

8. When cool, pour a few drops onto your palm and massage them onto your scalp and hair in circular motions for 20 to 30 minutes.

9. Leave it on for 3 to 4 hours.

10. Rinse with a mild shampoo and cool water.

What kind of onion to use for your hair?

Both red and white onions have their benefits. Red onions are rich in antioxidants and flavonoids. On the other hand, white onions contain more sulfur than red ones. Given this, it will be best to use both if you are achieving an overall effect. However, if you want to focus on hair growth, you may use white onions. The red onions are best for treating dandruff and dry hair.

A Few Reminders

If you are usually allergic to onions, you definitely should not try using onion juice. If you are not, go ahead, but you may also want to test first a bit on your scalp and see how it will react, especially if you have a sensitive one. As a tip, adding oils and other ingredients like honey may help soothe the strong reaction of onion.

Why use Onion Juice?

They say that “the hair is a woman’s crowning glory.” And we all know this to be true. Healthy and shiny hair always makes a woman look beautiful and radiant. However, looking good with our hair involves lots of hair-damaging styling and coloring nowadays. These things, including improper personal hair management, may cause a lot of damage to our hair when done wrongly and excessively. Using onion juice is one of the best home remedies to help you repair or combat hair damages. Its natural properties effectively promote hair strength and growth and reinvigorate the scalp and hair, making it strong, shiny, and beautiful.