Eating ginger as a part of your daily diet helps your body fight off various infections. It can be used in various recipes and can enhance the flavour profile of your dishes too.

Ginger has great medicinal perks, including gastrointestinal benefits. And besides that, it can also be a great ally if you want to improve the overall health of your hair or when you want to treat certain scalp conditions.

Ginger is a root that is popularly used in teas and foods. And just like any other root or herb, there are more benefits than just enhancing flavour.

Ginger has great medicinal perks, including gastrointestinal benefits. And besides that, it can also be a great ally if you want to improve the overall health of your hair or when you want to treat certain scalp conditions.

It works because it can help stimulate better circulation, it has natural antibacterial properties, plus, it’s packed with minerals, vitamins and fatty acids your hair will love.

So, if you have ever wondered how you can incorporate ginger into your hair care routine, here is how.

• Use ginger juice as a hair treatment

Another essential step in having healthy hair is consistently doing hair treatments. Going the natural way can genuinely transform the health of your hair, and ginger juice might be what your hair needs.

What you will do is chop some chunks of fresh ginger and blend them with some water to dilute. When done, please remember to sieve out the fibres so you don’t end up with stands of ginger fibre in your hair.

Then, to make this mask more effective, you can introduce some home ingredients like olive oil. Use this on freshly washed hair as you would with another hair treatment.

• Use the root to target specific areas

If you have an area that you need to treat, ginger root can help. This can work if you have a scalp infection that you would want to get rid of.

You can simply slice a fresh root and massage the root directly on that area for the juice to work itself in. You can leave it on for a few minutes and then rinse it.

Alternatively, you can prepare dilute ginger juice and sieve and then massage on those areas before rinsing.

• Try ginger supplements

Healthy hair isn’t only about what you do externally. What you put in your body can help to enhance the process which is why eating healthy is essential.

To boost your progress, you can try some ginger supplements. They have shown to treat thinning hair in some patients dealing with alopecia so this might work for you as well.

It works as a powerful antioxidant to reduce oxidative stress, which is often what causes hair loss.

• Use ginger-infused hair products

Pre-made hair products are very convenient and they also have some wonderful benefits for your hair.

You can try ginger shampoos, oils and any other products you might like. These will save you a lot of time if you’re not able to prepare your ginger oils and treatments at home.

It has been used as a home remedy for years now for controlling hair fall. 

Science has proved that sulphur, the beauty mineral, is the chief element in onion juice, which helps boost the hair growth.

 Onion juice also provides micro-nutrients like vitamin C, folate, vitamin B6, and potassium, explained Dr Pallavi Sule, Mumbai-based dermatologist and aesthetic physician while explaining the benefits and quick uses of this easily available home remedy.

Dr Sule explained, “Onion juice may boost circulation as it also contains anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.

“Applying onion juice to the hair and scalp could increase blood supply to hair follicles, which in turn improves hair growth. Onion juice is also found useful in delaying the premature greying of hair (though there are no studies to confirm this). This is attributed to the production of the enzyme catalase in the hair follicles,” Dr Sule added.

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Ingesting vs applying

As we are specifically looking for hair regrowth, topical or local application can give the desired result, rather than ingestion.

There are a lot of combinations available in the market for onion juice. These are creams, hair oils, shampoos and so on.

Efficacy of the formulations can be determined only by clinical trials, so one needs to pick the product carefully.

It is best to use fresh onion juice. But yes, it can be prepared in small batches and refrigerated. Avoid preparing huge quantities.

How to prepare onion juice

Method

Chop onion and grind it in a mixer. Sieve through a muslin cloth. Store in a clean dry container and refrigerate.

Tips to keep in mind

*Those who have known allergy to onions, do not try onion juice on the scalp.
*Onion juice can be irritable to the scalp, so it’s better to mix it with soothing agents like alovera/coconut oil/honey.
*Increased sensitivity of the scalp to onion juice may happen after a few applications. Please contact your dermatologist if symptoms surface often.
*There can be reactions between onion juice and medications, for example, aspirin.
*The smell of onion juice is quite pungent.

So, one can mix a few drops of essential oils to mask the smell and add value and more goodness to the onion juice. For example, tea tree oil or lavender oil among others.

Kitchen remedies

Onion hair mask

Mix two teaspoon of extracted onion juice with one teaspoon of honey. This mask can be applied 15-20 mins before you wash your hair.

It promotes hair growth and adds lustre and shine to hair shafts. It also reduces inflammation on the scalp, reduces dandruff or any scalp infection.

Onion juice mixed with caster oil

Mix equal quantities of each and apply on the scalp one hour before you bathe. This is an excellent combination as both ingredients help in hair regrowth plus have similar anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.