Onion oil for hair fall: how to use it and what to expect, week by week

Every second message we get on WhatsApp is about hair fall. Onion oil is the product people have heard of and want to try, and it is a good place to start, as long as you know what it can and cannot do.

What is in it

Onion oil is not pressed from onions. It is a carrier oil infused with onion extract and, in a good blend, a few other things that help the scalp. Ours is coconut and castor oil with red onion extract, black seed oil, fenugreek, curry leaf and vitamin E. The castor gives it body, the coconut keeps it from being sticky, and the nozzle cap puts it on the scalp rather than in your palm.

How to apply it

• Part the hair and squeeze the oil straight onto the scalp, especially where it is thinning.
• Massage with your fingertips for five minutes. This part matters more than people think: blood flow to the scalp is half the point.
• Leave it for one to two hours. Overnight is fine with a towel on the pillow.
• Shampoo twice. The onion smell goes completely with the second wash.
• Repeat two or three times a week.

What to expect, honestly

• Week 1 to 2: the scalp feels less dry and less itchy. Hair fall is the same.
• Week 3 to 4: most people count fewer hairs in the comb and in the shower drain. This is the first real sign.
• Month 2 to 3: fine new hairs along the hairline and parting, if regrowth is going to happen.

Take a photo of your parting in the same light on day one and every two weeks. Memory is a poor judge of hair.

Who it will not help much

Hair fall from a recent illness, from stopping a medicine, or after childbirth usually stops on its own within a few months; the oil makes the scalp comfortable but is not the reason it stops. Pattern baldness that runs in the family responds slowly and partially. Bald patches that appear suddenly, or a scalp that is red, scaly or painful, need a doctor, not an oil.

Pair it with the right second oil

Onion oil is for the scalp. For the lengths and ends, a light coconut oil after washing stops breakage, which is half of what people call hair fall. Together they cost less as the Hair Care Kit.