Avocado is a delicious and nutritious superfruit and a fabulous addition to a balanced diet for its healthy fats and fiber. But did you know that you can use avocado on your hair too?
You may have seen avocado oil as an ingredient in natural skincare formulations along with other essential oils for hair, which is unsurprising, seeing as it is high in vitamin E, which has been recommended in dermatology for over 50 years[1] for its moisturizing, protective, and healing properties.
With its creamy texture and high levels of nourishing vitamins, one raw avocado can be safely spread on your skin and hair as a natural way to hydrate, repair, and revive your locks unless you are allergic. This article will explore the top seven benefits of using avocados as a hair mask!
7 Great Benefits Of An Avocado Hair Mask
- Acts as a natural moisturizer: The avocado’s nutrients may help keep the scalp hydrated and healthy.
- Repair damaged hair: The healthy fats found in avocados help to repair damaged hair and keep hair healthy.
- Promotes hair growth: The vitamin E in avocado hair masks may promote hair growth.
- Reduces hair loss: Avocado hair masks help to reduce hair loss by providing natural oils to the hair shaft.
- Conditions and softens hair: Avocados’ natural oils and fats act as conditioners.
- Cheap and easy to make at home: Avocado hair masks can be tailor-made for different hair types and conditions.
- Reduces oily hair: Oil can help to regulate sebum production
7 Awesome Benefits Of An Avocado Hair Mask
There are several possible avocado benefits for hair in a mask, and they include:
Adds Moisture
The nutrients in avocado help to keep the scalp hydrated and nourished, thus preventing dryness and flakiness, and make great hair masks for dry hair. It helps to strengthen and plump up individual strands, giving your hair a healthy and shiny appearance. A DIY avocado hair mask, applied to damp hair, can do wonders to lock in moisture at the level of the hair cuticle and along the hair strands.
Repairs Damaged Hair
The essential oils found in avocados help to repair damaged hair and prevent split ends and breakage. Monounsaturated fats absorb more readily into hair than polyunsaturated fats, and avocado is high in monounsaturated fat.
Promotes Hair Growth
The vitamin E in avocado hair masks may stimulate hair growth and strengthen hair follicles by increasing blood flow to the scalp.
Reduces Hair Loss
Avocado hair masks help to reduce hair loss by providing the needed nutrients and natural oils to the hair shaft and reducing pulling.
Conditions And Softens
The natural oils and fats found in avocados act as a natural conditioner, making hair soft, smooth, and manageable. This makes brushing and styling easier and prevents tangles and breakage.
Cheap And Easy
Avocado hair masks can be tailor-made for different hair types and conditions and are easy and inexpensive to make at home with ingredients found in your kitchen. Simply take overripe avocados, mash the avocado until you have a smooth paste, apply the mixture to damp hair and scalp, and cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap for about 30 minutes. Rinse with lukewarm water for best results.
Regulates Sebum Production
Sebum is natural oil produced by the sebaceous glands in your scalp, and oils, such as the oil found in the avocado fruit, can help to regulate[2] this production. This helps keep your scalp healthy and reduces any itchiness or flaking caused by the overproduction of sebum.
Can Avocado Hair Mask Help With Hair Growth?
Avocado is an excellent source of healthy fats, which are crucial in the diet for maintaining healthy hair growth. But what about a topical application? Avocado contains linoleic acid, which can help with topical scalp inflammation.[3] Scalp inflammation can lead to premature hair shedding and breaking, so preventing it may aid hair growth.
A lot of the cosmetic benefits of avocado are attributed to the oil component of the fruit. Oils higher in monounsaturated fats, such as avocado, can coat hair strands[4] to prevent them from breaking as they grow out.
Unfortunately, there is no evidence regarding the topical application of avocado contributing to hair growth specifically, and only a small amount of evidence for the topical use of avocado and avocado oil preventing hair breakage.
Topical vitamin E,[5] on the other hand, has been reported to expand capillaries on the scalp, thereby increasing blood flow to the hair follicles and promoting growth. It has also been studied as a skin and scalp protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. As the avocado fruit is high in vitamin E, an avocado hair mask may benefit your hair’s condition.
Ways To Make An Avocado Mask For Hair
The great thing about making your avocado hair masks are that you can tailor the ingredients depending on what you might need for your hair type and hair condition or combine it with other products for hair. You might like to add a ripe banana or honey to make an avocado banana hair mask or an avocado honey mask for a highly moisturizing experience!
A good avocado hair mask recipe is best mixed in a blender to make a smooth paste eliminating any lumps, and applied to damp hair to make it easier to smooth over the scalp. The possibilities are endless!
Avocado Hair Mask DIY
Deep Conditioning Treatment: Mix one mashed avocado with two tablespoons of olive oil or coconut oil. Apply the mixture to your hair, focusing on the ends. Cover with plastic wrap or a shower cap. Leave the mask on for 30 minutes before rinsing it out with lukewarm water. Use this same technique for all the following treatments.
Strengthening Treatment for Weak Hair: Nourish your hair by combining one mashed avocado with one egg yolk and one teaspoon of honey.
Dandruff Treatment: Mix one mashed avocado with one tablespoon of lemon juice, one tablespoon of honey, and a few drops of tea tree or rosemary oil. Apply the mixture to your scalp and massage it in for a few minutes.
Hair Growth Treatment: Combine one mashed avocado with one tablespoon of castor oil and a few drops of peppermint oil.
Color Radiance/Clarifying Treatment: Mix one mashed avocado with one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and one tablespoon of honey.
Frizz Control Treatment: Combine one mashed avocado with one tablespoon of aloe vera gel and two tablespoons of yogurt.
How Often Should You Use An Avocado Hair Mask?
Using an avocado hair mask once a week is recommended, which is enough to enjoy its benefits, but not so frequently that you accumulate build-up that may weigh your hair down. Using an avocado hair mask more than once a week can result in oily hair and clogged hair follicles, which can ultimately cause damage to the hair. Therefore, it is crucial to adhere to a healthy hair care routine and not overdo any specific treatment.
Patch testing is recommended before applying avocado topically, as it is an allergenic fruit, and some may not be able to tolerate it on the skin. To patch test, select a small, inconspicuous area of skin on your inner forearm, behind your ear, or the side of your neck, and apply a small amount of the product you want to test. Cover the area with a bandage or gauze, and leave it on for 24–48 hours.
If you have a latex allergy, take care with avocados, as they are known to cross-react with latex allergies. You may not be able to enjoy avocados if you have either an allergy to the avocado protein or an allergy to the latex protein. This is also true for bananas, which are sometimes used in DIY avocado hair masks. Bananas cross-react with latex allergies.
The Takeaway
While there is little current evidence for avocado and its use on hair, the avocado fruit’s nutritional makeup contains nutrients linked to hair health and growth. As part of a hair care routine, avocados can help strengthen the strands and improve their overall appearance. However, it is important to remember that too much use can lead to over-moisturizing the scalp or cause product buildup.
Unless you are allergic, then trying out an avocado hair mask will not do any harm, and it could potentially improve the look of your hair.
+ 5 Sources
- Mohammad Abid Keen and Hassan, I. (2016). Vitamin E in dermatology. [online] 7(4), pp.311–311. doi:https://doi.org/10.4103/2229-5178.185494.
- Mysore, V. and Adhikary Arghya (2022). Hair oils: Indigenous knowledge revisited. [online] 14(3), pp.84–84. doi:https://doi.org/10.4103/ijt.ijt_189_20.
- Natarelli, N., Nimrit Gahoonia and Sivamani, R.K. (2023). Integrative and Mechanistic Approach to the Hair Growth Cycle and Hair Loss. [online] 12(3), pp.893–893. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12030893.
- Maria Inês Dias (2015). Hair cosmetics: An overview. [online] 7(1), pp.2–2. doi:https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-7753.153450.
- Joël Pincemail and Smail Meziane (2022). On the Potential Role of the Antioxidant Couple Vitamin E/Selenium Taken by the Oral Route in Skin and Hair Health. [online] 11(11), pp.2270–2270. doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/antiox11112270.