Jojoba Oil For Hair Growth: Does it Work?

Jojoba oil is a liquid wax often used in skin and hair care products, thanks to the wide range of skin-friendly vitamins and minerals it contains. But is jojoba oil good for hair and its regrowth?

At the moment, we don’t have a lot of high-quality, reliable scientific information on the effects of jojoba oil for hair. However, a few small studies suggest that this type of oil may offer some minor benefits for your skin, scalp, and hair in general. 

Read on to learn if jojoba oil is among the best oils for hair growth, what benefits it can offer your hair, and which evidence-based treatments you may want to consider if you’re noticing the early signs of hair loss and want to take action.

Jojoba oil is a type of liquid wax produced from the seeds of Simmondsia Chinensis, commonly known as the jojoba plant. It’s made up of almost 98 percent pure wax. However, because it’s typically sold in liquid form, jojoba oil is referred to as an oil — despite being composed primarily of wax esters.

The jojoba plant is a shrub that’s native to desert regions of the Southwestern United States and North America, specifically Colorado, California, and parts of New Mexico. The seeds of the jojoba plant have a long history as a form of medicine. Native American tribes use oil produced from the plant to promote wound healing and treat a variety of skin issues.

Today, jojoba oil is often used by the cosmetics industry in nourishing skincare products, including creams, body oils, lip balms, and styling products. It’s an especially popular ingredient in shampoos, conditioners, and many other natural hair care products.

Research shows that jojoba oil can offer real benefits for your hair, protecting against breakage and an irritated, itchy scalp. The plant-derived oil is beneficial for hydration, dandruff, sebum control, and the reduction of split ends.

Like with many other natural substances used in skin and hair care products, scientists have spent considerable time and effort studying the potential benefits of jojoba oil. Over the years, studies have found that jojoba oil may offer benefits for skin and hair, including: 

• Improving skin elasticity. Jojoba oil has proven to be an effective emollient, meaning it softens and smooths the skin. Studies suggest that jojoba oil helps to make skin more supple and that it assists human skin in repelling surface water. It can reduce the dryness associated with cracking in places like your cuticles.

• Reducing skin inflammation. Because it contains antioxidants like vitamin E, Jojoba oil has been linked to improvements in psoriasis, acne, and both acute and chronic skin inflammation. Other research suggests that it may have a protective effect against inflamed skin and certain rashes.

• Inhibiting bacterial growth. Jojoba oil and jojoba alcoholic extracts may help to reduce  the growth of several types of bacteria, such as Tubercle bacilli, leprosy bacilli, Brucella, and others. 

• Strengthening hair strands. Jojoba oil is frequently used as a conditioning agent due to its ability to reduce protein loss inside the hair shaft, increase protection against hair breakage, and promote good overall hair health. People with a curly hair type or those with poor natural oil production (who are more prone to damage and breakage) may see extra benefits for their hair strength and health.

Currently, no studies show that jojoba oil reduces levels of the hormone DHT within your body or at the scalp level, meaning it’s unlikely to prevent hair loss from male pattern baldness. There’s also no research that shows that jojoba oil has any measurable impact on inactive hair follicles or the length of the anagen, or growth, phase of your hair growth cycle.

In one animal study published in the journal Toxicology Research in 2014, researchers treated four groups of mice using either 3% minoxidil, peppermint oil, jojoba oil, or saline solution. They found that the jojoba oil was less effective at stimulating hair growth in the mice than the minoxidil or peppermint oil.

Currently, there’s no clinical scientific research (meaning studies carried out in humans) on the effects of jojoba oil on hair growth. This means that we don’t know enough to determine whether or not it’s effective — or even safe — as a hair loss treatment.

As such, it’s best not to rely on jojoba oil as a treatment for stimulating hair growth, increasing the activity of hair follicles, or reversing the early signs of balding. 

Instead, it’s better to enjoy it for what it is — a good natural hair care ingredient for keeping your hair smooth, minimizing frizz, and reducing your risk of dealing with dry hair or a flaky, dry scalp.

Jojoba oil is widely used in shampoos, conditioners, and other hair products, making it easy to add to your daily hair care routine. 

The easiest way to get started with jojoba oil is to purchase a hair care product that contains it as an ingredient. You can find jojoba oil products in many supermarkets, drug stores, and online, including as:

• Hair masks

• Hair oils

• Shampoos

• Conditioners

You can also DIY a jojoba product by adding a few drops of jojoba oil to your preferred shampoo or hair conditioner before applying it to your scalp and hair. 

Because jojoba oil is a waxy substance, it’s best to avoid applying it directly to your scalp. Many oily, waxy substances can mix with dead skin cells and clog your hair follicles, which may cause you to develop pimples on your scalp. 

Currently, we don’t have any reliable scientific evidence to suggest that jojoba oil promotes hair growth or reverses the effects of male pattern baldness.

The good news is that several evidence-based, FDA-approved hair loss treatments are already available that you can use to boost hair growth and stop your receding hairline from becoming more severe baldness.

The most effective treatments for hair loss are the two medications we mentioned earlier — the prescription medication finasteride and the over-the-counter medication minoxidil.

Finasteride stops your body from converting testosterone into DHT. In a study published in the journal Dermatologic Therapy in 2015, researchers found that 80.5 percent of men affected by hair loss who used finasteride showed improvements after one year.

Minoxidil moves your inactive hairs into the anagen (or growth) phase of the hair growth cycle. In the same study, researchers found that 59 percent of men with hair loss who used minoxidil for one year displayed improvements.

Interestingly, the same study found that 94.1 percent of men showed improvements when both medications were used together.

In addition to medication, healthy habits can often help with hair growth. These include eating a balanced diet that’s rich in hair-friendly nutrients, using a shampoo for hair growth, and limiting your exposure to stressful situations (believe it or not, this can be a cause of hair thinning). 

Jojoba oil appears to offer several potential benefits for your hair and scalp, including increasing skin elasticity, controlling inflammation, and strengthening your hair strands to lower your risk of dealing with damaged hair. As such, adding a product or two that contains jojoba oil to your hair care regimen could be a good idea, especially if you’re prone to an itchy scalp or hair damage. 

However, you should keep a few important things in mind before you rely on jojoba oil to treat hair loss:

• We don’t know if it actually works. At the moment, the only study available on jojoba oil and hair growth is a small one that features rodents, and it doesn’t exactly look promising for jojoba oil as a hair growth ingredient. 

• It’s not a replacement for proven treatments. Similar to castor oil, coconut oil, and other natural and essential oils for hair loss, a dermatologist might caution that jojoba oil may only have modest effects on healthy hair growth.

• The fact that jojoba oil is natural doesn’t mean that it’s safe. Because there’s so little data available on jojoba oil and hair growth, we don’t know if it’s actually safe to use this oil on a daily basis if you’re starting to develop hair loss.

Considering these points, it’s better to stick to proven hair loss treatments than to rely on jojoba oil for hair loss prevention if you’re beginning to develop a receding hairline, a bald patch, or diffuse hair loss.

If you’re interested in dealing with your hair loss for good, you can begin today by taking part in an online hair loss consultation with a licensed healthcare provider.

Our range of men’s hair loss treatments includes both minoxidil 5% solution and minoxidil 5% foam, as well as finasteride (available with a prescription following your online consultation).