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What Is Rosemary Essential Oil?
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a small evergreen plant that belongs to the mint family, which also includes the herbs lavender, basil, myrtle and sage. Its leaves are commonly used fresh or dried to flavor various dishes.
Rosemary essential oil is extracted from the leaves and flowering tops of the plant. With a woody, evergreen-like scent, rosemary oil is typically described as invigorating and purifying.
Most of rosemary’s beneficial health effects haven been attributed to the high antioxidant activity of its main chemical constituents, including carnosol, carnosic acid, ursolic acid, rosmarinic acid and caffeic acid.
Considered sacred by ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians and Hebrews, rosemary has a lengthy history of use for centuries. In terms of the some of the more interesting uses of rosemary throughout time, it’s said that it was used as a wedding love charm when it was worn by brides and grooms in the middle ages. Around the world in places like Australia and Europe, rosemary is also viewed as a sign of honor and remembrance when used at funerals.
Top 4 Rosemary Oil Benefits
Research has uncovered that rosemary essential oil is highly effective when it comes to many major yet common health concerns facing us today. Here are just some of the top ways that you may find rosemary essential oil to be helpful.
1. Discourages Hair Loss and Boosts Growth
Androgenetic alopecia, more commonly known as male pattern baldness or female pattern baldness, is a common form of hair loss which is believed to be related to a person’s genetics and sex hormones. A byproduct of testosterone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT) is known to attack hair follicles leading to permanent hair loss, which is a problem for both sexes but especially for men who produce more testosterone than women.
A randomized comparative trial published in 2015 looked at the effectiveness of rosemary oil on hair loss due to androgenetic alopecia (AGA) compared to a common conventional form of treatment (minoxidil 2%). For six months, 50 subjects with AGA used rosemary oil while another 50 used minoxidil. After three months, neither group saw any improvement, but after six months, both groups saw equally significant increases in hair count. So the natural rosemary oil performed as well hair loss remedy as the conventional form of treatment and also caused less scalp itching compared to the minoxidil as a side effect.
Animal research also demonstrates rosemary’s ability to inhibit DHT in subjects with hair regrowth disrupted by testosterone treatment.
To experience how rosemary oil for hair growth, try using my homemade DIY Rosemary Mint Shampoo recipe.
Related: Rosemary, Cedarwood and Sage Hair Thickener
2. Improves Memory
There’s a meaningful quote in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” that points towards one of its most impressive benefits: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.” Worn by Greek scholars to enhance their memory when taking exams, the mental strengthening ability of rosemary has been known for thousands of years.
The International Journal of Neuroscience published a study highlighting this phenomenon in 2017. Upon evaluating how the cognitive performance of 144 participants was affected by lavender oil and rosemary oil aromatherapy, University of Northumbria, Newcastle researchers discovered that:
- “Rosemary produced a significant enhancement of performance for overall quality of memory and secondary memory factors.”
- Probably due to its significant calming effect, “lavender produced a significant decrement in performance of working memory, and impaired reaction times for both memory and attention-based tasks.”
- Rosemary helped people become more alert.
- Lavender and rosemary helped produced a feeling of “contentment” in the volunteers.
Affecting much more than memory, studies have also known that rosemary essential oil may help treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Published in Psychogeriatrics, the effects of aromatherapy were tested on 28 elderly people with dementia (17 of whom had Alzheimer’s).
After inhaling the vapor of rosemary oil and lemon oil in the morning, and lavender and orange oils in the evening, various functional assessments were conducted and all patients displayed significant improvement in personal orientation in relation to cognitive function with no unwanted side effects. Overall, the researchers concluded that “aromatherapy may have some potential for improving cognitive function, especially in AD patients.”
3. Liver Boosting
Traditionally used for its ability to help with gastrointestinal complaints, rosemary is also a fantastic liver cleanser and booster. It’s an herb known for its choleretic and hepatoprotective effects. In case you’re not impressed, let me define these two qualities. First, being described as “choleretic” means that rosemary is a substance that increases the amount of bile secreted by the liver. Hepatoprotective means the ability of something to prevent damage to the liver.
Animal research reveals that rosemary (and olive) leaf extracts provide liver protective benefits to animal subjects with chemically-induced liver cirrhosis. Specifically, the rosemary extract was able to inhibit the unwanted functional and tissue changes to the liver that result from cirrhosis.
4. Lowers Cortisol
A study was conducted out of Meikai University, School of Dentistry in Japan that evaluated how five minutes of lavender and rosemary aromatherapy affected the salivary cortisol levels (the “stress” hormone) of 22 healthy volunteers.
Upon observing that both essential oils enhance free radical scavenging activity, they also discovered that both greatly reduced cortisol levels, which protects the body from chronic disease due to oxidative stress.
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