Hair
The Oil for Your Ends
Your ends are the oldest part of you. If your hair reaches your chest, the bottom few inches are three or four years old, and they have been through everything: sun, salt water, hair ties, blow dryers, winter hats and an autumn gale or two. No help is coming from below, because your scalp does not send its own oil that far down. It has to come from the outside, and that is what this oil is for.
It is light, it does not weigh hair down, and it settles as a thin film that closes the surface of the hair shaft. That closing is what makes static disappear and frizz lie down. You cannot glue a split end back together, no oil can, but you can hold it together and stop the split travelling further up. And that is the part that actually matters.
Ingredients
- 20 ml Argan oil
- 15 ml Marula oil
- 8 ml Baobab oil
- 5 ml Jojoba oil
- 1 ml Vitamin E
- 10 drops Ylang ylang, essential
- 5 drops Chamomile, essential
Equipment
- A small funnel
- A clean, dry dark glass bottle of 50 ml, ideally with a dropper
Method
- 1
Pour the argan, marula, baobab and jojoba into the bottle through the funnel. Nothing needs heating, all four are liquid at room temperature.
- 2
Add the vitamin E and the essential oils.
- 3
Cap it and turn the bottle slowly upside down twenty times. Do not shake it hard, you are only whipping air into it, and air is the one thing that makes oil go rancid faster.
- 4
Write the date on the bottle and let it stand for a day before you use it the first time. Not strictly necessary, but the scent settles.
Shelf life
about 12 months
Safety and good advice
On damp hair after a bath: three to five drops in your palm, rub your hands together, and run them through the bottom third of your hair. Stay off the scalp, that is not what this oil is for. Comb through with a wide-toothed comb while the hair is still damp.
On dry hair during the day: one or two drops, warmed between your palms, and only on the ends. Any more and your hair looks greasy, with no way back before the next wash. Always start with too little.
As a treatment: a teaspoon worked well into the bottom half of your hair an hour before washing, or overnight with your hair in a loose plait and a towel on the pillow. Wash as usual afterwards, but shampoo only the scalp and let the suds run down over the rest.
Shelf life: about 12 months in dark glass somewhere cool. If it smells rancid, like stale nuts, it is finished.
Start with half what you think. Greasy hair is harder to fix than dry hair, and the oil works just as well in small amounts.
Light hair: any plant oil can leave a faint warm cast over time on very light or coloured hair. To avoid it entirely, leave out the chamomile and go up on the jojoba.
Pregnant or breastfeeding: ylang ylang and chamomile are among the gentlest essential oils, but if you want to be certain, make the oil without them. The four carrier oils do the work on their own.
Patch test on the inside of your forearm for a day if you are sensitive.
Variations
Thick or very dry hair: swap 5 ml jojoba for 5 ml avocado oil. It is heavier and penetrates further.
Fine hair: go up to 10 ml jojoba and down to 15 ml argan. That makes it lighter still.
For more shine: add 2 ml castor oil. More than that and hair turns tacky.
Swap the essential oils: lavender, geranium or sandalwood all belong here too. Avoid peppermint and rosemary in an ends oil, they work on the scalp and have no job down here.
How the herbs work
Argan oil, 20 ml (Argania spinosa)
The backbone. Argan gives shine and lays frizz down without weighing hair, and that is the combination that is hard to find. High in oleic and linoleic acid plus an unusually high tocopherol content, which makes it stable. Moroccan women have used it in their hair for centuries, long before anyone called it liquid gold.
Marula oil, 15 ml (Sclerocarya birrea)
The one that takes the static. Marula improves the moisture content of hair and protects it against sun, frost and heat, which is precisely the three things that ruin ends. Up to three quarters oleic acid makes it light and unusually slow to go rancid.
Baobab oil, 8 ml (Adansonia digitata)
The moisture holder. Baobab improves the moisture content of hair and acts like a conditioner in wet hair, which is why it belongs here and not only in a scalp oil. From the tree that can live a thousand years and stay green while everything around it dries out.
Jojoba oil, 5 ml (Simmondsia chinensis)
Technically a liquid wax rather than an oil, and that is the whole point. Jojoba resembles the hair's and scalp's own sebum so closely that it slips in rather than sitting on top. It gives the blend its light touch and keeps it from feeling greasy.
Vitamin E, 1 ml (Tocopherol)
2 % of the bottle. An antioxidant, and in the bottle it protects the four oils from going rancid. Without it the oil might last six months, with it a full year.
Ylang ylang, 10 drops (Cananga odorata)
For dry and damaged hair, and one of the classic hair oils across South East Asia. It softens and adds shine, and the scent is heavy, sweet and floral. It is the one people notice when you walk past.
Chamomile, 5 drops (Matricaria chamomilla or Chamaemelum nobile)
Moisturising and softening, and traditionally used on hair that has had too much sun. It will not lighten your hair noticeably at this dose, but it calms, and it rounds off the sweetness of the ylang ylang.
A small ritual, if you like
Hair is one of the places where time is visible. The bottom few inches of yours grew out of you three or four years ago, in an entirely different chapter of your life, and they have come with you every step since.
So when you oil your ends, do it slowly. It is the oldest part of you that you have hold of, and it has endured. Ylang ylang belongs to Venus and to what wants to be beautiful without apologising for it. Chamomile to the Sun and to what needs to be allowed to settle.
And since your hands are already up in your hair: try leaving them there a moment longer than you usually would.
Safety and good advice
- Always scald your jars and tools, and work with clean hands.
- Always do a patch test on the inside of your elbow 24 hours before you use anything on your face.
- Essential oils must be diluted, and several of them are not advised during pregnancy or for small children.
- Soap made with lye calls for safety goggles and gloves, and should never be made with children in the kitchen.
- Always throw it out at the slightest change in smell, colour or texture.
- This is inspiration for your own use, not treatment, and not intended for resale.