9 Essential Oils for Natural Hair Removal And How to Use Them

Hair can be very unpredictable and grow in some pretty unwanted places at times. If you’re looking for a natural way to remove unwanted hair, there are several ways you can use essential oils to aid the process.

Here are some of the best essential oils for hair removal:

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Do Essential Oils Work for Hair Removal?

There are several reasons that you’d want to get rid of hair. Your genetics play a large role in hair growth patterns on the body. And while there’s nothing wrong with your body’s natural hair growth, you may be interested in removing it for aesthetic purposes in areas like your chin, upper lip, armpits, legs, and other areas.

Aside from genetics, a medical condition known as Polycystic ovarian syndrome or PCOS can cause hirsutism or male-pattern hair growths on the face, neck, chest, stomach, back, legs, thighs, and buttocks.

If you’re interested in natural hair removal, you might be wondering if essential oils are actually effective in getting rid of hair and if there actually are any essential oils to help stop their growth.

While essential oils technically don’t really remove hair, it has been found that there are essential oils that are very effective in inhibiting and controlling the growth of hair.

Essential oils also work best in aiding the skin to be less irritated or prevent any further irritation as you explore other methods that include some type of shaving, rubbing, or exfoliating to get rid of hair as well as soothing the skin after these procedures.

There are also essential oils that are effective in preventing ingrowth of hair and the possible skin infections these may cause.

The Best Essential Oils for Hair Removal

Lavender, Tea Tree, & Grapefruit – The Holy Trinity of Hair Removal

There are potent essential oils that can be used to stop facial hair and hair growth on legs. Lavender, tea tree, and grapefruit are the best essential oils for hair removal. They’re basically the ‘essential oil holy trinity’ for hair removal and growth inhibition.

These essential oils have potent anti-androgenic properties. Antiandrogens or testosterone blockers help block androgens like the male hormone testosterone from manifesting its effects, one of which is male-pattern hair growth.

Studies have shown that applying or spraying a mixture of tea tree and lavender significantly inhibits the growth of hair on any part of the body. This needs to be consistently done twice a day for at least three months for its effects to show.

Grapefruit oil’s strong antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antibacterial properties are what makes many people swear by its effectiveness in being used for hair removal. It helps soothe the skin and aids in avoiding any infection and hair ingrowth. While there are claims that some compounds found in grapefruit are anti-androgenic, it’s not as definitive as the claims on lavender and tea tree oils.

While not as popular as peppermint, spearmint essential oil is also a great candidate to use both for hair removal and growth inhibition since it also contains anti-androgenic properties. Spearmint leaves have been used as an ingredient in many hormonal balance supplements.

Best Essentials To Use To Prevent Skin Irritation

Essential oils like lemongrass, chamomile, and frankincense are perfect to use in an aftercare cream after shaving or exfoliating. These oils have potent astringent and anti-inflammatory properties.

They also have anti-bacterial and/or anti-viral properties that help prevent any irritation or infection after subjecting your skin to physical and chemical procedures that may leave it vulnerable to irritation.

Peppermint is also one of the best essential oils for aftercare as its minty feeling can help soothe the skin. Turmeric is also a popular ingredient in many skin care products, so it definitely gets on the list of the essential oils that help in soothing the skin after hair removal.

How To Use Essential Oils for Hair Removal

There are several ways to use essential oils for hair removal and for inhibiting hair growth in places you don’t want it to grow. All these recipes are great in stopping hair growth on the face, legs, chest, neck, and torso.

It is best to use our recommended brands for best results. Essential oils are not meant to be used undiluted on the skin. Always dilute 3-5 drops of essential oils to an ounce of carrier oil. Do a patch test on an unaffected part of your body and observe for any reactions. If you observe any adverse effects, discontinue use immediately.

As a Salve

Mix 3-5 drops of the essential oils of your choice to an ounce of carrier oil. Apply this salve on places where you don’t want hair to grow or where you just shaved, waxed, or did a hair removal procedure. You can store this essential oil salve mixture in a jar and put it in the refrigerator.

As a Spray

To use as a spray, simply mix ¼ cup of distilled water with about a tablespoon of aloe vera gel. Add around 20 drops of lavender, tea tree, and grapefruit. Put in a spray bottle and spray on areas you want to control hair growth. Religiously spray this twice a day, everyday for about 3 months to really see the results.

As a Mask

You can also infuse essential oils in facial masks. Facial masks are great in removing tiny vellus facial hair, can help improve your skin’s condition, and prevent acne breakouts.

Simply mix honey (better if raw and unprocessed), oatmeal and the essential oils of your choice to create a paste. Some recipes call for adding a dash of cinnamon as well. Oils like lemon, lavender, and frankincense are best to incorporate in masks. Put this on your face and leave it on for 15-30 minutes, or until you feel the paste has hardened and dried a bit, and then simply wash off with warm water.

As a shaving cream

Shaving can be quite rough to the skin. Take the essential salve recipe and add an ounce of shea butter to it. Shea butter helps moisturize the skin and prevent any irritation caused by shaving.

Aftercare

After shaving, waxing, exfoliating or anything done to the skin to remove hair, it is important to follow up with some after care. You can use the essential oil salve or shaving cream recipes to use for aftercare. Oils of lemongrass, chamomile, frankincense, and spearmint are best to use for this aftercare cream.

Alternative Methods

There are many other home remedies and methods you can use for hair removal.

Exfoliating

You may have heard mixed reviews about exfoliation with regards to removing hair. Some say it works to remove hair, some say it doesn’t and only left their skin more irritated because they had to roughly scrub on their skin to see any effects of removing hair on their body.

What most resources can say though is that exfoliation can help in the hair removal process. Exfoliation pads or loofahs, dedicated exfoliation creams or lotions help get rid of dead skin cells around hair follicles and help loosen them up in preparation for the next step of hair removal like shaving or waxing.

Masks

A popular method is using papaya and turmeric. Simply mashup some papaya and add some turmeric with it to create a paste. This works best in getting rid of facial hair. Another commonly used recipe is simply mixing egg whites and cornstarch.

A lot of people also swear by blending oatmeal with bananas. Apply these paste recipes on your face and body for about 15 minutes then simply rinse off. You can incorporate essential oils to these methods as well.

Waxing

Another popular method is by waxing the areas where unwanted hair is growing with lemon and honey. Mix 2 tablespoons of sugar, juice of a whole lemon, and 1 tablespoon of honey. Heat the mixture up in a saucepan for 3 minutes or until ingredients have mixed together thoroughly. You can add a bit of water to thin out the mixture if it’s too thick for you. Wait to cool down.

Apply cornstarch on the areas you want to remove hair and spread the paste in the direction of how the hair is growing. Using a waxing strip, pull the hair out opposite the direction of its growth.

Conclusion

Now, there’s nothing wrong with hair growth on the body; it’s completely natural and it’s really nothing to be ashamed about. But hair does grow unpredictably and if it means that you become more confident with less hair on your body, then it’s a great thing there are many alternative methods and home remedies that you can try out to look and feel neater and cleaner. While essential oils won’t actually remove unwanted hair, you can use them to help inhibit hair growth, and to aid your skin when you engage in other hair removal measures.