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How to Make a Scalp Scrub

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The connection between emotional states and specific organs has been recognized in traditional medicine and is something we intuitively experience.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, grief is associated with the lungs, while in everyday language, we describe fear as a feeling in the "pit" of our stomach. I propose that the scalp is the seat of our sense of clarity and that tending our scalp is like turning on the windshield wipers over the mind’s eye.

While the scalp is impressive in its own right, next to hair, it’s often (and unfairly) treated like the trusty sidekick—always there, rarely in the spotlight.

The hair has an archetypal quality. Because it grows from our heads, the hair symbolically relates to our thoughts and ideas. Hair is an extension of ourselves, literally and figuratively, and something we can change and shape over our lifetime.

Hair as Self Expression

Hair acts as a visual signal the world over. We express ourselves, and our place in society, with how we style, cut, color or cover our hair. However, the hair we see is nothing more than dead strands of keratin. The living part of the hair is below the surface, contained within the scalp.

Consider the vast quantity of hair care products out there, only some of which make mention of the scalp. The fact that the hair grows out of the scalp seems lost on many. The scalp is the place of origin, and it is the root that determines what comes forth.

Nourishing Your Scalp

Take a moment to run your fingers over your scalp, maybe give yourself a little scalp massage. Enlivening and relaxing all at once, isn’t it? The highly sensitive parts of our bodies are gateways to our nervous systems, and we can leverage this to tap into multiple states of being.

Intentional touch to the scalp brings blood flow to our heads, dispelling stagnation and mental fog, and awakening the sensory organs that reside in the head. Touching the scalp clears our minds.

Clear Mind Scalp Scrub Recipe

Potions are confluences of concepts, energetics, and substances. The following scalp scrub recipe is no exception. This recipe blends natural key ingredients for a nourishing scrub that promotes a scalp reset, clarity of thought, and healthy hair growth.

Ingredients you’ll need…

1 tablespoon natural cane sugar
1 teaspoon finely ground oats
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1–2 teaspoons shampoo
5 drops rosemary essential oil

Mix all ingredients into a small, shower safe bowl.
Wet your hair, and gently massage the scrub into your wet scalp. This intentional, care-filled touch amplifies all of the other benefits of this scrub, so don’t skimp on this necessary pleasure.
Cover your hair with a shower cap and leave on for 20 minutes.
Rinse out the scalp scrub with warm water, massaging it through with your fingers, then conditioner your hair as normal.
Use this scalp scrub once or every other week. May your scalp and mind be cleared!

Yield: 1 scalp scrub treatment

The Scalp Sets the Stage for the Mane Event

The scalp is a flexible barrier of skin that covers the skull. The scalp acts as a thermal insulator, loaded with nerve endings, making it extremely sensitive to touch, and it houses the living part of our hair bulb—from 100,000 to 150,000 strands.

The complex vascular and nerve networks within the scalp are critical to the growth of healthy hair. These networks also make our scalp a powerful sensory organ. The scalp contains more hair follicles, more sebaceous glands, and grows hair much longer than anywhere else on the body, setting it apart from the rest of our skin.

The multitude of sebaceous glands that produce both oil (and sweat) are in place to keep our hair strong and our head protected. Yet the ambitions of these sebaceous glands alongside styling products and the insulating effect of the hair itself, makes it easy for the scalp to get congested.

The issue of build up is only exacerbated if the pH of the scalp goes out of balance of the ideal, acidic, 5-ish. Alkaline soaps or shampoos can change the optimal pH of our scalp and cause dryness, itch, flakes, redness and breakage to the hair as well as make way for opportunistic and pathogenic microorganisms.

Tending the Roots

We must take, with the pun very much intended, a root cause approach to hair care. Hear it here: a healthy scalp is essential to healthy hair. The key to scalp health is supporting what it is made to do. Scalp care consists of the following: 

Supporting the vascular network, which brings blood flow to the scalp and regulates its cellular functions, including hair growth.
Maintaining the correct pH.
Removing access build up without stripping the scalp of the oils which make our hair flexible and strong.

As plant people, we can turn to the botanical world for even more support for the scalp. Beyond the scalp, botanicals can also support our overall skin health and vitality. Want more easy-to-follow bodycare recipes? Check out Rosemary’s Remedies on HerbMentor. Created by renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, Rosemary’s Remedies is a collection of videos and written recipes that walk you through step by step how to make beautiful natural bodycare products like a face cream, cleanser, and more. You can access Rosemary’s Remedies on HerbMentor here.

Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) Benefits

Rosemary has long been used for promoting healthy hair, increasing shine and luster. But we know what’s really going on: rosemary makes the scalp happy, so the hair is happy. Rosemary is an excellent herb for the scalp, with clinical studies to back up its positive effect on hair growth.^1,2

Hair follicles can weaken, become smaller and stop growing hair without enough circulation. Rosemary’s actions as a vulnerary and circulatory stimulant both promote cellular repair and function, increasing hair follicle integrity and, therefore, hair growth.

The phrase "rosemary for remembrance" carries a deep well of wisdom we can also tap for scalp care. Both the ingestion of rosemary, as well as the inhalation of rosemary essential oil have shown to increase memory, focus, and cognitive function.³

Rubbing rosemary into the scalp with this scrub is a wonderful way to connect with rosemary’s cognitive-supporting functions and enjoy its beautiful scent.

Oats (Avena sativa) Benefits

Another multifaceted and culinary favorite plant, oat can also lend its properties to scalp health. Oat has a soothing, demulcent effect on the skin, stomach, and nervous system; these same soothing properties can be applied to an itchy and dry scalp.

An itch we cannot scratch is highly distracting. One of the biggest benefits of oats is that they can greatly reduce the inflamed intensity of a perpetual itch and help us reclaim our attention. Both the tea and the powdered oats themselves provide nourishing benefits and make an excellent addition to herbal scalp support.⁴

Sugar Cane (Saccharum officinarum) Benefits

Cane sugar comes from the sugar cane plant. In its processed natural cane sugar form, this plant offers a gentle, exfoliating experience for the scalp. This physical exfoliator helps increase circulation to the scalp, which in turn promotes hair growth and overall scalp health.

Apple Cider Vinegar Benefits

Apple cider vinegar can help balance the pH of the scalp. Apple cider vinegar’s acidity can also contribute to the exfoliating effects of the scrub.

Here are some frequently asked questions about scalp scrubs…

Does this scalp scrub work for different hair types? 

Yes, this scrub works for all different hair textures: thick hair, thin hair, very curly hair, wavy hair, and straight hair.

Does this scalp exfoliator work for a dry scalp and an oily scalp?

Yes, this balancing diy scalp treatment can help support a dry scalp, an oily scalp, an itchy scalp, a flaky scalp, and a sensitive scalp.

Can scalp exfoliation help balance scalp health? 

Yes, by gently exfoliating away dead skin cells and product buildup, a cleansing scalp scrub can help bring balance to the scalp.

Can I make a salt scrub for my scalp?

 Yes, you can make a salt scrub for your scalp, but a sugar scrub is gentler and better suited for sensitive skin and scalps.

Written by Rachel Budde

Rachel Budde is an herbalist, teacher and founder of Fat and the Moon, a company that provides handcrafted, herbal body care to those seeking to imbue their daily regimes with intention and botanical benefit. Continuing a legacy of natural healers, Rachel sees topical herbal body care products as gateways for profound realizations of the efficacy of plant medicine. Rachel's work as an herbalist is an extension of her Slovenian heritage. Since 2015, she has been conducting ethnobotanical research on medicinal plants and their traditional, folk uses in Slovenia.