Hi Everyone!

I saw some posts in the comments regarding essential oils, so I thought I would share my experience with EO's thus far:)  I was diagnosed with FFA almost 2 years ago now, but I believe I've had it for 5 years or so.  I haven't done any drug therapies at this point since I was breastfeeding my daughter when I was diagnosed and I wanted to get pregnant. Anyhow, fast forward to now, I am 33 weeks pregnant with my second and I've was noticing more hair loss all around my face and some thinning at my hairline. This was really freaking me out so I started researching alternative treatments that would be safe for pregnancy. 

I started applying 100% emu oil to my hairline about 3-4 months ago.  The emu oil helped some with the inflammation and itchiness on my scalp, but I didn't feel it was doing anything for the hair loss at all.  About 3-4 weeks ago I started adding essential oils to the emu oil and still applying the mixture once per day at night before bed.  I am amazed to report that I have begun growing little baby hairs all around my face and my hairline is thickening up!  I have also noticed less itching at my hairline.

I haven't been doing this long enough to know what the long term results would be, but I am very happy with the short term results!!  Of course the larger scarred area along my bangs is still there, but it is easier to hide with more surrounding hair.  The mixture of oils I am using comes from a Scottish study that was done which showed the essential oils caused hair growth in 44% of the study group.  The study was done on Alopecia Areata but I figured why not try it.  For the study, the mixture they used was:

4 tsp. grapeseed oil + 1/2 tsp jojoba oil

2 drops cedarwood EO

2 drops thyme EO

3 drops lavender EO

3 drops rosemary oil

Here is  a link to the study

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9828867

I am new to essential oils but have learned that they must be diluted considerably in a carrier oil in order to be used safely on the skin.  I am using emu oil as a carrier instead of grapeseed and jojoba. My midwife said this is safe to use topically during pregnancy.  Just wanted to pass this information along!!  Hope everyone is doing well : )

April