Ajowan Oil For Hair and Skin

Have you ever heard of Ajowan oil? Unless you’re from India, chances are you haven’t heard of it. It’s a shame this oil only just started gaining popularity in other places around the world. It was used in India, Greece and Persia for years for countless therapeutic benefits. Scientists have found scripts on Ajowan oil in several ancient medicine systems including the Indian medicine system “Ayurveda”, the Persian medicine system “Unani” and several Greek medicine systems.

They all speak of how important Ajowan oil is for the digestive system, the respiratory system, the nervous system and even our circulation and immunity. But before we jump right into how great Ajowan oil is for your body, let’s learn a little bit about this oil, where it comes from and what’s inside it.

What is Ajowan Oil

Ajowan is the name of the plant Ajowan oil is extracted from. It has other botanical names such as trachyspermum ammi, Carum copticum and Trachyspermum copticum. This oil has a few common names as well such as Carom and bishop’s weed so don’t get confused when buying the oil. As for how the oil looks, it comes in various colors. Some bottles of Ajowan oil will give off a light orange color while others might have more of a reddish color to them. Regardless of the color, Ajowan oil has a pleasant peppermint or thyme-like odor that makes you fall in love with it.

Ingredients Used in Ajowan Oil

Now that you know how to identify the oil, let’s see what it’s made out of. Ajowan oil has several components including:

-thymol

-gamma-terpinene

-p-cymene

-beta-pinene

-alpha-pinene

-alpha-thujene

-beta-myrcene

-carvacrol

-limonene

-terpinene-4-ol

All of these chemical substances give Ajowan oil its magical therapeutic abilities. These are the ones that make Ajowan oil able to get rid of free radicals, quell inflammation, make it easier to breathe and even kill microbes, bacteria and insects. Don’t believe that one oil can do all that? Let’s prove it.

Benefits of Ajowan Oil

Antioxidants and Free Radicals

Let’s start with the part about free radicals. You might not even know what those are. Free radicals are substances your body produces that are bad for you. So why does your body make them? It’s unintentional. They’re just byproducts of physiological functions being carried out on a daily basis. Once these free radicals are formed, they go around and start oxidizing everything in their path. If they go to your heart, they start attacking your cardiac muscle and can eventually lead to heart diseases, angina and heart attacks. If they decide it’s your liver they want, they can cause some serious damage.

Free Radicals Anemia and Aging

Free radicals can even breakdown your red blood cells leading to anemia. All of that can happen inside your body and you won’t even realize it. However, if these free radicals decide to pay your skin a visit, you’ll start to notice the difference immediately. Your skin will start to wrinkle, age, and have discolorations and countless other skin problems.

They really mess up your skin layers and if that’s not bad enough, they can eventually lead to skin cancer. You get the point. Free radicals are bad. That’s why Ajowan oil is important. Its antioxidants have the ability to stop these free radicals from oxidizing your body cells. How? By sacrificing themselves. They literally offer themselves up to be oxidized by the free radicals instead of your skin cells leaving you with healthy, radiant skin. Ajowan oil is such a powerful antioxidant, that scientists have started to compare it to hallmark antioxidants such as vitamin C and garlic. Most likely because they contain thymol, as well. Looks like there’s a new antioxidant in town.

Anti-Inflammatory

Alright so Ajowan oil has antioxidants. What else can it do? It has strong anti-inflammatory properties. Once again, it’s all thanks to its thymol content mainly, along with gamma-terpinene, beta-pinene, and p-cymene. They have the ability to reduce the release of a substance called NO.

I’m not objecting to anything, NO is short for nitric oxide which is a potent inflammatory mediator. It’s responsible for all the pain, redness, itchiness and swelling you might experience. By inhibiting the release of nitric oxide, Ajowan can be effectively used as a strong anti-inflammatory agent. This can come in handy in a number of diseases. For example, arthritis is a condition that causes severe pain and irritation due to swollen and inflamed joints. It can be unbearable sometimes so it’s nice to have a bottle of Ajowan oil close by.

Just rub some oil on and watch the pain and irritation go away in no time. For those who don’t suffer from arthritis, you can still make use of Ajowan oil. It can help soothe skin irritations resulting from things like eczema and psoriasis.

Bronchodilator

Ajowan oil is known as a “bronchodilator”. That means it relaxes the smooth muscles of your bronchi making your airways wider and allowing more air to flow in. This would be especially helpful in people who suffer from asthma. When you have an asthma attack, somewhere in your airway, your bronchi start to spasm. They close up and you get less and less air.

That’s why you start wheezing and gasping for air. By taking a bronchodilator like Ajowan oil, you’re helping reverse the cause of the asthma attack. Other respiratory conditions like COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) may also benefit from Ajowan oil. Scientists contributed all of this to alpha-pinene. If you don’t suffer from any major respiratory problems, just some annoying sinus congestion or a stuffy nose, you can still benefit from Ajowan oil. It relieves all of this in addition to cold and cough. Basically, for any respiratory issue, you want Ajowan oil.

Antibacterial

Ajowan oil is a powerful antibacterial. It has the ability to kill dozens of species of bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli. To prove this, scientists carried out two different studies. In one study they got about 12 different species of bacteria and used Ajowan oil on them. They set up a control group and gave those bacteria antibiotics. In the end, the effect of Ajowan oil was so strong, it killed the bacteria almost as effectively as the antibiotics.

The second study included an even wider range of up to 15 bacterial species all of which were completely inhibited and killed by Ajowan oil. This means Ajowan oil can help keep you healthy and safe from infections. These effects were mainly contributed to once again, the thymol found in Ajowan oil along with alpha-pinene and beta-pinene.

Antifungal

Thymol and beta-pinene are also responsible for Ajowan oil’s antifungal effect. It’s been proven to be toxic to several species of fungi which means it can help you with oral infections, nail infections and any other kind of fungus-related problem.

Insect Repellant

Now let’s say you’re not the problem. There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s the environment. You’re somewhere that’s full of mosquitoes or any kind of pesky insect. You can use Ajowan oil as a strong insect repellent. In fact, a recent study in 2017 tried to see just how strong Ajowan oil was. The scientists tried 12 different essential oils and in the end, they discovered that Ajowan oil was one of the top two insect repellants! A bit earlier than that, scientists tried out the effects of Ajowan oil on the larvae of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. They were killed by extremely minute amount of the oil. Told you it’s a strong insect repellent. And it even works on termites, too!

How to Use Ajowan Oil

Diffusing and Inhalation

See any uses that you feel might suit you so far? If so, then you need to know how to use Ajowan oil once you buy it. It’s so versatile, that there are hundreds of ways to apply it. The most common method though, is by inhalation. You can inhale a small amount from the bottle but there are more creative methods. Get a diffuser. It’ll distribute the Ajowan oil throughout your room all day long, helping you get rid of that annoying cough and that stuffy nose you’ve had all winter. Another great idea is to add other oils as well to the diffuser.

Ajowan oil is one of few oils that are actually compatible with other oils. No need worry when blending different aromas together in your diffuser to get the perfect scent. Try it out with sage, thyme or citrus oils like bergamot, lemon and orange.

Massaging

Instead of inhalation, you can massage the oil onto the troublesome area. A few drops will do. No need to go overboard. Before you do that, you might want to do a skin patch test. It’s a test you should always do before trying out any kind of product on your skin. Even if it’s completely safe, you never know how your skin will react to it. To do the test, dilute 2-3 drops of Ajowan oil with a teaspoon of any other carrier oil you prefer and apply them to a small area of your skin. Wait and see if any signs of an allergic reaction take place. If not, then you’re good to go. Start using your Ajowan oil today and you’ll see why the Indians, Greek and Persians were in love with this magical oil.

@OilAdmin