Camellia Oil: Reverse Hair Loss and Gray

Purity Camellia Oil for Hair and Scalp

Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself. ~Leo Tolstoy

I've been working on an exciting new project - a new popcorn company called Pop Karma - so I haven't written as often as I'd like. I promise I'll provide more details on Pop Karma soon.

In the meantime, my dear cousin asked me what I used to dye my hair with since she didn't want to use something really harsh and chemically. Oh no, clearly I've gotten to the age where I should be dying my hair! But I'm not. I have some stray grays, and sometimes when I see them I'll pull them out. Sometimes I leave it in because I think it looks distinguished.

I expect the grays will start coming in quickly and then who knows what I'll think. While I haven't tried dying my hair, I have been using camellia oil for years. My friend started making it around 2004, and I started using it to support his entrepreneurial spirit. One of the properties it claims is that it has reversed graying in some people.

Camellia oil has been used as a beauty product for generations in Asia, and when I told my mother about it, she had vague memories of her grandmother using it. She remembered her as always having black hair, so she called her brother for confirmation. He remembered her having black hair too.

So what is this stuff? Let's start with the facts. Camellia oll is made from the seeds of tea trees. It is rich in Vitamins A, B, C & E and various minerals. It's composed mainly of oleic acid (80%), one of the most penetrative oils, which allows it to hydrate and clean pores and follicles without greasy residue. It allows oxygen and nutrients to penetrate. Camellia is a natural antioxidant that helps protect from UV exposure. It was used for centuries in Japan and Taiwan as a mositurizer and revitalizer. It fell out of favor with more recent generations since it was pungent and greasy.

When my friend first started the company, I told my mother about it, and she spoke to his father, Dr. Michael Liau, one of the founders. He is a retired professor of pathology that specialized in oil at Columbia University. She was impressed and started using the scalp oil. My mother said her hair and eyebrows started growing in thicker. My aunt noticed and she started using it too. I'll note that they think it has grown more hair, but they are still dying it.

I use it, and my cousin frequently observed over the years that my hair seemed fuller. I never really thought about it until recently, when she asked me about dying my hair. Maybe it's working. I thought I should do more investigative reporting so I called Dr. Liau.