Organic Rosemary Essential Oil

Yes, 100% pure Rosmarinus officinalis leaf oil, nothing added or diluted, steam distilled in Spain and bottled in the UK. The SDS, IFRA 51 certificate and both allergen declarations are in the Documents tab below.

Which chemotype is it? Rosemary is grown in three chemotypes, cineole, camphor and verbenone. Ours is the Spanish cineole and camphor type, the fresh, clean, widely used one: around 24% 1,8-cineole, 23 to 25% camphor and 31% total pinenes, with no verbenone. The softer verbenone type is a different oil, grown mainly in France and Corsica.

The different kinds of rosemary oil: ours is a steam-distilled essential oil, the concentrated aromatic oil of the plant. Rosemary essential oil is never cold pressed. It is also not rosemary water or a rosemary rinse, not rosemary extract (which is the food antioxidant), and not a ready-made rosemary hair oil, which is this oil already diluted into a carrier.

Making it at home: steeping sprigs in olive oil gives you an infused oil, not an essential oil. True distillation needs equipment and a great deal of plant material, which is why a 10ml bottle of the essential oil goes so far.

Mix 3–6 drops into 30 ml of a carrier oil (castor and jojoba are favourites), massage into the scalp, leave for an hour or overnight, then wash out. Most people use it 1–2 times a week.

Rosemary is traditionally avoided in pregnancy, please speak to a qualified healthcare professional before using it.

It is one of the better garden oils, and the honest headline is that it deters rather than kills. Rosemary is high in cineole and camphor, both of which insects navigate away from, so it works by making a plant an unappealing place to land instead of by wiping out what is already there.

How to use it in the garden

• Spray strength: 5 to 10 drops in 500ml of water with a drop of washing-up liquid. Shake as you go, because oil and water separate quickly.
• When: evening or an overcast day, never onto hot leaves in full sun, which is how oils scorch foliage.
• Test one leaf first and wait a day. Avoid seedlings and anything near harvest.
• Repeat: weekly, and after rain. A deterrent only lasts as long as it can be smelled.

On aphids rosemary is a deterrent, not an insecticide, so it earns its place as a preventative spray on plants that get hit every year rather than as a cure for a plant already covered. It is commonly blended with peppermint, which does more of the work.

Does rosemary attract insects? The growing plant does, and that is a good thing: rosemary in flower is excellent for bees and hoverflies, and hoverfly larvae eat aphids. The oil has the opposite effect to the flowers, so you get the pollinators from the plant and the deterrent from the bottle.

Yes, diluted in a carrier oil it's fine for most people overnight. Do a patch test first, protect your pillow, and wash thoroughly in the morning.

Peppermint and lemon for focus blends, eucalyptus for a fresh clearing mix, or lavender for a softer herbal evening scent. Cedarwood and bergamot also sit well under it.

By proportion rather than fixed drops: rosemary 2 : peppermint 1 : lemon 2 for a desk blend, rosemary 2 : eucalyptus 2 for something clearing, or rosemary 1 : lavender 3 to soften it right down. Follow your diffuser's instructions for the total number of drops.

More combinations are in our energising diffuser blend ideas.

Does rosemary oil actually work for hair growth? Honestly: it is the most popular natural oil for scalp routines and a great many people swear by how their hair looks and feels after months of using it, but it is a cosmetic routine rather than a treatment. Results vary person to person and it is not a treatment for medical hair loss. If your hair loss is sudden or patchy, see a GP or a trichologist rather than a bottle of oil.

How long does rosemary oil take for hair growth? Hair grows roughly a centimetre a month, so one month of rosemary oil will not show you much. Most people who stick with it give it three to six months of consistent use before judging.

Which rosemary oil for hair, and what to mix it with? Any pure, undiluted rosemary essential oil behaves the same way in a scalp blend, and buying it undiluted is what lets you control the strength yourself. Keep it to 1 to 2%, roughly 6 to 12 drops in 30 ml of castor, jojoba, coconut, argan or sweet almond oil, once or twice a week. It also sits happily alongside aloe vera gel or a rice water rinse if those are already part of your routine.

There is more on the routine in our guide to rosemary oil for hair growth.

Rosemary's sharp herbal scent has been associated with memory since ancient Greece, students wore sprigs of it. Diffuse 3–5 drops at the desk and see what it does for your concentration.