Rosemary oil for hair loss? How to spot bad science

Is rosemary oil an all-natural, science-backed treatment for hair loss that works as well as minoxidil? No. Let's take a closer look at the study that everyone keeps pointing to...

0:00 What is rosemary oil meant to do?
1:21 How peer review works
5:42 Never trust the abstract
7:34 The abstract
8:55 The actual paper
9:45 Dermatology problems
11:35 A whole flood of problems
15:20 The "significant" results
17:29 Why people might think it "works"
19:31 My conclusions vs "peer reviewed" conclusions
20:13 What about other evidence? Mechanistic reasoning
23:16 Can it work like finasteride? (5-alpha reductase inhibitor) (No)
25:04 Is rosemary oil worth trying? How to use it and what to try instead

🙋🏻 I'm Michelle, a chemistry PhD, cosmetic chemist and science educator, here to explain how beauty products work, debunk myths, and help you make smarter decisions about your skincare, hair and makeup!

📺 RELATED POSTS AND VIDEOS

[LabMuffinBeautyScience]

Had to reupload, audio issues 😅 Sorry this took so long - it was meant to be a quick video about a single paper while I was wrapping up a big Top Secret project (not that secret, will be announced soon) as well as getting married, but then it turned into a Big Thing. Back to our regular schedule!

[MadSimple]

Abstract:
"Our findings indicate that Lab Muffin Beauty Science has very little muffin content. We found 0 mention of muffins throughout a large sample (n=420). The differences with the non-muffin control group were insignificant (p<0.69)."

[gem]

Honestly, when people only have ONE study, that already raises red flags. For something to be concrete, its results should be able to be replicated in other studies. If there's just the one, and it's from almost a decade ago, I'm gonna take it with a grain of salt.

[Roll]

As a researcher, I'm APPALLED that this was published.

[dawndiscusses]

And thats why 'just do your research' falls flat. Most people, myself included, just dont know how to read scientific papers even if we can get past the paywall. Its a shame.

[Giuliia]

The fact that health professionals who came out of universities with degrees and phds can't tell when a publication is good or bad honestly scares me.

[LadyAhro]

The hair tiktokers are going to hate this one.

[susan]

I had my 12 year old son watch this video, not for the hair loss part but for a beginning understanding the world of science. Thank you for this well put together, unbiased, easy to understand presentation of the process of studies.

[Lunasquietlife]

If I handed in a paper like that to a science teacher in like 10th grade I would have almost certainly been failed 💀 the fact that actual scientists made it and “reviewed” it as good is kinda mind blowing to me 😭😭

[amoraacho]

I have been using rosemary water and oil.
I have suffered from thick painful dandruff all of my life and the rosemary from what have found out is really really good for anti-inflammatory and killing bad bacteria.
My dandruff is almost 100% gone and takes a long time come back.
I used to wash my hair every day because it was so bad but now I can wait a few days before I do.
And now that the dandruff is not blocking my hair follicles my hair can now grow and has gotten really really long.
So rosemary didn’t grow my hair having a healthy scalp did.

[Istebrak]

The study was done in reaction to reports that hair oiling works, it didnt start the craze. Indian and pretty much all Middle Eastern cultures practice hair and scalp oiling. We oil our hair because of culture, not because of some study that happened in modern times.

[concamon]

This shows that even "experts" are not infallible.

Dermatologists are absolutely the best source when it comes to getting information for overall skin health and improving skin function, but that doesn't necessarily mean they know how every active used on skin and hair work, or how they behave in specific formulas.

Cosmetic chemists don't have the same extent of knowledge on skin itself, but they're a necessary check and balance for dermatologists, and can give more insight when it comes to actual products and ingredients.

I'm not remotely shocked that "skinfluencers" with no credentials didn't look into the Rosemary study, but I'm a bit disappointed at how many social media derms ran with the myth 🥴

[meltedsnowman]

Something to also consider is that based on other studies on 2% minoxidil, this study showed WAY less hair growth on 2% minoxidil over 6 months than we normally would expect 2% minoxidil over 6 months to give. This makes the constant comparisons in efficacy of rosemary oil to minoxidil 2% that people make based on this study even more dubious due to minoxidil 2%’s strange underperformance in this study compared to how it normally performs.

[Hydrogen]

My wife is a researcher (and I’m not), and I’ve been struggling to understand author drama. She’s also an editor for a few journals. I think this video did a lot to help me understand what she’s going through when publishing/peer review and tearing her hair out (pun intended).

[marinebiowhre]

As someone who’s plan is to get into a masters program in STEM, granted not chemical science but rather ecology, your videos make it so much clearer how to read papers more easily. I also work at Ulta so your info is helping me to make better informed recommendations to guests.

[jenxsj]

When I was a child my neighbour was balding. She read that tomatoes were good for female alopecia and she used to place tomato slices on her head almost every day. She died of old age. She was buried wearing a lovely wig.

[verrenyeux]

I want to take a round trip train ride and airdrop this to everyone along the way. Science literacy is much harder than just "do your research" online!!thank you for your careful and clear explanation

[verrenyeux]

also using the depression scale to measure hair loss is WILD!!

[Sarah-hckj]

I read this paper a couple years ago and missed so many of the points you’ve brought up. This is a great video that I will begin showing my college science students. It’s is a really great explanation of publishing and about forming opinions about papers.

[SkinFits]

Thank you for this comprehensive video.
Lesson: Be skeptical of everything, not matter how many times people repeat it.