What rosemary is

Rosemary is a kitchen herb, and its oil is sold for the scalp in many forms: essential oil in small bottles, lotions, shampoos and home-made mixtures. The evidence for rosemary on its own comes from one trial of one specific lotion. Almost everything this page can say about results comes from that product. [1]

That matters because the usual claim, "rosemary oil works as well as minoxidil", is wider than the evidence. The trial compared one lotion with the weaker 2% strength of minoxidil, in 100 men, and was not designed to show that the two are equal.

This page is about adult men with male pattern hair loss: gradual thinning at the hairline or the crown. If hair is falling out suddenly, in patches, or the scalp is sore or inflamed, the first step is an assessment, not a product. Check that the guide fits your situation before comparing anything.

A pump bottle of pale green lotion, a small amber essential-oil vial and a white shampoo bottle, with fresh rosemary sprigs in front
Lotion, essential oil and shampoo are three different products. The trial tested a lotion.

Where it sits in our comparison

Rosemary is in the third group of our comparison, labelled limited evidence, alongside saw palmetto and pumpkin seed oil. There is no order among the three. One small trial of one lotion is a reason to describe it accurately, not a reason to place it next to minoxidil or finasteride. [1]

How rosemary rates

Position 5 of 6 in our ranking. Same tier as saw palmetto and pumpkin seed oil: the order among them is editorial. The same eight criteria for every ingredient.

Limited evidence
EffectivenessDepends
Limited signal for specific preparationsIn one trial, hair counts rose slightly with a rosemary lotion and with 2% minoxidil, with no significant difference between them. That is not proof of equal effect, and the comparison was not with 5% minoxidil.
Evidence strengthTrade-off
Limited supportOne single-blind trial of 100 men, with no placebo group. How the men were allocated to the two groups is not fully described.
Risks and tolerabilityDepends
Tolerability versus minoxidil unresolvedItching increased in both groups, and the paper contradicts itself on which had more. A skin reaction to a rosemary preparation has been documented in a separate case.
TimeDepends
Study time points onlyHair counts were higher at six months and not at three. That is when the researchers measured, not a promise.
CostDepends
No comparable price yetWe found no US or UK price for a product shown to match the lotion that was studied, so we do not quote one.
RoutineTrade-off
Twice-daily lotion in the trialTwo applications a day, about 12 hours apart, in the trial. Smell, texture and how well the scalp tolerates it vary from product to product.
MaintenanceDepends
Not established after stoppingNo study measured what happens after stopping, or how long it has to be used.
AccessTrade-off
Studied preparation not matched to shop productsRosemary products are easy to find. The lotion from the trial cannot be matched to an oil percentage, a shampoo or a product on sale in the US or UK.

An order of consideration for adult male pattern hair loss, not a score. Strength, Depends and Trade-off describe each line on its own; they do not add up to a number.

The same eight criteria are used for every ingredient in the comparison. How we apply them is on the methodology page.

Lotion, essential oil or shampoo

The studied lotion

Limited evidence

A finished lotion standardised to at least 3.7 mg per mL of 1,8-cineole, a compound found in rosemary oil. The only form of rosemary on its own with a trial.

Evidence
100 men over six months, compared with 2% minoxidil.
Use in the trial
1 mL twice a day, about 12 hours apart.
Keep in mind
Its base and its total oil content were not reported, so it cannot be reproduced.

Essential oil

Limited evidence

Concentrated oil sold in small bottles. It is not what the trial tested.

Evidence
None of its own in the sources we reviewed.
Use
No dilution, number of drops or schedule has been established.
Keep in mind
A skin reaction to a rosemary preparation has been documented.

Shampoos and blends

Limited evidence

Products that list rosemary among several ingredients, or oils mixed with other oils.

Evidence
One 2025 trial of oil blends, with company funding and unclear comparisons between groups.
Use
Each product is its own formula, with its own instructions.
Keep in mind
A blend's result cannot be credited to rosemary.

Advantages

  • A trial in men, with a described amount and schedule. [1]
  • Applied to the scalp, with no tablets involved.
  • Compared directly with a known treatment, not only with the starting point.

Trade-offs

  • One trial, no placebo group, and no result against 5% minoxidil. [1]
  • The lotion cannot be matched to an essential oil, a shampoo or a home mixture.
  • Itching was reported, and it is not clear that rosemary is the gentler option. [1]

Does rosemary work as well as minoxidil? The trial does not show that. It found no significant difference between the two groups, which can mean that they are similar or simply that the trial was too small to tell them apart. To show that two treatments are equivalent, a trial has to be designed for it, with a margin fixed in advance. This one was not. And the minoxidil it used was the 2% strength, while the men's products we describe on the minoxidil page are 5%. [1]

Why the lotion cannot be turned into a recipe

  • The 3.7 mg is a marker, not the oil content. It is the amount of one compound, 1,8-cineole, per mL of lotion. It does not tell you what percentage of rosemary oil the lotion contained.
  • The base was not reported. What the oil was dissolved in changes how it behaves on the skin, and the paper does not say.
  • A lotion on sale today cannot be assumed to match. We could not confirm that any current product has the formula of the lotion used in the trial.
  • So there is nothing to convert. A number of drops, a dilution or a percentage would be a guess.

What the trial measured

The lotion against 2% minoxidil

The trial enrolled 100 men aged 18 to 49 with pattern hair loss. Fifty used the rosemary lotion and fifty used 2% minoxidil, 1 mL twice a day, for six months. Hairs were counted on standardised close-up photographs at the start, at three months and at six. [1]

Average hair count at the start and after six months

At the start After six months

  • Rosemary lotion

    122.8
    129.6

  • Minoxidil 2%

    138.4
    140.7

Hairs counted on the study's photographs. The paper does not clearly state the size of the area counted, so these are not hairs per square centimetre. The two groups started from different counts. [1]

The count went up in both groups, by about 7 hairs with rosemary and about 2 with minoxidil, on photographs showing well over a hundred. At three months neither group had changed significantly. At six months the difference between the two groups was not significant.

What that result means

It means a rosemary lotion and a weak minoxidil solution both showed a small rise, and the trial could not tell them apart. It does not mean that rosemary equals minoxidil, for three reasons. There was no placebo group, so the trial cannot say how much of the rise either product caused. The comparison was with 2% minoxidil, not the 5% used in men's products. And we found no repeat of the trial with the same lotion.

The trial had academic support, and the lotion was supplied by its maker. How the men were assigned to the two groups is not fully described.

Oil blends

A trial published in 2025 tested two oil blends that contain rosemary against coconut oil, in people who reported thinning hair. Its published results favour the blends. Three things limit what can be taken from it. The analysis mostly compares each group with its own starting point and looks at many outcomes, and people who dropped out were left out. Coconut oil is itself used on hair, so it is not an inert comparison. And the trial was funded by a company, with one author employed there. [2]

Whatever those blends did, the result belongs to the blends. It cannot be credited to rosemary on its own, and it is not a recipe for mixing oils at home.

What the evidence does not show

  • That rosemary works better than nothing. The lotion was never compared with a placebo.
  • That it matches 5% minoxidil. The comparison was with 2%, and it was not built to show equivalence.
  • That an essential oil or a shampoo does what the lotion did. They were not tested.
  • That it is gentler on the scalp. The trial's own account of itching is contradictory.
  • What happens after six months, or after stopping. The trial ended there.

How it was used in the trial

There is no label to refer to. This is what the one trial did. [1]

  • What. A finished lotion containing at least 3.7 mg of 1,8-cineole per mL.
  • How much. 1 mL each time.
  • How often. Twice a day, about 12 hours apart.
  • For how long. Six months.
A glass pipette holding a small amount of pale green lotion, resting on a small glass bottle, with a sprig of rosemary beside it
One millilitre of a finished lotion, twice a day. That describes the trial, not a quantity of essential oil.

These describe what was tested, in the men chosen for that trial. They are not instructions for a different product. If you buy a rosemary lotion, its own directions are the ones that apply to it.

How long it takes

In the trial there was no significant change in hair count at three months, and a rise at six months. Six months is when the researchers measured. It is not a promise, and it is not evidence that rosemary acts faster or slower than the medicines. [1]

Side effects and safety

In the trial

Itching increased in both groups during the six months. The summary and the results section of the paper say it was more frequent with minoxidil. The caption of one of its figures says the opposite. We found no correction that settles it, so we do not claim that rosemary is better tolerated. [1]

Skin reactions

Rosemary can cause a skin reaction. A published case describes a 53-year-old man who developed contact dermatitis after applying an alcohol-based rosemary preparation to his chest, confirmed by patch testing. One case shows that it can happen. It does not say how often, and it was a different product on a different part of the body. [3]

If a product makes your scalp red, swollen or more itchy, stop using it and ask a pharmacist or doctor.

What is not known

  • Long-term use. The trial lasted six months.
  • Other rosemary products. Their safety on the scalp was not studied here.
  • Use with other scalp treatments. Nothing we reviewed tests it.

If you stop

No study measured what happens to the hair after stopping a rosemary lotion, or whether it has to be used continuously. We do not know.

Combining rosemary with other options

Rosemary is something to compare with the other options, not something to add to them by default. [1, 2]

  • Rosemary + minoxidil

    Compared, not combined

    The trial tested the lotion against 2% minoxidil. It did not test using both, and nothing we reviewed shows what one does to the other on the scalp.

    Full minoxidil profile

  • Rosemary + saw palmetto and pumpkin seed oil

    Not established

    Each was studied on its own, as a specific preparation. Nothing we reviewed tests the three together, and their separate results cannot be added up.

    Full saw palmetto profile

  • Rosemary + other oils in a blend

    Belongs to the blend

    Blends that contain rosemary alongside other oils have their own trial. A result for a blend is evidence for that blend, not for rosemary.

For the bigger picture of what goes with what, see which options can be combined and which are alternatives.

What it costs

We did not record a price for rosemary. Our price check only counts a product when it can be matched to the preparation that was studied, and we found no US or UK product with that match. A missing figure is not a low one.

Keeping track

A man photographing the top of his head with a phone in front of a bathroom mirror
Photos taken the same way each month are easier to judge than memory.

With an option whose effect, if there is one, is small, your own records matter more than usual. Three habits help. They are organising suggestions of ours, not something tested in a trial:

  • Photos. The same areas once a month, in the same light, at the same hair length and from the same angle.
  • A record. The exact product, the date you started and any days you missed.
  • Your scalp. Any itching, redness or flaking, with the date.

Decide in advance when you will look back at the photos. The trial looked at six months. If nothing has changed by then, that is useful information, and a reason to reconsider the options with stronger evidence.