What is Safflower oil:

 Hair Care with Oil

Oil massage to the scalp and hair is very essential for their good health. It enhances the hair growth due to increase in blood circulation. Different oils such as coconut oil, jojoba oil, olive oil and almond oil are used for head massage. Your question is that can safflower oil be used for hair just like olive oil? The answer is yes, you can. Safflower oil is derived from the safflower seeds. It contains high amounts of oleic acid. It protects, nourishes and firms the hair. It is the incredible choice for hydrating skin and hair. The flavorless safflower oil can easily penetrate the skin due to its light texture. It contains more polyunsaturated fatty acids than other oils. This oil is exceptionally rich in essential fatty acids and can be used for hair care to structure the sensitized hair. You can use it for hair massage because of its great moisturizing qualities. Safflower oil is found to be effective for dry, color treated or permed hair. It is used in shampoo or conditioners. Shampoos made with safflower oil are effective, hypoallergenic and mild to scalp and hair. It is believed that safflower oil applied to the scalp works as a vasolidator which can dilate the blood vessels. It results in more nutrients supply to the hair follicles through blood circulation and creates the environment for hair regrowth.

It is possible to make your hair healthier by using any kind of oil to it. The point behind applying oil to your hair is to condition it. Oil is an excellent conditioner, especially for dry and breaking hair. The reason oil is applied to hair is to nourish the roots. The oil will stay on the hair shaft as well as the scalp and will reach deep inside the skin and help to prevent dryness. This will enable healthier and richer hair growth at a much faster pace than normal. Oil also has the added benefit of adding strength to hair strands and thus preventing excessive breakage of hair. Any oil is good to use on the scalp, including safflower oil.

Some sorts of oils are highly recommended for use on hair because they have certain properties that will encourage hair growth in addition to all these benefits. Coconut oil has the property of thickening your hair, which makes it the most highly recommended oil for hair care. Olive oil is known for its properties of healing. It will heal any dryness on the scalp effectively and will also add to length and strength of hair. Almonds are very highly recommended for good hair growth. They are very rich in vitamin A, which is necessary for great hair growth. Almond oil is one of the most highly recommended for hair growth. It is tricky however, to find a pure form of this oil.

Alternative Oil for Hair

You can certainly use safflower oil for your hair, but the best hair oil is probably coconut oil. As cooking oil, safflower oil has many health benefits similar to sunflower oil, primarily with relation to the cardiovascular system. Of course these benefits are only obtained from consuming the oil, and not from applying it to the hair. The main purpose of oiling the hair is to help it retain moisture, and as far as this goes, safflower oil makes for excellent hair oil, the more so because it has almost no odor at all, unlike many other oils which are used for the hair.

However, as mentioned before, the best hair oil is probably coconut oil, as it provides many other benefits in addition to holding moisture. One important factor with coconut oil is that it is absorbed by hair much more easily, which is thought to help not only retain moisture better, but also prevent the protein loss that normally occurs and causes damage to hair. Most other oils, including safflower oil and sunflower oil, do not penetrate hair as well. However, if your hair is already strong and healthy, you probably do not need any extra protection — go ahead and use safflower oil.

History of Safflower:

Many of the characteristics noted for sunflower also apply to safflower, which is another species of the Asteraceae (sunflower family). Like sunflower oil, safflower oil is polyunsaturated and therefore is useful in lessening the threat of human arteriosclerosis. It is also an annual crop, usually less than one meter tall, and it can be mechanically harvested. Forms up to two meters in height are common in the Turko-Afghanistan region.

Safflower is native to the Old World, and the genus occurs naturally in the Mediterranean region, northeastern Africa, and southwestern Asia to India. There are positively identified archaeological records of safflower from 4000-year-old Egyptian tombs, including a find of single safflower flowers wrapped in willow leaves that were placed with a mummy from the 18th Dynasty (ca. 1600 B.C.). The flowers of Carthamus are pale yellow to red-orange, tubular disk florets; there are no ray florets in this thistle-like head. Since ancient times, orange pigments have been obtained from safflower. In fact, the name safflower may be derived from another plant, saffron (Crocus sativus), which was a precious and very expensive yellowish dye obtained from the stigmas of freshly opened flowers. The name Carthamus is the latinized form of the Arabic word quartum or gurtum, which refers to the pigment color. The corolla as a water-soluble yellow dye (carthamidin, an anthocyanin) and a water-insoluble orange-red dye (carthamin), which is readily soluble in an alkaline solution. Dyes were produced from fresh flowers, which were collected during morning shade and dried on muslin trays before storing in tins. Other methods of producing safflower dyes included collecting the heads of flowers before they faded on the plant and removing the yellow corollas. The yellow dye could be extracted by washing the corollas for three to four days in acidified water, which made the pigment dissolve.

Safflower oil is a drying oil that is used in white and light-colored oil-based paints instead of linseed oil, because it does not yellow with age like similar oils rich in linoleic or oleic acid (depending on cultivar). Safflower was used as a substitute for more precious oils. Likewise, safflower pigment was used as a substitute for or an adulterant of saffron, e.g., as a coloring agent in cheeses. Safflower was particularly important as an oil and pigment in southern Asia (Iran, Afghanistan, and India), and early carpets from these regions used safflower dye. Safflower arrived in China relatively late (200-300 A.D. according to current records), and the dyes became important there. In China safflower oil was considered inferior to sesame oil but nonetheless is mixed with sesame and cottonseed oil in the preparation of Japanese tempura. The Japanese cosmetic beni is also made from safflower, and French chalk was mixed with safflower to make a cosmetic. In India and Afghanistan, saffron rice is made with safflower, which gives it an interesting orange color. Moreover, over the centuries safflower has been used commonly in potions and folk medicines throughout the Old World.

Safflower cultivation is now widespread, and one can see many fields of these plants in dry areas of the southwestern United States, such as in California and Arizona, because this species is fairly drought resistant and salt tolerant. Each plant forms one to two dozen heads of flowers, which are quickly converted into full heads of fruits (again, achenes), because the flowers are self-compatible and self-pollinated. Presence of honey bees can increase production. Oil content of the achenes is frequently 30-45%, and protein content can be as high as 24%. After the oil is expressed, safflower seedcake can often be used for livestock feed, and the remaining plant, if not too spiny, can be used for green fodder or silage.