Ode to Castor oil

[Bubble Agent]

Well, some people claim that. But a pharmacist explained to me that it just makes the hair shaft thicker due to the humectant qualities of castor oil, but that there no proven science behind it. It would be difficult to study due to the many variances involved with hair growth such as it’s growth and shedding stages….which can change on a dime due to stress, hormones and diet, so any results would still be inconclusive.

Sigh, here we go again. Science ruining everything with facts and research...

Joke aside, I forgot to mention that use castor on my eyelashes. Not to make them longer mind you (doesn`t work on me, I have tried over several months) but it seems that castor oil is the only oil I can tolerate around my eye area and it helps my lashes not to break off like they usually do (health issues and medication makes my hair thin and brittle and my lashes to break off easily. I am on a vitamin regimen, but it isn`t enough, so castor is a life saver.)

 

[lenarenee]

Sigh, here we go again. Science ruining everything with facts and research...

Joke aside, I forgot to mention that use castor on my eyelashes. Not to make them longer mind you (doesn`t work on me, I have tried over several months) but it seems that castor oil is the only oil I can tolerate around my eye area and it helps my lashes not to break off like they usually do (health issues and medication makes my hair thin and brittle and my lashes to break off easily. I am on a vitamin regimen, but it isn`t enough, so castor is a life saver.)

Well, I’ve done a small amount of research, and came to the same conclusion. But there was mention of the vitamin and moisturizing properties of castor being actively beneficial for issues like yours! Still not outright proven….but enough accounts to take notice.


But there’s nothing I found about castor activating or increasing hair follicles and producing more hair count.

 

[Bubble Agent]

Well, I’ve done a small amount of research, and came to the same conclusion. But there was mention of the vitamin and moisturizing properties of castor being actively beneficial for issues like yours! Still not outright proven….but enough accounts to take notice.

But there’s nothing I found about castor activating or increasing hair follicles and producing more hair count.

That is my impression also, I wish there was something to it though! But although I have never experienced hair growth or elongation of lashes, just the softening of them making them less brittle, I am at least happy with that, it is better than nothing when one constantly have to remove hairs and pick up broken lashes from ones chin, and wonder if I one day will look like the Lady rendition of Kojak..

 

[Mistrael]

Wait... castor thickens the shaft? Oh hell no, my strands are heavy enough already.

 

[amd]

My arvigo practitioner has me use it in healing massage, along with castor packs to help with ... um... lady stuff.

 

[TennisGirl]

Castor definitely helps my hair grow. Great for eyelashes and eyebrows. Can't use it at all on my face or I get full on lady sideburns, mustache and beard. Not talking peach fuzz either.

 

[Bubble Agent]

Castor definitely helps my hair grow. Great for eyelashes and eyebrows. Can't use it at all on my face or I get full on lady sideburns, mustache and beard. Not talking peach fuzz either.

Lucky you! (not talking about the beard and stache stuff growing if you use castor on those areas, though...)
It doesn`t have that effect on my lashes that way, I wish it did though. But at least it helps my lashes from breaking off. It feels a bit traumatic when it happens so often...Worse things can happen, but...

 

[bookworm]

Thank you! Major castor oil fan here and good to know all those fun facts! Early in my soapmaking I heard about castor oil. I could not find it at my grocery store so I went to the drugstore and still couldn't find it. I asked the pharmacist who said look in the Hispanic section or laxative section. Wth?! I found several teeny tiny bottles in the Hispanic section and bought all of them. It was a game changer for me and has been in every recipe ever since.

Yes the laxative section!!!
Brings back horrible memories of holidays when my mother lined us kids up on the first day of the hols and forced us to swallow this vile stuff. Apparently it was to cool and cleanse our systems out.
We would retch and gag and sob, to no avail.
Never thought I’d ever ever use this stuff again, and here I am buying copious amount for all my soap recipes.

 

[meena.shah]

Does the castor oil speed up the trace?

 

[Susie]

I LOVE castor oil as well! I’m going to say this and probably get beat up but...... I use 10% n all my soaps. There, I said it. There is another really cool thing about castor oil besides soap, scalp treatments, (yes, it makes your scalp so clean that your hair is so bouncy and clean!) Edgar Caycee had a protocol for liver treatment packs made with castor oil. Castor oil is a wonder oil!

Is this the Edgar Cayce you are referring to? Edgar Cayce | American faith healer

 

[Susie]

Does the castor oil speed up the trace?

Not really. I have found many other things that speed or slow trace, but not really a change that can be traced to castor oil.

 

[Virgogoddess]

Is this the Edgar Cayce you are referring to? Edgar Cayce | American faith healer

Yes! I’ve done his protocol for castor oil packs.

 

[Virgogoddess]

Yes the laxative section!!!
Brings back horrible memories of holidays when my mother lined us kids up on the first day of the hols and forced us to swallow this vile stuff. Apparently it was to cool and cleanse our systems out.
We would retch and gag and sob, to no avail.
Never thought I’d ever ever use this stuff again, and here I am buying copious amount for all my soap recipes.

My mom use to give me cod liver oil

 

[anokea]

Yes the laxative section!!!
Brings back horrible memories of holidays when my mother lined us kids up on the first day of the hols and forced us to swallow this vile stuff. Apparently it was to cool and cleanse our systems out.
We would retch and gag and sob, to no avail.
Never thought I’d ever ever use this stuff again, and here I am buying copious amount for all my soap recipes.

It will DEFINITELY clean you out. May even make you wonder if your internal organs are now external.

 

[Peachy Clean Soap]

To create a soap w/ out Castor Oil is the " Ultimate Soap Sin" lol . Well I'm exaggerating a wee bit' but I do love castor oil in "All My Soap"
Update: Now if I can re-grow hair on my head' It would be a " Miracle Oil" so highly sought after I probably couldn't afford it. Shhhh our secret.

 

[bookworm]

It will DEFINITELY clean you out. May even make you wonder if your internal organs are now external.

Oh God! I don't want to back there!!
The cramps and discomfort!!!
Thank goodness it's all long past.

 

[kirsten.]

I love castor oil in my soaps, shampoo, conditioners... and it's a gorgeous plant I often have in my garden. But I'll *NEVER* forget, no matter how hard I try, when my midwife gave it to me. My first baby was way overdue and it's supposed to start labour. I'm not sure if it worked, the next two day were kind of a blur?

 

[ResolvableOwl]

Yesterday I broached a soap I had made back in April. It has a smooth texture, but feels kind of gritty and rough on the skin. After washing it feels a bit chalky, clean but not in a pleasant fashion (think of castile soap, but with fine sand added).
Looking back to the recipe, there was only one suspect: castor oil! I've used 9% and had totally forgotten that this soap was also to test if there is an upper limit to castor oil usage. It seems there is.

In the meantime I've also made a tiny test batch with 20% castor, and it had the exact same downsides, just much stronger.

From whatever testers of single-oil castor soaps reported, I had expected a gummy, overly slippery or even slimy experience, but the complete opposite was the case. The 20% soap looks and feels like a piece of plaster.

The gist: I'll stay with 3…5% castor.

 

[Zany_in_CO]

he 20% soap looks and feels like a piece of plaster.

Hmmm. How odd. I wonder why.

 

[earlene]

The single oil Castor that I made (in 2015) was not gummy or soft. I don't recall and my notes do not say if it was slippery or not - that I cannot recall. My notes do say the lather was slimy, but I don't recall that it continued to feel slimy to me over time; somehow I didn't keep up the notes as I used up the ones that kept around. (I ended up throwing some out but I kind of like the Castor soap.)

What my notes say & I do remember specifically, that it was quite translucent, hard (not as hard as the single oil Cocoa Butter, but harder than any other soft oil except maybe Olive). It also traced fast and hardened up fast. My last notation was that it was long lasting.

I am not sure what you mean by it looks and feels like a piece of plaster. I am not really sure what that looks or feels like to you. Do you mean like drywall? Plaster walls? Plaster casts like we used to use to set broken bones? Slaked Lime Plaster? Clay Plaster? Gypsum Plaster? I think there are some differences that perhaps may make it hard for me to understand your description.