Budget Beauty Buy: Castor Oil

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I promise you’ll see the connection between Cara and castor oil soon…

My youth was spent plucking my thick and luscious eyebrows into pencil-thin lines (damn you, Kate Moss) – and I wish more than anything that my father had followed through on his threat to confiscate my tweezers. Had he done so, I wouldn’t be left with these pitiful excuses for eyebrows. I had been umming-and-aahing over whether or not to drop R750 on RapidLash (which is a vast amount of money on a product that doesn’t always work on brows) when I stumbled upon an article on LipsSoFacto extolling the virtues of castor oil as a natural hair-growth booster. Well, well, well – who knew?!

I decided it had to be worth a shot, so I popped into Spar and got myself a bottle (it’s dirt cheap too – R12/50ml). It is a very thick, viscous oil, so luckily it stays put when you apply it – you don’t have to worry about it dripping into your eyes or anything like that. I started off by combing it through my brows using a spoolie each night, but then I worried that perhaps the oil wasn’t penetrating the skin enough so I started massaging it in instead. After three months of continuous use I can confirm that I have seen a definitely improvement in the density of my brows. I’ll be honest, the growth hasn’t necessarily been confined to the areas which need it most, but I have been applying it all over with enthusiastic vigour, so I suppose it was to be expected.

But wait, there’s more good news: I subsequently read an article on xoVain and the writer, Danielle, uses castor oil not only on her brows, but as a lash conditioner and eye cream as well. Up until that point I hadn’t been using it on my lashes because they don’t need to be any longer, but after reading about the nourishing and conditioning properties of castor oil, I thought I had better start treating my lashes to a bit of TLC to compensate for them being trapped in lash jail (mascara) all day long. Perhaps I am imagining it, but I do feel that they are in better condition now, and I have noticed a bit of growth on my bottom lashes too. I have also been using it as an eye cream and I am very pleased with the results. Up until now I had been unable to find an eye cream that worked for me, but this one really does appear to do the trick – it hydrates the area and leaves everything looking plumped up and youthful.

I apply a generous layer all over my eye area each night: first I gently pat it in to the skin under my eyes, then I coat my lashes from root to tip, and then I massage it into brows. As I mentioned earlier, the oil is very thick so it takes a while to sink in properly, but it feels so comforting and soothing on the skin – I look forward to using it every night. I also apply a very thin layer under my eyes in the morning before I do my make-up.

So there you have it: castor oil, the unexpected beauty hero. If any of you are contemplating spending vast amounts of money on lash/brow serums, I would encourage you to give this a try first – I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by the results.

Image via. The images for castor oil simply weren’t glamorous enough.

7 comments on Budget Beauty Buy: Castor Oil

  • Natasha

    Another thing you can use castor oil for is oil cleansing. It’s much cheaper than all the balms and oils that are suddenly everywhere. It’s great for oily skin. I’m going to try it for my eyes, because my current eye cream just isn’t hydrating enough.

  • Elana

    Non-fragrant, high fatty acid plant oils are so underrated. Glad you experimented with this little gem and have seen results and are happy, even though your brows never look anything less than perfect in your pics and videos. 🙂 I feel this way about coconut oil. It’s so versatile: I cook/bake with it, add it to drinks, use it on my face and body, use it on my hair, and my dogs get some, too. Not sure I’ll try castor oil, but that’s only because my grandmother used to make us ingest it by the tablespoon loads when we were kids, and I still don’t know the real reason. The thought of smelling it again…*gulp*.

  • Papillon

    Camilla, I am so enjoying your blog. It is excellent. I am going to recommend it to my friends.

    Interesting about the castor oil, I wonder if it’ll work for thinning hair on the scalp? Probably not that practical, but you never know 🙂

    Thanks again
    Suzy Mort
    Papillon Nail Salon

    • Camilla (author)

      Thanks so much Suzy – I’m so glad you enjoy the blog. I see no reason why it wouldn’t work on the scalp, but I think it would be a bit messy. If you are concerned about hair loss I would suggest that you give Nioxin a try – they have great starter packs available on http://www.everythinghair.co.za.

  • Leigh-Ann

    Ah, that’s cool! I’ve always felt that my eyebrows are too short and had no idea how to go about changing it naturally. Thanks girls!

  • Cheri

    Ladies, I enjoy your blog SO much! *arms wide open*
    I cannot get enough of it. Plus, you are my heroes!

    • Camilla (author)

      Thank you so much Cheri – it really means a lot to us xx

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