what are the benefits of putting castor oil on your face castor oil is having a moment yet again this time over on everyone's favorite app Tik Tok castor oil people claim has yielded all sorts of benefits for their skin it's cleared up their acne it's smoothed out their wrinkles cleared up their hyperpigmentation when it comes to Tik Tok there is no shortage of bold claims but is there any truth to all of this castor oil hype or is it just another passing fat it's not a passing fat Castor seed oil has been utilized in skin
care and makeup and hair care for a long long time whether it be something that people use as a quote unquote natural product just going to the store picking up a bottle of cter seed oil and utilizing it in their skincare or hair care routine or in products that are formulated with Castor seed oil and or some Castor seed oil derivative Castor seed oil comes from a flowering shrub that is naturally found throughout India and various parts of Africa however worldwide it is produced on an industrial scale for the purpose of making Castor seed oil
Castor seed oil is rich in fatty acids especially something called rolic acid rolic acid if you look at the structure of it it actually looks very similar to something called prostaglandins which are physiologically active lipid in our body that have hormonik effects and for this reason Castor seed oil namely through the rolic acid is of interest for a variety of potential outcomes for the skin and for the hair as well as for internal application castor oil taken internally it's a laxative so if you ingest it it's safe but you're going to be visiting the toilet
castor oil may also stimulate uterine contractions these two things may be related to the fact that ristal acid again looks an awful lot like a prostag glandon Castor seed oil is produced by solvent extraction pressing and cold pressing the seeds of the castor oil plant and you end up getting this very viscous yellowish oil let me know in the comments if you have ever used castor oil in your skin care or your hair care if you have you know firsthand that it is really thick and really viscous so much so that I find it actually
kind of difficult to spread on the skin without a lot of effort it's U widely in skincare and cosmetic products you'll find it especially in a lot of eye makeup and eye makeup removers it's also widely found in a lot of lip care products because it is super moisturizing while it's an emolient which amoliant as a reminder primarily soften and smooth the skin surface because it is so thick and viscous it does a pretty good job reducing what's called transepidermal water loss meaning it can keep the skin hydrated in skin care makeup and hair care
products it's used because it has surfactant properties it also is again moisturizing and it helps with the formulation of emulsions which are basically mixtures of oil and water castro oil has antimicrobial properties it is antifungal and for that reason it may be beneficial for treating the scalp for reducing fungal infections potentially you know you could theorize maybe it's helpful for cutting down on acne because it's antibacterial and again with acne you have a little bacteria that lives in the pore called cutie bacterium acnes and that's what breaks down your sebum your oil and leads to
flares of acne so maybe just maybe it's helpful in that regard for acne and some of the hype around it is not entirely false but keep in mind we don't have good randomized control trials or really actually any studies on Castor oil for any particular skin benefit speaking of acne and skin benefit one of the other properties of castor oil is that it does have antioxidants specifically it has tofol and tocotrienols which are forms of vitamin E you'll recall from my video on the benefits of putting vitamin E on your skin that vitamin E is
an antioxidant and what it does it is is it helps to reduce oxidation of lipids in your skin that oxidation happens when you're exposed say to environmental aggressors ultra violet radiation being like a major aggressor but also pollution visible light infrared radiation those things can oxidize lipids in the top layers of the skin triggering an inflammatory Cascade that can contribute to premature skin aging and the formation of wrinkles so while I am highly highly doubtful that applying Castor seed oil gets rid of wrinkles permanently in theory because of the antioxidants it may help slow down
or lessen premature skin aging it also may help in slowing down the oxidation of seab buum which can be a really helpful thing for people who have acne because sebum the oil that the oil gland makes people who have acne they they tend to make a lot more sebum that sebum oxidizes it's inflammatory the sebum also gets broken down by the acne causing bacteria leading to more breakouts oxidation of sebum in theory may be minimized via the antioxidants in Castor seed oil and when we put antioxidants on the skin it's a lot of good faith
because it's it's not simply a matter of put antioxidants on your skin and all of these things happen right they have to a get in and B they have to kind of be at the right place at the right time the timing makes a difference and so we those are a lot of unknowns in that regard but the other potential benefit of applying antioxidants either from Castor seed oil or you know in your skincare products the idea that they help improve the levels of your Skin's own antioxidant systems which get deet pleed when we are
constantly you know exposed to all sorts of aggressors compounds in Castor oil are anti-inflammatory this is going to be beneficial likewise for acne while it's not directly known to correct any type of hyperpigmentation melasma one can imagine that anything that is anti-inflammatory as well as moisturizing is going to Aid in the clearance of hyperpigmentation provided of course your skin is not being exposed to unprotected sun exposure or you don't have any kind of ongoing skin problem flaring creating a lot of inflammation So in theory I suppose it could help especially if the person has gone
from being someone who never uses any kind of moisturizer or any kind of skin care and now is regularly moisturizing the skin remember you guys already know this but when you moisturize the skin consistently the overall skin tone and Luminosity is a lot brighter because basically the stratum corneum the topmost layer of the the skin it's holding on to water much better and through light scattering and space filling everything appears brighter smoother clearer castor oil is also something you will commonly encounter in lip balms lip care products and this makes a lot of sense it's
an emollient so it can soften cha lips but also may help in reducing water loss the lips are an area that are very vulnerable to dryness to becoming chapped because a they are high exposure territory like especially in the winter with the cold winds or you know just a lot of sun exposure hits the lips the thing about your lips is they have very little to know stratum corneum that's that water holding outermost protective layer they don't really have much of that so they're a lot more vulnerable to barrier disruption and losing water becoming chapped
and dry Castor seed oil can soften and smooth that as well as help reduce water loss keeping the lips hydrated and reducing uh dryness and IR irritation uh you can also of course develop dryness and irritation from saliva um as well as you know lip licking those are common triggers check out my video on chap lips I talk all about causes of chap lips in that video and how to get rid of but it makes a lot of sense that people putting castor oil on their face on their lips are going to appreciate smoother softer
lips I want to caution you though castor oil is not a treatment for any skin disease and there's no research Tru y on Castor oil for correcting any kind of skin problem so everything that you're hearing on Tik Tok or on different social media post blogs interviews what have you is anecdotal makes sense I mean it's a nemoon right but is it any more magical than any other imalent at this point in time scientifically speaking we don't really know in terms of how it performs in the skin but it definitely has a lot of beneficial
compounds in it and makes sense that people appreciate Improvement the the other side of things in terms of claims for benefit that you have heard a lot of and I've touched on this in other videos but you may be wondering about it is that is castor oil something that can be used to grow hair a lot of people a lot of people say that when they use castor oil in their scalp they get an improvement in hair growth or reverse hair loss A lot of people also turn to castor oil as a natural lash serum
or brow serum for lash and brow growth and enhancement does it work is it worth trying here's what I can tell you a there's no research to support the claims that people make that castor oil grows hair although rolic acid is an awful lot like prostaglandins and as a reminder one of the treatments for hair loss as well as a prescription lash enhancement that can also be used to grow the Brows is bamat Prost a prostag glandon analog so in theory if it has a prostaglandin like activity if it gets into the follicle in theory
perhaps it could impact hair growth but we don't have any research to support that the main benefits in my mind for improving hair whether it be lashes brows or hair on your scalp or hair on the rest of your body maybe the beard area is that it's going to reduce hair breakage especially for like your lashes or if you have a hair type that is prone to braak breakage more fragile especially up here the little baby hairs you know maybe you have been doing tight hairstyles and you are developing a lot of fragility of the
hair shafts breakage something called uh traction alcia well castor oil it's so viscous it really coats the hairs and it almost acts as like a second layer for the hair shaft to help cut down on breakage a lot of people will experience sparse eyelashes and breaking of the eyelashes when they use a lot of different types of lash Cosmetics whether it be the magnetic lash lashes or false eyelashes lash extensions uh the glues that are used to adhere different lash Cosmetics can be very irritating to the eyelids and end up causing brittle lashes and lash
breakage and poor lash growth so a lot of people might turn to castor oil as a natural remedy for that and no substantial Improvement and it makes sense it makes sense that it would cut down on lash breakage and help ultimately with improving the health of your lashes especially after using a lot of lash enhancement things that can lead to lash breakage as far as applying it to the scalp I already touched on the fact that you know if your hair is vulnerable to breakage then castor oil depending on your hair type might be a
really good option for other hair types especially if your hair is more fine castor oil again it's very viscous and you're going to find that it's a little bit too much and it ends up weighing your hair down and looking greasy but for other hair types it works out really really well and it's something that has been widely used for many many many years the other reason why I think a lot of people appreciate an improvement in hair with castor oil is really that it creates the illusion that the hair is thicker because it's coating
the hair so you may feel like you have an increase in hair thickness but whether or not it's just an optical illusion from the coating of the hair strands to be determined we really need to do some good research on Castor oil to substantiate the claims and figure out like what the best uh way to use it is the best formulations the best doses how frequently to apply it so that we can really you know help people out in terms of hair loss because hair loss is very distressing to go through and it's something that
people spend a lot of money trying to go after different remedies so um yeah we we basically need more research while castor oil is safe what are the downsides of using it like what what can go wrong when using castor oil probably the main risk of using castor oil whether it be applying it to your face to your scalp to your brow bone to your lash line as with anything that you put on your skin you can develop contact dermatitis specifically you can become allergic to castor oil that's actually more common than you might think
uh people do develop castor oil allergy and after that after they develop the allergy then they can't use it anymore every time they use it they'll get a rash a reaction and it's the nature of allergic contact dermatitis it is such that you it's it's to something that you have been using already so a lot of people won't make the connection that they are now allergic to castor oil because there's a delay between you coming in contact with it and and the rash appearing and you know it's something that you probably used for a while
prior to your immune system one day deciding it no longer likes it so you definitely can become allergic to it it's more common than you might think castor oil allergy or allergy to its derivatives because it again it is widely used in personal care products and in cosmetic formulations you also can develop an irritant contact dermatitis I mean it is very thick very viscous one concern I've always had about using it to the Lash line is that because it is so viscous perhaps it could impede outflow from the little oil glands in your eyelids and
make you vulnerable to sty which are not pleasant they're basically like a pimple in your eyelid so irritation of course is possible but you know you can become irritated by pretty much anything you put on your skin um the other thing is you know some people develop itch swelling very rarely hives when using castor oil not common then the other risk with castor oil super rare like I've never actually seen this happen to anybody but it has been reported is with using it in the scalp in the hair you can develop uh what's called felting
basically the hair this is something that you would worry about more like with a very more fine hair type the hair becomes matted together because it is very viscous so the hair just kind of sticks all together and mattes and becomes very unmanageable and the treatment at that point is basically to cut the hair um so that is not something I have ever seen clinically but it has been reported so it's another you know thing to be mindful of but by and large like yes castor oil is safe to use but just be aware of
the fact that allergy to it is possible um maybe more so than you might realize the allergy the irritation those are things again that can happen with pretty much anything but they definitely do happen with castor oil they can happen at any time including you know if you've been using it already for a while so how do you put castor oil on on the face like I said it's pretty viscous so you may have a difficult time spreading it on the skin surface you may want to dilute it with a bit of hoba seed oil
another imoan that is thinner in consistency allow it to spread on the skin a little bit better be very careful with your cassor oil that um it is fresh I suppose is the best way to describe it um you don't want to use any type of oil that is old because it can uh you know turn on you and become very irritating just be aware of like how long had it don't store it in like a super hot humid environment try and keep it in a cool dark place um you know away from direct light
just to preserve the shelf life of it if it does turn and you use it then irritation and Allergy is a lot more likely you're a lot more likely to develop an allergy to to it if it's kind of turned um and you're definitely more likely to develop irritation from it so that's everything about castor oil for the skin and hair and it is a LAX positive but you know don't do it without discussing with your healthare provider because a lot of people you know there are a lot of reasons to be constipated to have
problems with going to the bathroom so you want to make sure you talk to your health care provider about what exactly it is that's going on before going after castor oil but you know on Tik Tok like I said things that you can't just say something basic like yes castor oil is moisturizing be aware of contact allergy and you know it may help cut down on hair breakage that's not going to like catapult you ahead in life on Tik Tok unfortunately so people on there make some really wild unsubstantiated Health claims that are very dangerous
about castor oil like that you know it will get rid of tumors um treat all sorts of health problems and that is that is not true that's not accurate anyway y'all let me know in the comments if you are a fan of castor oil do you use use it in your skincare routine for your hair for your scalp let me know I hope you enjoyed this video if so give it a thumbs up share it with your friends and as always don't forget sunscreen And subscribe I'll talk to you guys tomorrow [Music] bye [Music] oh
