Castor Oil Challenge Fall 2012

September 4th, 2012 Posted by Whit

I was browsing through a natural site I like, Kinky Curly Coily Me!, and noticed she has a castor oil challenge, so I signed up (why not).

Castor oil is a triglyceride, comprised of fatty acids, 90% of which is ricinoleic acid.  Ricinoleic acid is a humectant, which means that it helps to pull moisture out of the atmosphere and into the skin and hair.  It has analgesic, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties.  Castor oil is used as a home remedy for a number of ailments from arthritis and constipation to acne and ringworm.  Also, ricinoleic acid protects the scalp and hair from infections that can cause hair loss.

photo credit: pmarkham via photo pin cc

Castor oil is pretty viscous, so previously I was only using it sparingly on my edges.  But with this challenge I will use on my scalp, to seal my ends and possibly in other treatments.  Below is my starting length. Here’s hoping for noticeable growth at the end of the challenge.

If you are interested in joining me and many others, stop by http://kinkycurlycoilyme.com/castor-oil-challenge-fall-2012-registration/.  This is not exclusive to naturals, but for all who are looking for healthy hair growth.

 

Let me know if you are in too!


Whit

 

 

Tags: ,
Both comments and pings are currently closed.

9 Comments

  1. September 15th, 2012 at 8:26 am

    Lots of helpful information. I have bookmarked your site.

  2. September 23rd, 2012 at 3:30 am

    Very well written post. It will be valuable to anybody who utilizes it, as well as myself. Keep doing what you are doing – for sure i will check out more posts.

  3. Whit
    September 23rd, 2012 at 11:31 pm

    Thanks Maryann :)

  4. October 1st, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Out of the ordinary information. Credit on behalf of the info!
    Welcome to my site [url=http://www.about-dogs.zoomshare.com/]www.about-dogs.zoomshare.com[/url].

  5. Whit
    October 2nd, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    You are so right! I would have jumped on a student or resident for that. I used Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil) for initial info. But did discover other published articles,

    Antibacterial properties
    Antimicrobial activity of some ricinoleic acid oleic acid derivatives
    Arthur F. Novak, Gladys C. Clark and Harold P. Dupuy
    JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN OIL CHEMISTS’ SOCIETY
    Volume 38, Number 6 (1961), 321-324, DOI: 10.1007/BF02638439

    Anti-inflammatory
    Naunyn Schmiedebergs Arch Pharmacol. 2001 Aug;364(2):87-95.
    Pro- and anti-inflammatory actions of ricinoleic acid: similarities and differences with capsaicin.
    Vieira C, Fetzer S, Sauer SK, Evangelista S, Averbeck B, Kress M, Reeh PW, Cirillo R, Lippi A, Maggi CA, Manzini S.

  6. October 3rd, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Thankyou for this grand post, I am glad I found this site on yahoo.

  7. October 15th, 2012 at 4:34 pm

    Magnificent! (As usual. 😛 )

  8. October 18th, 2012 at 5:25 am

    Magnificent! (As usual. 😛 )

  9. October 21st, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    […] far, I do not see a dramatic length difference (see pic from start of challenge here).  But the castor oil definitely softens my hair.  It feels great.  So for that benefit alone, I […]