Castor Oil As A Hair Regrowth Treatment: Nonsense Or Miracle?

Around 15 years ago, when thin eyebrows were all the fashion, I had my eyebrows waxed a few times. I fully intended to keep on having my brows waxed regularly, because I simply wasn't very good with tweezers, but it turned out that there was no need: the waxed hairs simply didn't grow back. 

As you can see from my profile picture, I have almost-black brown hair. Despite my dark hair, my eyebrows became nearly completely invisible. That wasn't a problem while I was having my brows dyed at the salon every time I got my nails done, but then I moved to a country where dying your eyebrows apparently simply wasn't a "thing"; several beauticians offered to color my brows with hair dye, but made it clear that they had no specific brow dyes. Hair dye turned out to fade within days, making it a useless solution.

Now that seemingly everyone wants full eyebrows, it is possible to get eyebrow extensions, laser therapy to stimulate follicle growth, and even eyebrow transplants. (Before you think the latter is a wonderful solution, you may like to be aware that the hairs are transplanted from your head, and like the hairs on your head, they will keep on growing, and growing, and growing. This means you have to trim them regularly for the rest of your life. Not to mention that eyebrow transplants aren't exactly cheap.)

Is there no simpler, more natural, and less pricey option for those who want to grow their eyebrows? As it turns out, there might be — Google "grow eyebrows naturally", and you'll be offered 642,000 search results on how to do exactly that. Most of them recommend massaging castor oil into your brows every night. What's more, the same sites that claim castor oil can be used to induce eyebrow regrowth also tell you that thicker, more luscious eyelashes can be yours if you use castor oil. You can even, according to some, get a thicker head of hair or reduce male pattern boldness using castor oil. 

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What Is Castor Oil?

Obtained from the seeds of Ricinus communis, the castor oil plant, castor oil is a very thick colorless to pale yellow vegetable oil that has been used in herbal medicine for a very long time. Castor oil is used as a laxative, as a means to induce labor in post-term pregnant women by midwives, and to cure a variety of cysts. It's also incorporated in many allopathic medications, including the antifungal drug miconazole and the HIV drug Nelfinavir. 

In addition, castor oil is widely used as a food preservative, especially in South Asian countries, to repel mold, and in the Polyurethane industry as a coating agent. 

Castor Oil For Hair Growth: The Claims

Castor oil can, according to proponents, be used to:

• Regrow waxed, tweezed or shaven eyebrows or make untouched eyebrows thicker.
• Create luscious, thick, and long eyelashes.
• Make the hair on your head shinier, thicker, and healthier. 
• Cure alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease in which patients develop bald patches.
• Prevent, reduce and even cure male pattern baldness. 

How Are You Supposed To Use Castor Oil For Hair Regrowth?

If you'd like to try castor oil for yourself, you'll have to cleanse the area to which you would like to apply it first. If it's thicker and longer eyebrows or eyelashes you are after, you can either apply a drop or two to the tip of your index finger and massage the oil in, or use a Q-tip to apply it. It's important to avoid getting castor oil in the eyes, as you'll be left with pain and irritation. If you're going for the scalp, use copious amounts.

Is There Any Scientific Evidence That Castor Oil Stimulates Hair Growth?

In short, no. 

There isn't any evidence that it doesn't work either, however. This is simply not an area that has been studied. 

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So, Does It Work?

Given the above-mentioned situation with my eyebrows and the fact that castor oil doesn't cost more than a few dollars where I live, I decided to offer my eyebrows up in the name of not-very-sciency amateur science. That is, I've been applying castor oil to my eyebrows every night for the last two weeks. 

The results? The previously-waxed section of my eyebrows were a barren desert where nothing — and I do mean nothing — grew for the last 15 or so years. Since massaging castor oil into my eyebrows every night, the skin under my eyes has turned into more fertile soil. I have between 15 and 20 new hairs on both sides, some of which have already grown to full-length brow hairs. My brows aren't even close to approaching the level of fullness I'd like to see, but something is most certainly happening. I will keep on using castor oil in the hope that I will eventually restore my eyebrows to their original state. 

I very much doubt that the placebo effect is at work here, but if thinking that you'll achieve hair growth makes it happen, that is fine with me too. It isn't expensive or time-intensive, so you don't have much to lose — as long, that is, as you don't get the stuff in your eyes.