Tea Time with Jo | Benefits & Uses of Castor Oil

Did you cringe just reading the title to this post? So many people only think of castor oil as an old school remedy for constipation. The truth is, castor oil can be used for a variety of things and you don’t even have to ingest it to get the benefits. Read on to learn about some of the many uses for topical castor oil. 

What’s the Deal with Castor Oil?

Castor oil is extracted from the castor bean of the castor oil plant. Ideally, you would source an organic, cold pressed oil that is hexane free. Hexane is a petroleum based solvent used to extract castor oil when it isn’t cold pressed. You don’t want hexane coming into contact with your body so do your best to get cold pressed. 

Good quality castor oil is anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, antioxidant, promotes circulation, promotes lymphatic movement and is rich in fatty acids. These properties allow for a multitude of uses when applied topically. Let’s get into it! 

Castor Oil Packs

I feel like these have been gaining popularity over the last few years. A castor oil “pack” refers to a piece of cloth that is saturated in castor oil. The pack can be stored in a mason jar or zip top pack for future use. You can continue to use it indefinitely as long as you continue to saturate it with oil when necessary. You can dispose of the pack once you feel like it has run its course, or if it starts to smell rancid. Once you have your saturated pack, you can apply it over a specified area of the body, place a barrier cloth over the top, and place a warm hot water bottle or microwaveable pack on top of that. The heat helps the body to absorb the oil. Alternatively, to absorb the benefits without heat, you can wear the pack for several hours,. Here are a few of the areas I recommended using castor oil packs on, the most: 

-Applied over the liver area (right side of upper abdomen): helps assist the liver in its detox function. This can be useful for metabolizing excess hormones such as after the use of birth control, IUI or IVF drugs, or in conditions of excess estrogen (breast tenderness, ovarian cysts, fibroids, endometriosis, etc). 

-Applied over the lower abdomen: this helps to bring more blood flow into the intestines and reproductive organs. In addition, it can also help reduce inflammation in those areas. This can be helpful for constipation (which is way better than ingesting the oil). It may also be helpful in assisting the body heal from ovarian cysts, fibroids, hydrosalpinx, fallopian tube blockage, polyps, endometriosis and adenomyosis. It may be useful in improving egg quality and uterine lining quality. It has also been very helpful is preventing menstrual cramps and reducing their intensity. 

-Applied over the lower back: This helps to ease and prevent lower back pain associated to menstruation or just generalized lower back soreness. 

Are "Packs" Necessary?

Absolutely not. You could just rub the oil on the desired area and place a barrier cloth over the top to avoid staining your clothes/linens/furniture. The idea behind a saturated cloth is that you can ensure that your body is absorbing the majority of the oil versus the barrier cloth absorbing it. This is especially important if you prefer not to use a heat source with your pack. There are some castor oil “wraps” that allow you to wear the castor oil and use your own body heat to aid in absorption. The only caveat is that they need to be worn for several hours in order to get the same effects as 30-45min with a heat source.

Other Ways to Use Castor Oil:

Castor oil is really great at helping to prevent, or even treat, scar tissue. Whether the person has had surgery, or needed stitches for an injury, castor oil can be applied to the scar as soon as the area can go without dressings/bandages. This includes fresh c-section scars but may also be applied to old c-section scars. In these cases, the wrap is usually a better choice as heat may not be a good thing to apply to a healing scar in the first few weeks. Even if the scar is old, it is important to be careful applying an external heat source as scars can be either extremely sensitive to heat, or not at all, and the person may burn without even knowing. 

Do you suffer from fibrocystic breasts or dense breast tissue? Castor oil on the breasts may help to soften the breast tissue and ease discomfort. It can be applied as a castor oil pack with heat or with a wrap. 

I also like to recommend external castor oil use for just about any chronic muscle/joint pain. This can be helpful if someone gets soreness in the knees after walks/runs, or if they have stiffness in the joints with cold weather. It can also be helpful for arthritic joints such as the hips or shoulders. Castor oil can also be used on the elbow for cases of medial or lateral epicondylitis (aka golfer’s or tennis elbow). If there has been a recent injury (such as a sprained ankle or wrist), I typically ask patients to apply the castor oil with a wrap for the first 48 hours or so, and forego the application of an external heat source. After 48-72 hours they may apply heat over a castor oil pack, depending on how they are healing. 

Castor oil is a wonderful oil for all kinds of beauty treatments. It can be used on eyebrows to help them grow. It can also be applied to the scalp to promote hair growth as well as to treat fungal and bacterial conditions of the scalp. Believe it or not, It can even be used on acne prone skin! I feel like a lot of people with acne shy away from castor oil because they feel like it may clog their pores due to its thickness; however, castor oil is actually non-comedogenic. Not just that, but its antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties help to combat certain types of breakouts. Black Castor Oil is often marketed for this purpose. It is produced by roasting the castor oil bean/seeds first prior to cold pressing. While it does have added benefits, it is also much more expensive than regular castor oil. 

Take Aways:

I recommend castor oil in my practice a lot! It is so handy to have for menstrual support, also for occasional constipation, joint and muscular aches, and beauty treatments.  

No matter the circumstance, it is recommend to discuss with a practitioner prior to use, especially in the case of a recent injury or when trying to conceive. There is also such a thing as an introductory period when you first start using castor oil and having it on too long. Especially when working with it on the liver and abdomen, it is best to start with 15-20min session of castor oil packs + heat (or 1-2 hour sessions without heat) and slowly work up to more time with each subsequent session. Overexposure to castor oil on the abdomen, when it hasn’t been done before, can cause nausea and diarrhea the next day. Please use with caution and start of slow, eventually working your way up to 45-60min of use with a heating pad (or 8-10 hours of use without heat). 

As a lovely bonus for my awesome readers, I have attached some instructions for how to make and use a castor oil pack. Click here if you’d like to download it. 

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