For all those of you worried about their hair...

[greygoose]

wellnessmama.com/35706/cast...

Castor Oil for hair growth.

[Enfrance]

Thank yiu. I need all the help I can get!!!

[greygoose in reply to Enfrance]

[Heloise]

I bought pressed castor oil quite awhile ago because I had heard it was good for eyelashes. Now, I can use it on my head, too. It is sticky, though so I'm curious how mixing it with other oils will work.

[greygoose in reply to Heloise]

Let us know when you find out.

[Heloise in reply to greygoose]

Ha, I think a goose is closer to a guinea pig than a Heloise! It might also be very good for feathers

I may try it with argon oil.

[greygoose in reply to Heloise]

Not so! Presuming you took your name from some historical figure - such as Héloïse D'Argentieul or Héloïse Wagner - they are mamals, like guinea pigs. Geese are not!

[Heloise in reply to greygoose]

TeeHee, okay, okay, you win.

I've never heard of her but now that I have....I choose to say it was Heloise D' Argentieul seeing we have such similarities!

[greygoose in reply to Heloise]

Oh, really? How nice. I shall always think of you as Héloïse D'Argentieul from now on! Such a lovely name, too.

[Heloise in reply to greygoose]

Oh, good.

I think I will try the castor oil on my eyebrows...don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.....being so brilliant and all.

[greygoose in reply to Heloise]

lol But you got there in the end, and that's what counts!

[Hidden]

Thanks might give it a go. When your hair has thinned considerably like mine has you get low. We need all the help we can get.

[greygoose in reply to Hidden]

Absolutely!

[penny]

Castor oil is very sticky but does not cause blocked pores, it does moisturise and protect; I use it in my soaps and hand creams. I don't need it on my hair and my eyebrows are rivaling Dennis Healey's!

Some good essential oils to add might be: lavender (good for everything), rosemary and peppermint.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

Wow! How did you manage those eyebrows???

[Barrister]

I bought some castor oil today and mixed it with the coconut oil and have put it in my hair. Couldn't get jojoba oil but having read the link I don't think that it's essential. And the only castor oil I could find was flavoured - so this time I've used mint flavour, the next time it may be chocolate flavour! I may use it on my eyebrows and lashes once I've seen how it works for my hair. My friend today said she'd notice how thin my ponytail was getting so I feel that I have to try everything I can. I'm not sure whether its my thyroid causing the hairloss or the fact that I am injecting Humira for my arthritis so need all the help I can find. It did slow down for a while after I stopped taking Methotraxate but it's getting bad again. I will report back in a few weeks on the results! Clemmie

[greygoose in reply to Barrister]

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[debber]

I'm going to try this. Thank you, Grey for posting this. I sure have had a bout with hair in the last six months for sure. But it's coming in and now it's all different lengths, just really textured. I miss the hair I had before, but it will come back. I'm surprised I didn't get bald from it all with all the hair I lost. I think I will still have some bouts but not like it was and I think it's nothing but up from here.

Love ya, Grey!!!!!

[greygoose in reply to debber]

Love you, too, Debber! I hope it helps!

[penny]

Have you tried using a shampoo soap bar, Barrister?

I now make my soaps and have made a shampoo soap with green tea which has stopped my husband's scalp from itching. He used to use Nizoral and I hated the idea of all those chemicals so did a bar of soap with green tea, rosemary and peppermint for his scalp. I also use soap nuts a lot for cleaning and washing. I supply some of my friends with my shampoo bar but unless I want to spend a lot of money getting the recipe tested and finding insurance I cannot sell it. There are lots of people who do make and sell shampoo soap which does not contain any 'nasties'. A cider vinegar rinse is also good for hair from time to time.

Hi Greygoose

I exaggerate a little but there seem to be masses of long, strong hairs sprouting from my eyebrows. My eyebrows always were quite definite, although they no longer go to outer corner of my eye. I used to hate having strong eyebrows but now I like them; wonderful for expression.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

lol I've lost almost half of mine, and it just looks silly! I'm very interested in your home-made soap. Perhpas you could share some of you secrets with us. I'm sure most people are worried about all the nasties in beauty products.

[debber]

I'll keep you posted, Grey. I will also use on eyelashes, too. I think the shedding is starting to slow up and my nails are growing, so a really good sign! My nails are coming back stronger, too. Never will I ever come off my medicine again. I shedded like that before getting on medicine and I just thought that was the way it was and how wrong was I. How many people are walking around doing that same thing right now!!??? Once you see the other side of things, you know that's not normal.

You're the best, Grey!!!!

[greygoose in reply to debber]

My hair only started really shedding when I started on Levo. But I lost my eyebrows when an ignorant doctor prescribed me iodine (god knows why!). Then, all the little niggly symptoms that I'd had all my life became really annoying - not to say debilitating!

[penny]

Well, there are lots of recipes on-line for making soap and there are kits available.

It is very easy to do but does involve lye, which is caustic and gets very hot when added to water.

Basically the lye produces a chemical reaction with fat which saponifies and makes soap; any fat can be used from lard to avocado oil. There are saponification tables available on the internet which give amounts of lye needed for each fat or oil used. The amount of lye is discounted for something called super-fatting so that not all the oil is turned into soap but left as a moisturiser. Some of the most basic oils are olive, lard and sunflower oil. Luxury oils can be shea butter, calendula oil, vitamin E, etc.. Caustic soda is available as a drain cleaner in ironmongers. Essential oils can be added after saponification. Distilled water is used to dissolve the lye and this is done using a set calculation. When you get the hang of it goats' milk, oat milk or infusions can be used for some of the water. The soap is left to cure for 4 weeks; it is too caustic when freshly made. Wearing goggles and gloves is necessary.

There are lots of cautions as lye should not come into contact with aluminium. These can be researched.

I became interested in making soap when I studied aromatherapy. My husband washed his hands a lot and they were very dry and flaky. To start with I bought a simple kit which came with sunflower oil, lye, shea butter, dried lavender flowers (not advised!) and some lemon essential oil. It was a nice soap and I began from there. I have developed a husband-soap made with lots of oils including hemp oil. Sometimes I play around and it doesn't work too well but I keep a record of every batch made and have never thrown a soap away as it can be re-batched. Recently I used up my old, used cooking oil and made a laundry soap - no smell left when saponified.

I may have made this sound too complicated, but once you get the hang of it it is straightforward. Just remember the safety precautions and look up tables, etc. on the internet or buy a book about soap making.

I no longer buy any soap. With only using essential oils you won't get a very strong scent; these are produced in commercial soap with chemicals. My husband's hands are back to normal, no matter how many times he washes them.

OR...you can buy handmade soap and shampoo bars. (This should carry a certification concerning EU regulations and list all ingredients.)

From hand soap it was a short step to shampoo bars. Travelling is easy-peasy with just one large bar of soap for everything.

For the last year I have used soap nuts for washing clothes and cleaning my granite worktops. A kilo lasts me for twelve months. I also sometimes use soap nut liquid in my soaps for extra, gentle cleaning. I haven't tried it for dishes.

Soaping is fun.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

Thank you, I'll look into it.

I have some soap nuts, but haven't felt confident in using them. Do they really get clothes clean?

[penny]

I find that they are fine but must admit that if I have really grubby items - like my apron (usually covered in chocolate!) - I use a proprietary cleaner from the shops. For t shirts and the usual stuff I use a liquid from boiling the soap nuts. I add essential oils of tea tree and lavender to help preserve the liquid and also add a bit of scent as the nuts have a slightly acidic smell. I use this neat on the granite and just polish off with a kitchen towel. A 1kg bag lasted me a year. I keep boiling the nuts in new water until they are really grey then put them on the garden. The first few boilings I use in the washing machine and the later ones for cleaning work surfaces.

There's nothing nasty in the soap nuts so just go for it.

[greygoose in reply to penny]

OK. Thank you.

[Katherine123]

I love castor oil brilliant for skin and hair :0)