Castor oil is said to be great for many things, especially hair growth. It’s a thick, sticky oil said to help regrow eyebrows, eyelashes, and all other kinds of hair.
Though it’s thick, it’s not quite thick enough to easily apply to eyelashes. This quick, 4-ingredient serum comes together in a flash, goes on smoothly, and might just help your eyelashes grow. Or something. I haven’t done enough testing to say definitively, but the person that wrote this article would certainly say it will help.
Eyelash Serum
20g castor oil (USA / Canada)
2g beeswax (USA / Canada)
1g Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)Melt the oil, beeswax, and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada) together. Let cool, whisking as it re-solidifies.
You may need to re-warm and re-whisk the mixture to pour it into a container if it’s slim-necked, like the mascara container I used. Don’t use an old mascara container. If you’ve ever tried to clean one out, you’ll know why.
Apply to eyelashes with a mascara wand before you go to sleep.
i use just straight castor oil in a mascara tube, and yeah, its kind of a pain to get on….lots of sideways applications.but im thinking, …lip gloss tube? the kind with the brush…and just glop it onto lashes a la that prescription stuff…if you really wanna be like that stuff, you can buy disposable brushes. (i unfortunately had this epiphany after i had already bought 5 empty mascara tubes…gah.)
I, too, bought a bunch of mascara tubes before deciding that I would leave mascara creation to the pros 😛 I do find the bit of added beeswax really helps the mascara brush work for applying castor oil, though (thankfully). I do think a non-synthetic brush would be better than the plastic one that came with this tube, though—it would probably absorb the oil (like the little pad/brush thingy they use for lip gloss applicators) and then transfer better.
I absolutely need this for my lashes. So glad I found this. going to try it asap. thank you 🙂
Let me know how it works for you 🙂
What’s the purpose of the vegetable glycerin? And is it really necessary?
Vegetable glycerin is a humectant, and it helps add shine and maintain moisture. You can leave it out if you want.
Thanks for this post! I was curious – since this was posted awhile ago, have you been using this and how have the results been?
I’m sorry to say I haven’t been using this… I have so, so many assorted concoctions that I’m really not that great at using any one of them very consistently. If I did, I imagine I’d look like Kate Winslet c. 1996, though… or I can dream, lol.
I just wanted to let ya’ll know, I made this, and I like it a lot. I’ve used it for about two weeks now and noticed that it, although I may need to use it longer for eyelash growth, this makes my eyelashs very soft. As if it’s conditioning them, which isn’t bad at all. However, I don’t exactly want them to be “soft” but rather strong. Next time, I’m going to infuse horsetail/shavegrass, known for its silicia content for added strength. I have dreadlocks and use a salt spray with infused horsetail and it definitely does the strengthening trick on my hair, so hopefully my lashes too! Just a tip!
Thanks so much for reporting back, Kylee 🙂 I make so many things that I’m often terrible about actually tracking my use (and the results) of everything, haha. The horsetail idea is a great one, I sure love it in my hair rinses and what not. I just made a conditioner with it… gotta say, it smells awful, though 😛
Where did you get the tubes from?
I got these little tubes at a local store called Soap & More. I haven’t found them online in Canada yet, but apparently they are available through American Amazon.
Hi, I just wanted to chip in, that castor oil is also amazing for growing back over-plucked eyebrows. Just applied carefully with a Q-tip before going to bed. I imagine the addition of E-vitamin doesn’t hurt as well.
My mother’s eyebrows have gotten extremely sparse in the last years, and they are getting a lot thicker since I assault them with castor oil 🙂
I’ve been using castor oil on my eyelashes as well, with a cake mascara brush, and I really feel that it makes a difference.
Also your blog is wonderful and thank you so much for all the useful information you publish!!!
What a great tip, Julia! I’m sure we’re all guilty of plucking a hair or two (or ten) too many, and on some brows that can be totally fatal! I’ve got a wee spot in my brows that could definitely use a castor oil treatment—I think I’ll give it a go, and recommend it to any other tweezer-happy friends 😉
Thanks so much for reading & DIYing with me!
In fact, I have been thinking – after accumulating the advice from different hair-growth recipes – and after realising, that slathering on all of those oils at the hair roots isn’t exactly practical.
So I’ve thought about using coconut oil as carrier oil (as the base of the formula), and add mint oil, castor oil, and ginger extract (perhaps ginger-infused avocado oil), add some thickener, maybe? And prepare them and pour the product in lipbalm tubes? So they should be extra easy to apply as a hair pre-wash treatment – stimulating, but also nourishing.
Let me know, if you’re interested about the income 🙂
My first thought on this is the thickener… it could be quite problematic. Beeswax + the roots of your hair = waxy hair… for quite some time, in my experience, since the natural shampoo bars just don’t seem to be up to conquering beeswax. I have a failed batch of what was supposed to be a scrubby bath body butter, but after I had soaped, I was just left with a coating of beeswax on my skin, which was really unpleasant. Those ingredients are probably better suited for a conditioning cream, which would be super luxurious 🙂
Hello,
I have been thinking about about some formulations (ussng Lamecreme or Emulsan or Xanthane gum fort thickener), that could be used as a scalp/hair treatment for hair growth stimulation before hair washing. The castor and mint essential oils gave great results by themselves, but were a pain to apply to the roots – so that’s how my idea of a carrier oil came to be (and perhaps, poured into a lipstick tube – that could prove really easy to apply).
I swear, you’ll be the first to know when I figure out the formulation! 🙂
I’ve also had a tremendous success with an under-eye cream for older persons (my mother, in fact, as a test subject, she has had terrible darkly-shaded, sunken bags under her eyes) – would you like to have the formulation for that?
Hmm… just a thought—but you know those bottles that come for applying hair dye? They’re squeezy with a long, tapered cap with the top snipped off? I bet something like that would be good for applying a thickened castor oil mixture more easily to the roots, since you can kind of comb it through the hair as you control the application.
What are your active ingredients for the under eye cream? I’ve been playing with tallow for older skin, along with rosehip and black currant seed (and carrot seed EO).
Sorry for the late reply!
Thank you for the dye bottle idea! I hope I will get around to trying out some combinations this weekend, that is, if work lets me.
The under-eye cream formula is:
Water phase:
50% cornflower herbal distillate
10% fresh, strained cucumber juice
8% aloe vera gel (preferably fresh)
Oil phase
10% Avocado oil
4% almond oil
5% cocoa butter
4% coconut oil
1% xanthane gum
Emulsifier
8 % E-wax NF
Preservative
Cosgard – 0.2% of total amount
Additives – few drops each
rosetree EO
vanilla extract
jasmine EO
No worries 🙂 Thanks for the formula, I’ll be sure to let you know if I try it out! I love the inclusion of cucumber juice 🙂
would this work if you just have naturally thin and light eyebrows? I’m a natural blonde so my brows are barely there. It looks so weird at times!!!
Hello!
Just sharing an experience – I think it would help in most cases – as my eyebrows are naturally a very light blond (and yeah, not so strong), and were also, sadly over-plucked. My mothers eyebrows grew thinner and thinner over age and for a while we thought we’ll just draw them in every single day.
BUT – we have both gotten the best results from the consistent use of castor oil+camellia oil+mint EO. We mixed it up in small bottle with an applicator, in a percentage of about 10% camellia oil and 90% castor oil + 2-3 drops of mint EO (not too much, now, as it’ll be pretty close to your eyes). If you’d like, you can add a drop of preservative.
Apply it after washing and moisturising your face in the evening, just swipe the applicator – or indeed a Q-tip – over you eyebrows. It soaks in pretty fast. But it is also VERY important to keep up the regular use.
My mother had totally despaired of ever having eyebrows again and now she has nice, rather full brows, yay! (I’m totally proud of that).
Sorry for butting in and I hope it helps!
Please!!!!! Feel free to butt in!!!! I’ll try it, thank you! Yeah, I tried the drawing them in thing a few times but when you walk out of the bathroom and your sister says”What the hell did you do to your face?” It’s time to to try a new approach. Thanks!
I can’t wait to hear how this works for you!
Awesome story! Love it 😀
It should, and at the cost of, err, cheap, it’s definitely worth a try 🙂
Hi – I’m wondering if I could add more beeswax (and then just castor oil & vitamin E — no glycerine — unless you think it’d be a good touch) to the recipe to make this an all day makeup fix. Something akin to a boy brow makeup for taming your eyebrows but no pigment … Thank you! Looking forward to your thoughts : )
Maybe? You are basically talking full on brand new recipe development here, so you are on your own. Start small and take lots of notes!
Dear Marie
Thanks for this recepie. I was a bit confused at the beginning, because I didn’t find the glycerine on the ingreadians list….. did you take it out after a while or why do I see the amount of glycerine you used?
How much would it be?
Thank you for an answer. Have a nice time.
Jo
Good afternoon Joya!
In the original recipe Marie has posted, there is no glycerine.
Dear Barb
Thank you very much for your answer. So is there a updated version of the recipe somewhere? If not, I will do some experiments. ; D
All the best Joya
Hey Joya—there was never glycerin in this formula; any discussion of it is just from other commenters wanting to make it. I have not done anything similar that does include glycerin, either 🙂
can I use olive or rice bran or organic coconut oil instead of castor oil because that’s what I have on hand??
Castor oil is said to be quite unique in its ability to stimulate hair growth; please don’t substitute it.
finally I made it yesterday..how long does it take to notice a difference please??
I’d give it at least a month 🙂 Remember that this is a home remedy, though—I haven’t done a double-blind randomized control trial to determine efficacy 🙂
Can I use this as a hair serum?
That’ll depend a lot on your hair and how tolerant it is (or isn’t) of oils; my hair would turn into a greasy mess if I tried to put this in my hair.
hola podría combinar el aceite de ricino con aceite de almendras y aceite de coco en esta fórmula. El aceite de coco se podrá utilizar en este tipo de preparado.
The ad is covering a lot of it… I only see three ingredients … but I read vegetable glycerin in the comments… how do I make it