Castor Oil : My Cure-All

I grew up in a West Indian household, where regardless of the illness or issue, castor oil was used as the remedy.

Cold/ cough/ congestion? Castor oil rub down

Scrapped knee? Castor oil and a Band-Aid

Stopped up? Spoonful of castor oil

Blemish? Q-Tip dab of castor oil

Broken limb? drop of castor oil and your bones fuse back together...
Ok, I've taken it too far, but you get my drift.

Castor oil (or L'huile Maskreti as Haitians call it) flowed like water in my household. So much so, that I began to resent it. If I was sick NO ONE knew. I feared the l'huile rub down and sweat box sessions commonly used to break fevers. It got so bad, that I began to hide the bottles of l'huile that my mother had delivered to the house regularly like a Natural Bundle Kit.

It.was.bad.

So what happened? What shifted my disdain for the l'huile?

Sheeba.

She has a chronic illness...split ends. And I realized that if I wanted to grow my hair long, I would have to work double time in keeping my ends healthy (retention) while keeping my scalp healthy (growth).

Who has time for that?

I'm half serious when I ask that question, but in all honesty, there are no 'quick' fixes to long hair growth. It's a marathon, not a sprint. BUT I have found a 'Gatorade' boost through castor oil. See, I figured that if I can grow my hair at a faster rate than the damage split ends cause, I'd come out on top. And I have. I no longer worry about my ends as much as I did before. I search and destroy split ends every now and then, get a trim twice a year, and seal my ends with some l'huile. That.is.it.

Now before you go clean out the shelves at CVS, I don't use just ANY castor oil. I make my own black castor oil using a mix of ingredients that have aided in my hair growth along the way, specifically

biotin, peppermint, and cayenne pepper.

Sounds crazy right? I thought the same until I had to get a press in the fall. There are several recipes on the internets. I recommend doing some research and adjusting to find the right mix for your hair growth needs. I will send a bottle of my mix to one randomly picked reader. Either leave a comment, or email SoSheeba@gmail.com . The winner will be picked on May 24th, 2013 - one week from today.

I can honestly say that the l'huile has made Sheeba who she is today. It thickened my hair, repaired my lost edges, and keeps her ends moisturized.

Has your hair been unruly? Missing a certain 'je ne sais quoi'? Try a castor hot oil treatment, or a castor oil deep conditioner. Your hair will feel stronger, look shinier, and improve in it's overall health.

I have also used regular l'huile to wash my face (have you fallen out yet?). It's called the Oil Cleansing Method, and has worked to balance out my oily skin and combats dryness in the winter months. Use at your own risk though, it is not for everyone.

It's odd how I've gone from hiding from the l'huile to ordering bottles of it to ensure that I have some in stock at all times. My mother knew what she was doing when she would reach for the l'huile. It just took me a while to see the light. I now use l'huile to cleanse my face, grow my hair, and cure my colds...many of the things I ran and hid from as a child.

In the words of my beloved's mother, "when you know better, you do better." Castor oil has truly become my cure-all... I hope it becomes yours as well.