Why oil should be part of your beauty regimen

MANILA, Philippines - 2013 will always be remembered as the year that I greeted with a boil on my chin. That’s right. One of those huge, nasty pus-filled suckers marked its territory on a very visible spot on my face and made itself at home for nearly a week. Don’t ask me how it happened. It’s my first experience with a boil and anyone who’s ever had one will tell you that they have no idea how they got it in the first place. It started out looking like a normal pimple on the day after Christmas, but I took it to my dermatologist when it started swelling — quite painfully — the next day. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much she could do. The Thing wasn’t quite ripe for extraction yet and I was sent home with a prescription for oral antibiotics and some Clindamycin, a topical antibiotic.

So there I was, under self-imposed house arrest on two counts: to prevent further infection and to avoid being seen by anybody. I was beaten so badly with an ugly stick, I was afraid of being stoned to death if I made a public appearance. It was that bad. I already knew that I wouldn’t heal in time for New Year’s Eve, but I was pretty desperate for solutions that would speed up the process of draining the — ew! — pus, without forcing it and spreading infection. So I Googled. Extensively. I was looking for something safe and natural, especially since my body was on antibiotic overload. After hitting up several homeopathic websites, a common consensus was that soaking a cotton ball with castor oil and taping it over a boil overnight helps to draw out the nasty stuff. Really, Internet? I couldn’t really find scientific proof that would actually back this up, but at least it sounded harmless.

Not knowing what it was for, my mom bought me a bottle of orange-flavored castor oil from the drug store, which was meant to be taken orally as a laxative. Perhaps I should have exercised better judgment, but willfully locking yourself at home will do strange things to you. I decided to go ahead and douse a cotton ball with it and taped it on while I slept. The next morning, I checked the cotton ball and the castor oil indeed sucked out some of the pus. The next day I asked my brother to check Healthy Options for cold-pressed castor oil, which most websites recommended. And just like the Internet promised, the castor oil pretty much healed my boil in two days. But since I wanted to be careful about The Thing not recurring (I kind of burned my chin by overzealously applying Clindamycin to make sure no germs lived), I took it to my dermatologist to make doubly sure nothing was trapped inside.

But now I had another problem: What was I going to do with a 16-ounce bottle of castor oil? Now before you hashtag #sosyproblems on me, it’s not like that, okay? (Defensive, much?) I hate letting things go to waste and I wanted to know if it was going to be useful for other things, since I’m counting on never getting another boil ever again.

The be-oil and end-oil

The first thing I found was something I geeked out on back when I was in college (it didn’t take much to distract myself from studying for exams). It’s called the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM), which basically entails massaging your face with a mixture of castor oil and another vegetable or essential oil, like jojoba, extra virgin olive oil or if you’re feeling fancy, Moroccan argan oil. But since we’re lucky enough to have it in abundance, why not coconut oil? Anyway, after massaging, you wipe off the oils with a hot towel. No night serums or eye creams necessary. Devotees of the OCM report healthy, luminous skin after an initial purging stage, where all the toxins in your skin come out in the form of zits. According to TheOilCleansingMethod.com, the recommended blend for various skin types are 30 percent castor oil and 70 percent vegetable oil for oily skin, 20 percent castor oil and 80 percent vegetable oil for balanced skin and 10 percent castor oil and 90 percent vegetable oil for dry skin.

Now, you probably think it’s the same concept with your designer cleansing oils, but the main ingredient of those products is mineral oil, a byproduct of crude oil, which is known to accelerate aging, clog pores and cause acne and is potentially cancerous. Considering mineral oil is found in most cosmetic products, like creams, cleansers and makeup, switching to the OCM makes a lot of sense. However, once you do, most OCM users advise not switching back to your regular cleanser because it will confuse your skin as it adjusts to the oil and may trigger a reaction.

Castor oil is useful for the skin in other parts of your body. According to Skinverse.com, with regular application, castor oil is reported to break up scar tissue, remove age or liver spots, moles, warts, calluses and corns, cure shingles, athlete’s foot and ringworm and heal acne.

Not-so crude oils

Earlier this year, there was something of a phenomenon in Sweden where boys and girls would queue outside pharmacies just to get a bottle of castor oil. They were apparently egged on by Swedish bloggers who posted before and after photos of their hair on castor oil, with some growing their hair four times longer in a matter of weeks. The oil also thickens thin hair, prevents hair loss and in some cases, regenerates new hair. To do this, just massage it onto your scalp, leave on for 30 minutes, then wash off. Because castor oil is so viscous, you can add another vegetable oil to make it thinner. Mixing baking soda with water also reportedly helps with washing it out. According to Skinverse.com, “The anti-bacterial and anti-fungicidal properties of ricinoleic acid in castor oil protects the scalp and hair from infections that can cause hair loss. The omega-9 fatty acids in castor oil also nourish the hair and prevent the scalp from drying.”

This goes for the other hairy parts of your body, like your eyelashes, beards and patchy eyebrows — just apply a little on those areas before going to bed at night. We’re pretty sure Grace Coddington would’ve wanted to know about this trick after Eileen Ford ripped her eyebrows out.

In the process of finding all the uses for castor oil, I discovered a bunch of natural, homemade replacements for conventional, store-bought beauty and hygiene staples that actually contain a freakish amount of toxic ingredients. I even found one blogger who could make any personal care product she needed, as long as she had coconut oil, baking soda, shea butter, liquid Castile soap, apple cider vinegar and essential oils in her pantry. It really does seem safer to make these things yourself because at least you know what’s in them, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit to making my own natural shampoo, toothpaste and deodorant as my New Year’s resolution. For now, just check in with me next year to see what’s left of my 16-ounce bottle of castor oil.