When I visited my parents' home recently, my mom told me that she'd begun adding castor oil to her beauty ritual, massaging it into her scalp every few days, and combing it through her brows and lashes every night. “It’s supposed to make your hair grow,” she explained. A search of #castoroil on TikTok turns up a ton of results, confirming that using castor oil to get voluminous locks is, in fact, a thing (and that Mom stays on top of the trends). I’ll be honest: The possibility of a $12 vial of castor oil transforming my thin, sparse lashes is intriguing. But given all the wellness BS out there, I'm pretty doubtful.
Can castor oil really make your hair grow? I asked a trusted medical expert — one who remains unswayed by TikTok wellness influencers — all about the supposed elixir and whether slathering it on your hair is actually worth it.
