So, you need longer hair and you’ve got stumbled upon an web hack that claims that will help you try this. Yep, we’re speaking about castor oil for hair progress. Many have cited the ingredient as the rationale for his or her longer, thicker hair, however with little science or proof to again up their claims. So, we figured it was time to ask the specialists — dermatologists and a beauty chemist — to weigh in.

First issues first: In the event you’re battling hair loss or thinning, you are removed from alone. It is extraordinarily widespread, impacting an estimated 80 million People. It could actually happen for a number of causes, together with hormonal adjustments, alopecia, and stress, so it is at all times greatest to go to your physician to find out what is going on on earlier than diving into any doable therapies.

Whatever the motive, dropping hair might be traumatic, and we get the temptation of attempting at-home treatments like castor oil. (These before-and-after photographs are so dramatic, whether or not they’re actual or not). To get an actual definitive reply on this fashionable hair progress technique, we turned to the professionals.

Meet the specialists:

• Marisa Garshick, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist in New York Metropolis.
• Ife J. Rodney, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and founding director of Everlasting Dermatology in Fulton, Maryland.
• Perry Romanowski, a beauty chemist and the creator of Starting Beauty Chemistry.
• Adam Friedman, MD, is a board-certified dermatologist and program director at The George Washington College Faculty of Drugs & Well being Sciences in Washington, D.C.

On this story:

What’s castor oil?

Castor oil is derived from castor beans and is wealthy in protein, antioxidants, vitamins, and fatty acids, explains New York Metropolis-based board-certified dermatologist Marisa Garshick, MD. Like many hair oils, castor oil has been used for hundreds of years all because of its “lively ingredient ricinoleic acid, a hydrating and lubricating fatty acid,” provides Ife J. Rodney, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Fulton, Maryland.

What’s cold-pressed castor oil?

Not all castor oil is created equal. The castor oil you see in your hair-care aisle is usually cold-pressed — produced mechanically by a “bodily crushing of the beans to extract a lighter, cleaner, and thinner type of oil that’s considerable in vitamins and nutritional vitamins,” Dr. Garshick explains.

Castor oil that isn’t cold-pressed is usually used as a meals preservative or in vegetable oils. It’s extracted chemically, through a “high-temperature roasting of the castor beans or a refining that entails bleaching and filtering,” says Dr. Garshick. “Whereas this course of helps to take away impurities, it could possibly additionally affect the moisturizing and antioxidant properties of castor oil.”

What are the advantages of utilizing castor oil?

Although it is typically touted as an all-natural panacea on your hair troubles (go forward, Google it: You may discover article after article about how this viscous oil may help with a myriad of points like shedding, breakage, and regrowth) that most likely isn’t the case. Not like different fashionable oils and nutritional vitamins like rosemary oil and vitamin B5, each of which have at the least some research that again up their support in hair progress, Dr. Garshick says scientific proof surrounding castor oil’s capability to reverse hair loss is missing. That being stated, there are many different advantages to castor oil, making it a worthwhile ingredient for the hair.