Hair Talk:Tropic Isle Living Jamaican Castor Oil

The day I decided to go natural, I decided that my hair had to look like Chaka Khan. You are probably thinking how can you decide what your hair would look like? You have no choice in the matter! And that is very true. However my mother only relaxed (permed) my hair when I turned 13 for my aunts wedding so I do have pictures of what my hair looked like prior to the perm (aka creamy crack) Just how to get to the thickness and volume of my hair idol was my challenge, and of course what time was it? (Ding, ding, ding) research time. You will soon see I am a very big nerd and enjoy researching anything till the wheels fall off when I am motivated. So blogging and you-tubing I went and the information on castor oil was lengthy and informative.

When I started watching videos of ladies who had been natural for years with huge afro puffs and lions manes- castor oil was a very common theme for all of them. Before I knew it, it had became a theme for me as well. Castor oil is one of the greatest oils I have ever used in my hair period. The main problem I have with it is the scent! As we know "NO PAIN NO GAIN, NO PAIN NO BEAUTY" all of that jazz so I sucked it up, closed my nose and let castor oil do its magic. Castor oil is a vegetable oil that comes from a castor bean. It contains both vitamin E, minerals and proteins. It can add luster and shine to hair, prevent hair loss, help with split ends, moisturize scalp and thicken hair. When I read all the benefits I was on a hunt for this bad boy! I looked up and down the place and ended up finding it in Honey Fig in Toronto (a vegan shop) but now I do notice you can go to any vitamin shop, health food store, a lot of grocery stores and beauty supplies and find castor oil easily. My brand of choice is Tropic Isle Living Jamaican Castor oil ( and no being Jamaican did not have me leaning toward it more so then going the generic route--OK I am lying) but it contains no salt and says to be 100% natural no additives. The way I use it is I do a pre-poo with it (saturating my hair with it and wearing a plastic bag or cap on my head for about an hour prior to washing) or I add it to my deep conditioner and concentrate it on the ends of my hair. I know a lot of people add it to their hair or on their scalp after washing their hair, but for me the smell is a bit too strong for that. It  does work, you must be diligent with it, it won't be an overnight change seen, but you will see improvements with continued use. If you don't end up liking it for your hair there are actually 1000 uses for it from dry skin, to pain relief to constipation ( I know TMI) but we are adults I am keeping it 100% with you. I say give this a try it is very inexpensive (I am sure you see the deal I got from the beauty supply) and really is a great oil packed with so many benefits. 
Has castor oil helped you along with your hair journey? Do you have any questions about using castor oil? Are you using any other oils that are working for you? Comment down below and let us know!