Why castor oil is now cool

Castor oil is making a comeback. But fear not – it’s in a far more palatable form

I’VE SEEN IT ALL NOW. To wit, the return – to the point where it’s screamingly fashionable – of castor oil.

Give or take some cold-pressed and organic credentials, this is the same castor oil adults used to administer in the 1970s for practically every ailment known to humanity. Bowel problems? Castor oil. Nasty rash? Castor oil. Third-degree burns on account of the fact that no one ever remembered to wear sun cream because they were too busy smoking? Castor oil. Dry skin on account of the fact that everyone had dry skin back them, particularly on the legs, which resembled not so much sandpaper as a Margaret Dabbs foot file?

There was nothing that couldn’t be cured with a tablespoon of castor oil, taken orally. It tasted vile. I avoided it like leprosy. The adults dispensing it were the same people who washed children’s mouths out with carbolic soap when they said bloody (‘Bloody, bloody, bloody’) and forcefed them milk of magnesia at the mere hint of an upset stomach. They were not to be trusted.

But last week I met Nancy Twine, founder of Briogeo, a haircare range inspired by home-made products her granny and mother used to make in their kitchen in the USA. It’s the fastest-selling haircare line in American beauty-store chain Sephora and features, inter alia, a hair smoothie packaged in what looks like a juice bottle. (It’s as un-1970s as you can get. But that is for another day.) Here I am concerned with the B Well castor oil she gave me, which has a user-friendly consistency. A less pricey alternative is Pukka’s organic, cold-pressed castor oil. I tried both on my cuticles, which were hanging off in flamboyant fashion owing to the cold weather. I swiped them across my toenails, which were ridgy, and on my eyebrows and lashes (they need love, too). They worked straight away.

Skincare guru Alexandra Soveral adds highest-quality organic castor oil to her Angel Balm, her bestselling cleanser-cum-moisturising-mask, as well as many of her bespoke products. The adults were right: this thick, gloopy vegetable oil is good for wounds, inflamed skin, cracked lips. Soveral uses it as a nourishing cleanser (oil extracts oil when you wipe it off with a hot flannel) and a chemical-free hair conditioner. ‘Gently heat it, massage into the scalp and hair, and leave for a couple of hours before washing off. Or add a few drops of rosemary oil, which encourages hair growth.’ Et voilà – homegrown beauty. Before you know it, you’ll be launching your own line.