Can castor oil make your hair fall out ?

[HeatherEve]

No I am new to the forum! Trying to regrow my hair after having my first baby and a big chop in early pregnancy. My hair is 1c/2a , ii and fine. It is also bleached so the ends are lighter. Pretty sure I am at bsl.

I did a castor , jojoba and rosemary oil scalp treat meant with coconut oil / and honey on the length. The only made my hair a mess still mess. Felt like hairspray had exploded on me. I slept in the treatment and used reb cleansing conditioner in the morning. I used a wide tooth comb with the reb in the shower and I noticed ALOT of shedding. The honey and castor oil were the only two new products. My hair was very shiny but the shedding scared me. Was it just coincidence or should I avoid castor oil and or honey ?

[lapushka]

If you browse around the forum a bit, you'll find that oiling the scalp is not for everyone.

For some people it can mean they shed more, and these are not hairs that were about to fall out anyway, this is more.

That is why some of us (me included) can't use oils on the scalp, or conditioner (same reaction).

If you have just had a baby, though, you might be also experience post-partum shedding.

Welcome to the forum! :)

[Ophidian]

If you don't normally oil and massage your scalp, you may notice more shedding at first. Part of it may be that you are loosening hairs that are ready to shed all at once. If you feel that it is a particularly alarming amount or it seems to be getting worse instead of better after a few more treatments then scalp oiling may not be for you. I personally like it and do it about once a week with a variety of oils but there are plenty of people that it doesn't work for. You can also try a light oil massage and see how that goes instead of committing to a full overnight deep oiling if you want to test it carefully.

(Realize I'm basically echoing lapushka, think we were posting at the same time :))

[enting]

It doesn't sound like you had a very positive experience with it from start to finish, aside from shininess. You can get shine from other things. I would probably stop using anything that didn't feel good unless it was the only thing that gave a particular benefit I wanted.

On me, castor oil loosens some of my hair roots, making it easier to shed them or accidentally pull them out when I comb. Not all oils do this to me, though, and it also depends how heavily I oil. Castor oil and honey are both pretty sticky. If enough was left in your hair to create drag while you combed, could that have affected things as well?

I also second all of what has been said above. I think there have been some threads on postpartum shed around the forums if you're interested in reading those.

[HeatherEve]

My daughter is 14 months old and still breast feeding. I assumed all the shedding from that would be over. I am mostly trying to regrow what I lost. Maybe I will try one more time and if I have the same result just skip the castor.

[HeatherEve]

I have done plain jajoba oil and rosemary and did not have the shedding. I have also used coconut oil without honey. I didn't know if maybe it was a reaction to just the castor oil or honey.

[Ophidian]

Castor is a heavy, sticky oil so maybe your scalp prefers lighter ones like the jojoba? I've never heard of hair fall from honey, but I've also not done it as a heavy overnight leave-in before. If you really want to, you could always try doing each treatment separately a week or two apart to see what might be causing the shedding (e.g. Castor scalp massage one day, honey mask on another). This is only if the answer really interests you or you liked the results enough to keep trying--if neither is the case then no harm in sticking with what currently works for you.

Re: postpartum shedding, I think the timeline on that can vary quite a bit, but if you suddenly noticed it after the castor treatment when it hadn't been an issue before I'd connect it to the treatment first.

[ChloeDharma]

I used honey as a pree poo years ago and it was a nightmare! My hair felt hard and brittle like it would snap if I touched it, this got worse towards the ends and where the chemically damaged part of the hair was left. However the shine was glorious! I found that the honey buold up just wouldn't go though, even with a full strength sulphate shampoo rubbed into it, the only thing that worked was running a bath and laying back in it soaking my hair for a while to dissolve the sugar. However, honey added to conditioner and used as a deep treatment never gives me this problem and in fact does wonders for my hair so I don't mean to discourage using it completely.
Castor oil as others have said is thick and sticky and does seem to provoke more hairs coming out when massaging it into the scalp and in terms of shedding I expect that may be the most likely culprit. I do find that if I go a while without scalp oiling I shed more when I first do it again however usually this calms down once I'm back in the habit but that is just me and some people do experience increased shedding even after a while of doing it regularly.

[NightSister]

I've given up all forms of scalp oiling - even Tsubaki with EOs was too much for my scalp. Now I just apply to my lengths as a pre-poo. :shrug:

[Garnetgem]

Some oils are thicker and so can clog the hair follicles which can lead to shedding..not everyone can endure oils near the scalp like i shed with olive oil but fine with fractionated coconut oil..its all trial and error and yes when we shed its scary..but we soon get to know what our scalp likes.

[Larki]

I have never combined them, but I have used both honey and castor oil as pre-poo treatments with no issues. The thing to know about oils is that shampoo won't remove them, conditioner is much better, so you have to have a heavy hand with conditioner. I use a hair growth oil that is mainly castor oil and sulfur powder at least twice a week and haven't had an issue removing it. Obviously any treatment will make your hair feel odd, often stiff, while it is in your hair. I usually dilute the honey with water when I use it as a treatment.

[Deborah]

I doubt that castor oil will cause your hair to thin. There is a very long thread on here about using castor oil on your scalp to increase hair growth.

[Rebeccalaurenxx]

I doubt that castor oil will cause your hair to thin. There is a very long thread on here about using castor oil on your scalp to increase hair growth.

Someone can experience shedding from applying oils to the scalp. I have seen it.

Personally for me I had an increase in growth, about an 1/2" extra each month from using castor oil, however I was doing the inversion method. And I don't remember if shedding came with it. I shed a lot already as it is so.

Just skip the castor oil, or oiling the scalp in general. It's not a need. You can get good growth from many other things that won't make your hair angry.

[Shanawavy]

I'm sorry to hear about the shedding - how annoying.
I know that rosemary oil can cause irritation to the scalp (I can't use it myself) but I haven't heard of it causing shedding.
If you do want to try the castor oil again, maybe use less of it, and leave it on, in a blend with other oils, for a short amount of time. Then condition your hair half an hour or so before you rinse the treatment out.

[dansyl]

Caster oil made my hair fall out a little more than normal but nothing major. This reminds me I really need to get back into the habit of oiling my hair. My hair loves it.. I just forget!

[Wildcat Diva]

Years ago I did a heavy castor oil blend on my scalp and had heavy shedding. I think it was too thick and caused a lot of hair to shed out. Never again!