Kemiri (Candle nuts) question

[Misti]

A lovely Indonesian friend of mine gave me a package of candle nuts for me hair. She praised them as amazing for hair and very popular in her country...but she wears her hair short and I don't get the impression she uses them. Her hair is lovely, but never longer than shoulder length, and her directions were very vague. I figured I'd Google it, but...no luck.

Have any of you ever used kemiri? Do you know how to get it from nut to hair efficiently? She said "roast it and put it on your hair".

Help?

[happybear]

I have never heard of this, but I amvery curious. It is like a shampoo?

[Roseate]

Interesting... I know you can get oil from candlenuts (it's used for oil lamps, hence the name), but I don't know how you would extract that at home.

Have you tried roasting one like she suggested? Maybe heating the nut releases the oil?

[Aeltt]

Wikipedia : "the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree."
Searching for "kukui nut use" I found this (http://www.ehow.com/how_8325250_make-kukui-oil.html) link :)

[Misti]

I have never heard of this, but I amvery curious. It is like a shampoo?

Nope, it's just what it sounds like. Nuts. About 50 of them in a plastic bag.


Interesting... I know you can get oil from candlenuts (it's used for oil lamps, hence the name), but I don't know how you would extract that at home.

Have you tried roasting one like she suggested? Maybe heating the nut releases the oil?

Yeah, she explained the name...and I have been trying to get up the gumption to try just roasting them and see what happens. I keep dawdling. :p But as you experts here were my last hope, clearly I will just have to be brave and experiment by myself. :D

Thank you happybear and Roseate.

[Misti]

Wikipedia : "the Candlenut, is a flowering tree in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candleberry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree, Nuez de la India, Buah keras or Kukui nut tree."
Searching for "kukui nut use" I found this (http://www.ehow.com/how_8325250_make-kukui-oil.html) link :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Aeltt!! :cheese: I never thought to try Wikipedia. How crazy is that?

[Aeltt]

You're welcome, let us know how it worked ! (i'm curious now :p)

[Misti]

I will! I'll try the cheesecloth and refrigerator methods to see which works best.

The candlenuts are cheap -- just over $1.50 for the package -- so I'll experiment with half and see how much oil that makes. (I was hoping to make "just enough" but I have no idea how much that would be. :confused:

Oh well. Thanks you so much for the help...now to start the oven and go back to scrapbooking. ;)