Before You Use Castor Oil on European-American Hair Read This

Castor oil is well reputed as amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing for hair, with very good

reason. Yet if you search the subject (as I did looking for new "hair mask" ideas), you will find so many people have issues washing it out. They say it takes 20 washes, that it's STILL greasy, that they'll never use it again and they're just going to throw the bottle away!

I can relate as I once had such an episode with coconut oil.

But, as someone with the finest hair - I can reassure you all you simply need to do is apply some chemistry to turn castor oil into your favourite intensive conditioner.

1) Application: take a small amount of pure castor oil on your fingertips and massage into scalp, fold up the ends of your hair and massage it together.  Add more oil in small amounts as needed and distributive well - if you have thick/long hair work in sections. You want to create the I'm about 4 days over-due a hair-wash look - not like you've dipped your head directly into a chip fat fryer, but on its way.

2) Leave it for a minimum of 10 mins and as long as overnight - it isn't harder to get out the longer you leave it. Use an old pillow case you're happy to wash (obviously).  Wrap clingfilm around your head if you're worried about getting oil on things whilst you're awake.

3) Wash it out  

Oil and water don't mix right?  That's not entirely true - they can with lots of friction such as shaking (think salad dressing), at least enough for you to remove it from your hair.  If you simply add lots of water, it will bounce off your hair and this is the big mistake people generally make - shampoo will not cut through thick oil.

Step one: Add a SMALL amount of water to head and start massaging for 1-2 mins. We want to really get those fingertips working the scalp and hair, to mix together the water and oil.  How long it takes depends how thick/long your hair is.

Step Two: Add another small amount of water - massage again, fold all the ends of your hair up and massage again for 1-2 mins. If you have very thick or long hair -work in sections to ensure you've covered it all.

If you've got fine/short hair you're done.  If it's thicker, keep adding small amounts of water until you've massaged your whole head well. Imagine you're applying hair dye and don't want to be left patchy.

Step Three: Give it a good dousing until fully rinsed/soak with water, massaging as you go.

Step Four: Add shampoo and wash as normal x two.

That's it - super glossy, non-greasy hair he we come :D  I'm currently trying out Jamaican Black Castor Oil with excellent results - you can read about the differences here.

Have you tried castor oil?  What's your experience?