Castor Oil Packs for Healing

Castor oil packs have been used for centuries to aid in healing, detoxing, and reducing inflammation. Castor oil promotes lymphatic drainage, increases circulation, and helps decrease pain. It is also great for your skin. This guide will dive into all the benefits, how to use a castor oil pack, and more.

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Our environments are full of toxins that affect our health and contribute to inflammation. Many autoimmune conditions, cancers, and metabolic conditions are exasperated by the amount of toxins our bodies are exposed to. As someone who suffers from an autoimmune condition, ankylosing spondylitis, I am always focusing on ways to better support my healing.

There are so many things I do to help manage my ankylosing spondylitis naturally from my anti-inflammatory diet to homemade topical pain relief. Castor oil packs are definitely an important piece of my healing journey.

Benefits of using Castor Oil Packs:

Detoxification: Our liver and lymphatic systems are the key to filtering out and removing toxins from our bodies. These organs can quickly become overloaded and lead to health ailments. Castor oil is known to draw out impurities, which aids in detoxing. Using a castor oil pack over our liver helps support the livers’ natural process and stimulate lymphatic flow.

Reduces Inflammation: Castor oil has a high concentration of ricinoleic acid which is helpful in reducing pain and inflammation. Castor oil penetrates the skin and can help provide relief to those areas.

Relieves Muscle and Joint Pain: Applying a castor oil pack to areas of sore muscles or joints can provide relief and relaxation. The increased circulation to those areas will help with recovery and reduce swelling.

Supports Immune Health: Stimulating the lymphatic system can help strengthen your immune system. It helps your body remove toxins that tend to overload the immune system. My autoimmune conditions flare-up when I am exposed to more toxins like fragrance or other peoples laundry soap fumes. Supporting my lymphatic system helps reduce the effects these have on my immune system.

Helps with Digestion and Gut Health: As I’ve stated above, castor oil helps increase circulation to the area it is applied; this can aid digestion by encouraging movement and help reduce bloating. The anti-inflammatory effects from the ricinoleic acid can help with gut health by decreasing inflammation in the gut. Gut inflammation is common in many autoimmune conditions.

Hormone Health: Castor oil can help support the liver in processing out excess hormones that would otherwise lead to hormonal imbalances. Using castor oil packs provides relaxing effects which can decrease stress and lower cortisol levels.

Improves Skin Health: Castor oil is soothing and deeply moisturizing to the skin. It can help reduce scars and skin irritations.

My experience:

I began using castor oil packs several years ago while working with a functional medicine doctor. She recommended that I alternate between placing the castor oil pack over my liver and over my abdomen. We were focused on supporting my gut health and detoxing my overburdened liver. The castor oil pack played a significant role in supporting my healing.

I enjoyed doing at bedtime to support my body’s overnight detox process. It was so relaxing and I noticed improvements in my sleep. My cortisol levels and hormones also began to balance, along with an improvement in my gut health.

As we were going through fertility treatments the past couple years I wasn’t consistent about using the castor oil pack. In fact, it was not often that I actually got around to using it. I didn’t want to take any chances if we were pregnant. I was also emotionally exhausted and found it hard to keep up with some of my favorite healing remedies. In hindsight, I wish I had been more consistent about doing this in between treatment cycles, it definitely could have been helpful.

As we are no longer going through fertility treatments, I am working hard to detox my body from all the synthetic hormones I was on the last couple years. The effects from the hormones really caused my ankylosing spondylitis to flare-up and progress.

I am so excited to be enjoying the castor oil pack again and cannot wait to start seeing the benefits. It is too early to share the current benefits as I just started doing it again this week.

How to use a Castor Oil Pack:

Materials:

• Organic Cold-pressed Castor Oil (look for hexane free and in a glass bottle)
• Cotton or Wool Flannel cloth OR a Castor Oil Pack
  • If using the cotton or wool flannel, you will want some plastic wrap to create a barrier and prevent staining your clothes, bedding, and heating pad.
• Optional: Heating Pad (I highly recommend this as it will help with absorption).
• Towel

Instructions:

1. Get your flannel cloth ready (skip this step if using a pre-sized castor oil pack). If you have a large cloth, like the one I linked above, you will want to cut it into smaller pieces. I cut that one into thirds (~10 x 12 inch rectangles). Fold one of the cloth pieces so that it is 3-4 layers thick and a size similar to the area you plan to cover (liver, abdomen, joints, etc..).
2. Pour some castor oil onto the fabric, around a few tablespoons. After pouring the oil onto the fabric I like to fold the fabric on itself and rub the oil around so that it saturates the fabric but isn’t dripping or running off.
3. Place the castor oil cloth against your skin covering the area of your body that you plan to apply it. For detox or gut health support this will be over your abdomen or the right side where your liver is located. If you are trying to relieve muscle or joint pain and inflammation you will apply it to the that area.
4. If you are using the flannel cloth, you will want to cover it with a piece of plastic wrap as a barrier. This will help keep it in place and trap heat while you relax. The ‘castor oil pack’ has a built in barrier and strings to tie it around your body to hold in place.
5. Apply heat over the castor oil pack. This helps increase the absorption and benefits. It is also very relaxing. It can be helpful to lay down on a towel when doing this just to add extra protection for your bedding and furniture- castor oil can stain.
6. Relax with the castor oil pack and heat for at least 30 minutes.

Storing and Caring for your castor oil pack:

If you’re using the cotton flannel cloth I recommend storing it in a glass container (putting this in the fridge will help it stay fresh longer). If you are using the queen of thrones castor oil pack, they recommend storing it in a clean and dry location.

You can reuse your castor oil pack many times before cleaning. Each time you use the castor oil pack you will want to add a little bit of fresh castor oil.

Washing your castor oil pack:

I washed my cotton flannel about every 2 months, depending how frequently I used it. I’m new to using the pre-sized castor oil pack, they recommend replacing it after 60 uses. I plan to try washing it and re-using it the same way I would the flannel cloth.

Hand wash the cotton flannel with warm water and soap. Make sure that you are using a non-toxic soap, I use Aleavia’s hand soap. Wash the cloth thoroughly until all the castor oil is removed from the cloth. You may have to wash and rinse a few times to remove all the oil. Allow the cloth to dry completely before re-using.

How often should I use a castor oil pack?

This can vary from person to person.

If you are battling autoimmune illness, chronic inflammation, cancer, or another health condition it is helpful to use a castor oil pack at least 5x a week, alternating between your liver area and gut area. Some people with thyroid conditions will also place a castor oil pack over the neck area to support their thyroid health.

For general use, 2-3x a week is good. Increase the frequency as needed or when experiencing inflammation and illness. Using a castor oil pack over the chest can help relieve congestion and cold symptoms.

If you are using this for muscle and joint pain, you can use it daily or as needed to manage inflammation and pain in those areas.

FAQ and Tips for using castor oil packs:

When not to use a castor oil pack: It is not recommended to use a castor oil pack over the abdomen area while pregnant. It is also not best to use a castor oil pack over the pelvic area while menstruating. This can increase blood flow and lead to a heavier flow.

Do not ingest castor oil unless under the guidance of your doctor!

Why is it important to buy castor oil in a glass bottle?

Castor oil draws out and absorbs chemicals and impurities (this is why it is helpful with detox). Plastic can leach harmful chemicals into the castor oil.

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5 from 2 votes

Castor Oil Pack

Castor oil packs have been used for centuries to aid in healing, detoxing, and reducing inflammation. Castor oil promotes lymphatic drainage, increases circulation, and helps decrease pain.

Author: thispurelyjoyfullife.com – Kimberley

Materials

• Organic Cold-pressed Castor Oil look for hexane free and in a glass bottle
• Cotton or Wool Flannel cloth OR a Castor Oil Pack Linked below
• Plastic Wrap If you're using the cotton or wool flannel, you will want some plastic wrap to create a barrier and prevent staining your clothes, bedding, and heating pad.
• Towel
• Optional: Heating Pad I highly recommend this as it will help with absorption and it’s quite relaxing.

Instructions

• Get your flannel cloth ready (skip this step if using a pre-sized castor oil pack). If you have a large cloth you will want to cut it into smaller pieces. I use to cut mine into ~10 x 12 inch rectangles. Fold one of the cloth pieces so that it is 3-4 layers thick and a size similar to the area you plan to cover (liver, abdomen, joints, etc..).
• Pour some castor oil onto the fabric, around a few tablespoons. After pouring the oil onto the fabric I like to fold the fabric on itself and rub the oil around so that it saturates the fabric but isn’t dripping or running off.
• Place the castor oil cloth against your skin covering the area of your body that you plan to apply it. For detox or gut health support this will be over your abdomen or the right side where your liver is located. If you are trying to relieve muscle or joint pain and inflammation you will apply it to the that area.
• If you are using the flannel cloth, you will want to cover it with a piece of plastic wrap as a barrier. This will help keep it in place and trap heat while you relax. The pre-sized 'castor oil pack' has a built in barrier and strings to tie it around your body to hold in place.
• Apply heat over the castor oil pack. This helps increase the absorption and benefits. It is also very relaxing. It can be helpful to lay down on a towel when doing this just to add extra protection for your bedding and furniture- castor oil can stain.
• Relax with the castor oil pack and heat for at least 30 minutes.

Notes

Material Links:

• Cotton Flannel Cloth
• Castor Oil Pack Cloth

Pin this Guide to Reference Later or Share with Others:

If you try out the castor oil pack, I’d love to connect and hear from you in the comments. Let me know your experience with using castor oil packs. Share a photo and tag @thispurelyjoyfullife on social media. Are you interested in more tips for healing and living an anti-inflammatory lifestyle? Be sure to sign up for my email list below.

Best wishes on your healing journey,

Kimberley