Ok So.
My friend and I had a spa night a week ago, and she brought her Castor oil- she uses it on her eyelashes before going to bed to help them grow. I have short eyelashes and have heard this before, so i did it with her, no biggie. Slather it on my stubby lashes.
Lo and Behold, when I woke up my entire eyelid (both of them) were pretty pink and dry. Thought, "wow, this sucks", put on some Pond's dry skin cream, went about my day.
But they've only continued to worsen. Now they're scaly and look very red/enflamed. At times I can't even put on moisturizer, even Nivea, as it burns. The burning-after-moisturizer seemed to stop once I left it alone for a few days, but it's still so noticeable and I'm so embarrassed to be seen with this "natural" take on eyeshadow (another important point: I have not worn any makeup since this started).
I'm just wondering: Is this common with castor oil? What else can I be doing to help them heal/reduce its appearance?
This happened to me (still not sure why - I think I was accidentally rubbing a harsh cleanser onto my eyelids) and I found that applying a thick layer of Vaseline before bed provided some relief. I also used squalane because it didn't burn, but ymmv.
i had a similar reaction to urban decays eyeshadow primer (swollen eyelids and scaly skin and all) and what helped me most was just nivea in the blue tin, the german formula especially if you can get your hands on it
A lot of people have bad reactions to castor oil. I've heard of people using it on their brows and all their brow hair fell out and won't grow back in... that's why I'm too scared to touch the stuff!
Lesson learned here is to always patch test everything because you never know how your skin is going to react! Especially if you're using it close to your eyes.
If it is no longer burning i would just make sure you keep it very moisturized at all times. Idk about nivea, but if that's your favorite face moisturizer go for it. Otherwise cerave is very gentle. I would also put a thin layer of Vaseline over the moisturizer at night, don't get any actives near your eyes, and I would also avoid getting your cleanser on your eyes until the irritation is gone.