We told you to take everything with a grain of salt—including us. If you disagree with the history, have a question about a formulation, or want to share what your own grandmother kept in her medicine cabinet, our inbox is open. Keep it honest.

The Pechoti gland doesn't exist. It has never appeared in any anatomical text — pre-industrial or modern, Eastern or Western. And yet right now, millions of people are putting castor oil in their belly buttons every night because a viral claim told them it connects to 72,000 nerves and detoxes their organs. It doesn't. But castor oil itself? Three thousand years of real, documented, specific medicinal history — and almost none of it is what your feed is telling you.

This week, Alexandria Quinn Love, M.A. traces castor oil from the Ebers Papyrus (1550 BCE) — where Egyptian physicians documented it for eye irritation protection, not lash growth — through Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, medieval European medicine, and the Eclectic physicians of 19th century America. She covers the real documented uses (including why pre-industrial midwives used it for centuries — and why modern science just confirmed they were right), addresses internal use directly with the caution it deserves, and explains why Castrol motor oil is literally named after this ingredient. Plus a safe, historically grounded, vettable takeaway you can actually use.

Twenty days of personal empirical data on castor oil and eyelash growth also features. The data is not encouraging.

History first. Grain of salt always. Your belly button is not a detox portal.

Ash & Honey: The Root and The Road is hosted by Alexandria Quinn Love, M.A. — historian, formulator, and founder of Ash & Honey Botanique.

Nothing on this show is medical advice. Talk to your licensed practitioner before making any health practice a regular part of your life.

Search Ash & Honey: The Root and The Road wherever you listen.

The road was always there. Someone always walked it. Now — so do you.