‘Pouring oil in my belly button every night’: The navel pulling trend is taking over TikTok

“Me pouring oil in my belly button every night because I refuse to be bloated in 2025,” a TikTok user posted last month, in a clip with 4.3 million views. Yes, you read that right. The latest health trend doing the rounds on the platform involves putting castor oil in your belly button.

“POV: You started doing castor oil navel pulling to help with digestion and your stomach has never been so flat,” shared aesthetic nurse practitioner Miranda Wilson, in another viral post. In the 10-second video, she takes a large bottle of castor oil and pours a generous amount into her belly button, then massages it gently with her fingers. The comments section is also filled with emphatic testimonials, with some users swearing the practice helps them manage conditions like endometriosis and period cramps. “I’m literally gonna go sleep like Hocus Pocus put a spell on my a–,” says another influencer in their own TikTok video, after following the trend.

While trending on TikTok now, this health hack actually draws from the ancient Ayurvedic practice of nabhi chikitsa—a therapeutic technique centered on the nabhi (navel), which Ayurveda regards as a vital energy point or marma. Known as navel pulling, the practice involves applying castor oil to the abdomen, either by massaging it directly onto the skin or using fabric soaked in the oil as a compress.

In Ayurveda, castor oil is prized for its detoxifying properties and is traditionally used to relieve constipation, stimulate digestion, and promote overall bowel health. By focusing on the navel, practitioners aim to restore balance and improve the body’s internal energy flow. What’s old is new again, as TikTok wellness girlies embrace this ancient method in their quest for better digestion and flatter stomachs. 

Despite its history and cultural significance, there’s no current evidence in Western medicine that pouring it into your belly button affects your internal organs. Although castor oil has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, the only approved use of castor oil for health reasons by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is to ingest the oil orally as a laxative.

“It is used as a functional oil and to promote growth of probiotics. There are small animal studies to support this but results for human studies are unknown,” says Amy Lee, nutrition head at Nucific and a board-certified expert in internal medicine, clinical nutrition, and obesity. “The recommended dose is 15-60mL for constipation; so, one must be careful to titrate from a low dose to high slowly.  But if it works well for a person, it could relieve the symptoms of bloat and gassiness as it helps speed up the emptying time.”

Apart from potentially staining your pajamas, there aren’t any major risks of putting castor oil in your belly button overnight if you are keen to give it a try. If the advice is accompanied by an affiliate link, however, take it with a pinch of salt.

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