Making Monday Pretty: The Oil Cleansing Method
Posted by Hayley French on
Keeping on the theme of natural skin care, we wanted to introduce you to the oil cleansing method. We know that to many of you, especially those that are acne prone, this can seem like a frightening thought but here is why...
Many cleansers and toners today are designed to eradicate oil from our skin completely, leaving it stripped of any natural oils that it needs. Your skin produces oil because it needs it to help lubricate, moisturize, protect, heal and function properly. When we strip every bit of oil away, we disrupt the natural cycle and our skin revs into overdrive producing more oil to try and replace what was lost and we end up with overly oily skin. Once excess oil mixes with debris and dead skin cells and settles into pores it can result in pimples, blackheads and enlarged pores, which we're pretty sure no one wants! Furthermore, your skin will regain that dewy, plump, healthy appearance and depending on the oils you choose, can help with wrinkles, fine lines, scarring, etc. To cleanse your face with oil, follow these simple steps.
1. Choose your oils that you will cleanse with. One of them must be castor oil as this is considered a "cleansing" oil and will really help to dissolve dirt and oil in the pores and it is rinsed off quite easily with water. The other oil can be your choice and is dependent on your skin type and skin issues, more on that later!
2. Combine your two chosen oils in the palm of your hand, or you can pre mix them in a container so it's always ready to go, you only need about a dime sized amount.
3. Apply directly to your face and massage into the skin for at least 30 seconds. You don't need to worry about taking your makeup off before as the oil with break it down easily. Some people like to remove their eye makeup before to keep things cleaner whilst some people use the oil to remove that as well, especially as castor oil is said to aid in hair growth, including eyelashes!
4. Wet a face cloth in hot water, wring it out and then hold over your face until the cloth has cooled down. Repeat once more. This will open up your pores and allow the oil to draw out any impurities.
5. Once the cloth has cooled down, gently wipe your face and any excess oil.
Some people like to repeat this process again, I personally prefer to do it once and then go over my face with my Thayer's Rose Petal Witch Hazel. Some people do this every morning and night, some just in the evening and some people just use it as a nourishing deep clean, personally I use this method at night and use a very light cleanser in the morning or just my Rose Petal Witch Hazel, but with some trial and error you will discover what is exactly right for your skin! We think once you try this method once you'll be hooked and we can't recommend enough working it into your skin care routine.
Next week we will go over which oils work best for which skin types and concerns, stay tuned...
Have a beautiful Monday everyone!