Monday, October 13, 2008

Oil Cleansing Method


Recently, my friend Christy posted about something new she was trying for facial cleansing. My initial reaction was, “Ewww.” Getting over that, I was intrigued.

Have you heard of the Oil Cleansing Method? Basically, you combine caster oil with either olive oil or sunflower oil and clean your face with it rather than your normal, most likely chemical based facial cleanser.

Sounds simple, right?

It totally is! The hardest part was finding caster oil. Let me save you some time, head for Walgreens because I live in a fairly large city and they were still the only place that carried it.

You can experiment with how much of each oil you’ll need. I have crazy skin that’s oily in some places and flaky dry in some so I started with mixing a small amount in case I needed to adjust. I started with 20% castor oil and 80% extra virgin olive oil and that seems to be working well for me. Read the article to find out what mixture will work best for you.

I had some fears going into this. First, that I’d smell like an Italian hoagie. Not at all! While I’m massaging the oil into my skin, the smell of the olive oil drives me batty. As soon as I’m done, the smell is gone. I have even asked my husband if he can smell it and he says that he can’t.

I was also afraid that I’d have problems with this making my skin really oily. Sure, I’d read that the castor oil actually breaks up the oil on your skin but the thought of rubbing oil on my skin seemed contrary to taking the oil off. Believe it, friends. It works!
My final fear was that I'd have to use a seperate product to remove my mascara. This works as well as any cleaner I've used in the past (and I think I've used them all!) at removing all of my eye makeup.

I have been able to eliminate my nightly moisturizer since I started using this method just over a week ago. On top of that, I hadn’t yet found a “green” facial cleanser and this keeps me from having to try out all of the expensive ones.

If you have tried this method, please let me know! I’d love to hear how you like it.
**Photo credit: Liv Friis-larsen - Fotolia.com

5 comments:

Christy said...

Yay, I'm glad it's working for you! I think the biggest thing I like about it is that it really cuts down on redness and inflammation. So whe I do break out, it isn't very big and goes away quickly.

Andrea@Sgt and Mrs Hub said...

This sounds AWESOME! When I first started reading I was wondering about the oil, because it seemed a little opposite of what you would actually need from a cleanser. I am glad to know that it works :) And there's no weird smell. I'm not a big Italian hoagie fan!

-Andrea

Sharon - Mom Generations said...

I have my keys to my car... I'm heading out to find some caster oil. The only problem I can see is that my husband is old enough to remember what HIS mom used caster oil for!!

I will be back with the results!!

Frannie said...

Thanks for this idea! I can't wait to try it. I have been toying with the idea of trying some of the "green" cleansers but some are so pricey and it's one of those, you have to try to see if it works for you deals. But this is a no-brainer. Thanks for the idea!!!!!

Amy said...

I love this! Works awesome and my skin looks awesome (if I do say so myself). I've always had dry sin but I've been able to get away mrom my moisturizers more too!