The weather lately has been all over the place! When we went to Mexico, just over a month ago, the weather here in WI was sunny and warm. When we got home it was cold and rainy. Talk about a shock to your system! Since we’ve been home the weather has been unseasonably cold, with a few random warm, sunny days thrown in. What does all of this mean?
Totally bad news for my skin! Prior to going on our trip my skin had a nice, healthy glow. These days it’s akin to a sheet of sandpaper. It’s irritated, and flaking off. No amount of moisturizer is even touching this situation, and trust me I have been loading up on the moisturizer with no luck whatsoever!
I’ve been thinking that eventually my skin will stop rebelling against this weather and go back to it’s normal self, but I am starting to get tired of battling it. So I am trying a new approach. I’ve read about it online for the past year and have finally decided that it is time to give it a try.
It’s called the Oil Cleansing Method. It’s pretty popular in the blogosphere, so some of you may have heard of it. Basically the premise is that your face has natural oils that it produces, and when you wash it with soap it’s basically like putting detergent on it, and it’s very irritating for it and causes it to dry out and then produce more oil. Currently my face seems to be in a drying out mode, because I’m afraid if I smile too big my face might crack.
Anyway, different oils serve different purposes. Some are good for cleansing, others are good for moisturizing, and some are even good for clearing up acne. By putting the oil on your face you are able to cleanse, moisturize, and tone all at once without having to use soap, thus no irritation or drying are supposed to occur. Instead you are just putting beneficial oils on your face, which should hopefully remove the desert landscape I have going on.
You have to experiment with different combinations until you find what works for you. The 2 basic oils you use are Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) which is great for moisturizing and Castor Oil which is known for cleansing. The drier your skin the more EVOO you want to use.
Okay, so after you rub the oil all over your face (you’re supposed to gently rub it in for up to 2 minutes) then you take a hot washcloth and put it over your oily face and let it sit there for a while until it cools. The steam from the towel opens your pores and encourages the impurities to come out. You can do the washcloth a few times in a row if you feel like it, and once you’ve steamed yourself sufficiently you gently wipe the oil off with the washcloth. You need to be sure to rinse it out a few times to be sure you get all of the dirty oil off your face. If you leave it on, it will not be a good situation. We’re talking breakouts people, and that’s not the effect we’re going for!
I’ve only done it twice, and my face feels slightly more moisturized although I can still peel little chunks of skin off my nose. I know it will probably take some time, because my skin has never been so dry in my life.
I have to admit that it goes against every fiber of my being to rub excessive amounts of oil on my face. I’ve always been of the mindset that oil=grease=bad idea for your face. As a teenager you’re told not to eat greasy food because it will make you breakout, and there are numerous oil-free beauty products out there to prevent breakouts so it just doesn’t seem right to put oil on your face on purpose.
But it’s more than just rubbing some oil on your face. You want to be sure to use the right kind, the right combination, and you also want to remove the excess (a little gets left behind, and that’s a good thing because it helps moisturize). If it turns out to be a good thing I will be able to save lots of money on beauty products and just head to my kitchen for a refill whenever I start to run low on it.
I will keep you posted about how it goes. Hopefully it does the trick in getting rid of my dry skin!
If you’re interested in a better explanation of the method you can go here.
1 Comment
November 9, 2009 at 9:59 am
Hey Amy,
I’ve been doing this for awhile, on and off. I use a EVOO infused with Calendula which is known for its healing proporties. Although, my skin is freaking out a bit with the crazy weather flip/flops too!