Facial Oil Cleansing

Facial Oil Cleansing – does it work ?

Somehow the idea of using oil to remove you makeup and cleanse your face sounds a bit crazy but it really does work. Using harsh soaps or detergent based cleansers strip everything away including your natural oils leading to your own oil production going into overdrive trying to rebalance itself and that can bring with it a never ending cycle of excessive oil production or on the other end of the scale can make your skin very dry and inflamed.

Now for the science bit … Remember back to your days learning chemistry when we were taught “like dissolves like”, well the best way to dissolve sebum/oil is to use a solvent of similar composition i.e. another oil.

The oil used to massage into you skin will dissolve the dirt/makeup/impurities that are trapped in your pores effortlessly and as your skin hasn’t been stripped of all its goodies it will require less nourishment afterwards, helping to keep your skin balanced and fed to its optimum with the minimum of products and a huge saving to the cosmetic piggy bank.

Your skin may take a small amount of time to adjust but I have found with myself and my family that this method of cleansing has been really effective for oily/blemished skin, dry skin, sensitive skin and for older skin types too.

If you take it one step further and use an oil with a microfibre cloth I find this is a really simple and effective way of removing makeup and cleansing with minimum products and disturbance to the skin.

Method – pour a few drops of your chosen oil into the palm of your hand. Massage this into your face concentrating on the eyes or where ever you have the most make-up, you want to aim to have panda eyes (if you are wearing mascara etc..), the more you loosen with the oil the easier it is to wipe everything away. Then wet your microfibre cloth with warm water and press to the face and slowly wipe the dirt and makeup off. It really is that simple, does not require any rubbing at all and then just rinse your cloth out with hot water and or a little soap or shower gel. You can finish with your usual eye and or face cream or more face oil if your skin feels tight.

I find the best oil to start with is either almond (if you don’t have a nut allergy) or jojoba oil but you could actually use olive oil or coconut oil or a combination, its just a matter of experimenting with what works best for you. Personally I just use 1 microfibre cloth and jojoba oil, plain and simple.

So chuck out those eye make up removers, face wipes, cleansers and cotton pads and say hello to a microfibre cloth and a bottle of oil it really is that easy.