Oil Cleansing

You all know that you should be washing your face daily. Removing makeup, dirt, and oil from your skin keeps it looking fresh and clean and helps keep breakouts at bay. However, did you know that some people don’t wash their face with soap or cleansers and still have beautiful, clear skin? They use oil, hot water, and a washcloth in a method called oil cleansing. It sounds crazy, but once you learn about how it works, it makes total sense.

One of the main reasons we wash our faces is to dissolve the oil that clogs our pores. Soaps and cleansers help wash away this oil, leaving us fresh faced. The problem with this is that our skin produces oil in order to moisturize and lubricate itself. When we wash with cleansers, we remove all the oil, sending the signal that we need to replace that oil with more oil. It’s a vicious cycle of producing and removing oil, thereby producing more oil, leaving your face oily or greasy feeling and prone to breakouts

In order to stop the overproduction of oil, we need to remove the oil that collects in our pores without stripping the skin completely. Oil cleansing works by using clean oil to dissolve the gunky oil stuck in your pores. You then remove it, without leaving the skin stripped and dry. The skin is left clean and soft.

Before you start oil cleansing, you need to decide the best oil to use for your skin type. For normal to dry skin, try shea or argan oil. For oily skin, castor oil with a couple drops of tea tree or peppermint oil, both known for their astringent properties. Some people use olive oil or coconut oil, as well. You may have to try a few different types and combinations of oil before you find the one that works the best for you.

Once you’ve determined the oil you want to use, here are the basic instructions:

  1. Wet your washcloth with hot water. You want the water to be pretty hot, but not hot enough to cause burns. Lay the hot, wet washcloth on your face and let it sit for about twenty seconds to open up your pores.
  2. Using a small amount of oil, massage it in using a circular motion. This is when you are breaking up the oil deposits in your pores, rub firmly but don’t scrub for at least thirty seconds.
  3. Rewet the washcloth with hot water and lay it on your face again. Once it cools a bit, use it to gently wipe the oil from your skin.

That’s it! Your face will feel clean and moisturized. Be sure to apply sunscreen or wear make up with SPF to protect your skin from sun damage.