I thought I'd update a little about this while I am thinking about it since I've been meaning to all week. Last month I wrote about the Oil Cleansing Method here and I know a lot of people were interested.
I really loved what it did for my skin in terms of all of the painful acne and uneven/bumpiness, but I ended up quitting a couple weeks ago b/c I was hating how my make up (Bare Minerals) was sitting on my skin. It looked so cakey and gross, even with using a very small amount.
So I switched back to my old faithful combo which I hate to use b/c of all the crap in it (DDF cleanser and Aveeno moisturizers). Sure enough, yeah my make up started sitting better, but my face was soooooo irritated again and the pimples popped up like I had turned on a switch or something. I was pretty frustrated.
So I did some more research and found the actual OCM website. (As official as it can get I suppose..). http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
I was so afraid of not putting anything ON my skin to moisturize after cleansing that it turns out adding extra oil to my skin afterwards was actually drying it out (which I'll explain below) and that is what was causing my make up to look so disgusting, even though it's not like I was covering my skin in an oil slick after.
As for drying it out, I learned on the website above that I was probably using too much Castor oil and not enough olive oil. I thought for sure my acne, somewhat oily, but flaky skin needed more of the cleansing oil (Castor) than the moisturizing oil (olive), but it turns out that was totally wrong. So I mixed up some more oil in my bottle and made it with a lot more olive oil this time and decided I would just let my face be after cleansing and not add any oil after.
Well... I am incredibly happy to report that the irritation and pimples that my regression produced are quickly disappearing and my face is much happier AND my make up looks great!!! And my skin really doesn't need added moisture after I am done cleansing b/c I am using enough olive oil to cleans with! I can let my skin just breath and it doesn't get all tight like it normally would.
Lesson learned - don't give up and definitely play around since I would have totally had to give up on this had I continued w/ the original formula and routine I was using.
A String On Double Bass
5 years ago
I read another girls blog that did this. I need to read up on it. My face is a little oily in some places and very senstive so I am a little scared. Maybe I should try this when I don't have to go to work for a couple of days.
ReplyDeleteHeather - my face is extremely sensitive and oily/acne and flaky in different parts - all at the same time! That's the beauty of it. With only 1 ingredient (oil) skin sensitivities do so much better. I know oil seems counter intuitive, but read about it and you'll see why and not be so scared. I know it seems so "wrong" to slather oil on your face :) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteYou've inspired me to finally give this a try - I started last night! I'm doing the 80%/20% mix and I'll see how that goes. My cheeks felt a little dry afterward but I might have just been a bit liberal with the steam afterward. I also added a few drops of tea tree oil to make it smell nicer - I'm going to read up online and see how much of that it's safe to add. My skin isn't too bad, but not great... hopefully this helps!
ReplyDeleteHey it may be the tea tree oil that dried you out. I've used that before (in a mix w/ water) to help w/ acne and it dries me out really bad, so you might try it without just to see if that makes any difference. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteTotally possible, although I only added three drops so far (to about a half a cup total liquid) so I'm not sure it was enough to really make a difference other than add a faint scent? Something to keep in mind though, for sure.
ReplyDeleteHmm... I still found it to be a tad drying so I added a tad more EVOO to the mix... and I think next time I'm going to steam a little less. But overall, I'm totally loving it.
ReplyDeleteAt worst, it's giving me the same results as my cleanser and it's nice to switch to something with less ingredients. But I have a sneaking feeling it's actually going to improve my complexion in the long run. I was using Burt's Bees before, but it was foamy (something I don't like in a cleanser) and, frankly, much too expensive.