Cleansing with oil

There are a few discoveries in your life, that can make things easier, better and all around more comfortable. Oil definitely is one of them. I won't be rambling on about the great world pleasure that is oil now, like I did to most of my friends for the past years and will be focusing on the benefits of cleansing with oil (as is this weeks focus on the blog). Yes, you heard me right: I do use oil to wash myself. And before you start running away, unfollowing me on all the social media pages and thinking "ooooohnooooo, this is a crazy person": hear me out!

I am NOT talking about all the claims of "the oil-cleansing method" spooking around the internet together with other weird and scientifically unproven myths for the past few years, even though I have to admit that researching the oil-cleansing method initially got me to where I am now.

Before I can explain how I use oil, I have to get into a little more detail of WHY I use them. First of all: even though my skin is pretty low maintenance for most times (thank you genes), I know immediately, if it doesn't like a product. It starts tingling and burning, getting all sensitive and I get dry-patches, blackheads and break-outs and just all over "thick" and weird skin that cannot be penetrated by products anymore. There is no other way to put it: it gets pissed off. And it wants me to know - for weeks. I am especially sensitive around my eyes, so most eye-make-up-removers left a slight burning sensation under my eyes, although they had oils,... in them. A few years ago, my skin felt so angry that I started researching alternatives and this is where my love for oils began!

What do I use?

Any non-fragrant plant-oil. If you are break-out prone and you know it, there are a few no-no's. Some reported back difficulties with jojoba and coconut-oil. I will put a list of some of my previously used oils, their benefits and their tendency to break out skin, down below.

What does it do?

It removes make-up, sunscreen, even water-proof mascara like nothing else (= your first evening cleanse). It is super gentle, nourishing on your skin, easy to use, absolutely affordable, safe and in my opinion, for the time being, unbeaten for removing even the most stubborn stuff off your face! It will not make your acne miraculously disappear, but it can help with aggravated skin, dry patches,...and not upset your skin further.

Who is it for?

Every skin benefits from it and as long as you do follow some easy steps, it is especially great for most break-out-prone peops out there (my love goes to you) as you tend to use too harsh products! And another thing to my oily friends worried they will look even oilier: you use it at night and you should second cleanse anyway, as you see below, so relax and enjoy the experience!

How do I use it?

In the evening I massage a blob with dry, washed hands on my DRY skin (can't stress that enough), loosening all the gunk and use it over my eyes and lashes to loosen mascara. Give it time, relax, enjoy that new and incredible feeling of that smooth slip on your skin. Give yourself some love, guys! Then I take a flannel (I think they work SO much better than "muslin-cloths"), wet it under handhot, running water and wring it out thoroughly. It should feel comfortable on your skin, not like you are paying for your sins after a day of hard labour and pleasepleaseplease don't do any "steaming". I wish someone would have told me before that it can break your capillaries and they are here to stay. Put the little towel on your face, gently pressing down on it (oh, the relaxation) and start to swiftly take it off without rubbing and refresh your towel under the running water if necessary (please don't let your sink fill up, that's just gross). There is no need to get it all off, you will feel it when it has done the job, and you will second-cleanse anyway. That's the point: you have to go in with a second cleanse, to take the oil off. Again, I cannot stress enough to go easy here guys, you are not trying to remove motor-oil. If you are break-out prone I would definitely recommend a gentle water based cleanser like this here, if you are more on the dry side of things and want to give your skin a break you can use another oil-based balm or cleanser, that can be washed off (I love to do that in the winter-time and alternate between several cleansers depending on my skins' needs).

Oils:

I only include those I have personally tested and liked a lot and made a little ranking. Of course you can use any other non-fragrant plant-oil and it is not, I repeat NOT, necessary to buy those oils from any specific brand. I get mine in a cosmetic-oils supply store where I live (simply because it is cheaper, than my organic super-markets salad-oil), or you can order them via the internet from a reliable source. Be sure your oils are cold pressed and ideally organic, to be sure no pesticides,...end up on your face and you get the full benefit. A word to oils being comedogenic: I got some reports from break-out-prone friends, that experienced more break-outs with non-comedogenic oils. I don't know how/why that happened, but where I know of it, I put it in the description!

• ​Argan Oil - non-comedogenic, contains several beneficial lipids and fatty acids for skin, good source of vitamin E and antioxidant compounds, natural source of the antioxidant ferulic acid.
• Avocado Oil - mildly-comedogenic, great to use for all skin-types, antioxidant (Vitamin E), good "natural moisturizing factor".
• Almond Oil - mildly/moderately-comedogenic, so be careful, if you have extremely break-out-prone skin, rich source of skin-repairing ingredients including triglycerides and several fatty acids, good "natural moisturizing factor".
• Jojoba Oil - non/mildly-comedogenic, although some people report an increase in break-outs from it, so be warned! has been shown to enhance skin's barrier repair properties and ability to heal from damage. 

And a little extra one: 

• Castor Oil - non-comedogenic, When I can be bothered, I like to add this to make my oil a little less "fluid". You can use a  1/4- 1/2 part in an oil-mix, combined with any other oil, depending on how dry your skin is (the drier, the less you should use). This is absolutely not necessary to use (I don't in winter-time), but if you do, I recommend mixing it upfront in a little bottle or the hassle in the bathroom is just too big (oily hands and bottles and trying to mix it in your hands...you get the picture!)

Be careful, when you have any known allergies/sensitivities to nuts, or the products listed above and as always: feel free to do your own research and let me know!

This is it for today, be sure to leave any questions or suggestions in the comment-section below, stay tuned for my next posts, have fun, be gentle, love yourself, love your skin!

N.