Oil Cleansing Method

[flibbertigibbert]

I'm fed up of trying different cleansers and treatments without success and have been tempted to try the oil cleansing method after reading about it here.

My skin is very oily and I've come to the conclusion that using stripping products is just making it worse. I also have blackheads and pimples. I know the OCM is supposed to be good for blackheads but can I still do it if I have pimples and the occasional whitehead?

Yes, I think it's pretty gopod for oily skin. I have combination skin and have been using it for over a year, although I don't use the castor oil/olive oil mixture, I use Neal's Yard rose facial oil, which is pricier but has a lovely soothing effect on my skin.

My skin is definitely better. Dry areas less dry, greasy areas less greasy. Skin much clearer.

Give it at least a month if you do try it. It took that long for me to see results.

Thanks for the reply Elle.

It does seem crazy to be considering rubbing oil into my skin but I'm willing to give it a try. The face wash I'm currently using has the effect of making my skin really dry just after I've used it, so my skin compensates by producing an oil slick.

Another thing I'm not sure about is rubbing the oil in when I've already got a layer of foundation / gym sweat on my face. That seems very strange to me. Does it really work without washing the gunk off your face first?

Yes it really does work - more oil is the best thing for dissolving make up and sweaty skin oils (lovely).

My top tip is to use kitchen roll rather than a flannel to wipe it off - it's cleaner and I found that the flannels got manky really quickly.

Try slathering face with oil, rubbing in, then wiping off with kitchen roll which has been dipped in hot water. Repeat with new bit of kitchen roll dipped in water. Use one or two more bits of dry kitchen roll to wipe dry. I don't need moisturiser after doing that, and my skin feels soft.

Oh and other top tip is to use nothing but rice bran oil with one or two drops of lavender and tea tree oil in, it's very softening.

I am thinking about trying this too.
Can you ladies explain what you actually do or link to a site?

houseofbamboo- where can you buy rice bran oil?

hi trying this for first time today - v nervous about using oil on my skin, [eek] will have to see how it goes. i have to admit my skin feels cleaner but maybe this is psychological ???

i use ponds cold cream instead of oil as it is cheaper than the neals yard rose oil and i could never get the castor oil olive oil combo right.
i also use benzoyl peroxide cream 4.5% for individual spots during the wrong time of the month.
my skin is beautiful for the first time in 15 years.

I was nervous about oil cleansing also so I thought I'd go halfway first I 've been using lancome baume eclat which is a cleanser which turns to oil when you rub it on dry skin then you jus wash it off with warm water it's amazing my skin is better than it has been in years, previous to that I was using another lancome cleanser which just stripped my skin and made me spotty

Loobylu - I get mine from Tesco - I think the brand name is Alfa One in the cooking oil section. It's cheap, less than £2 a bottle.

this could help

i use the same method but buy a commercial version from the rocky mountain soap factory.

it's the only thing that deals with my oil, blackheads and forty year old acne. yum.

I've heard about light treatments, a friend of mine had a few treatments for black heads and oily skin and she sounds very pleased with the results, she also have some redness and she only had about 4 sessions and she looks like 10 years yonger!!! she gave me a gift session and I am looking forward to have it.

i've been doing it for about 5 days after reading about it on MN last week (thanks to ruddy norah). am using almond oil with 10% castor oil added. skin has always been problematic - oily/blackhead on nose and chin, but very sensitive...

have to say i am amazed already at the difference. don't need any moisturiser in the morning at all. skin feels great and make up is neither sliding off nor going flaky. blackheads not totally cleared but better than they were and think it is supposed to take a couple of weeks for skin to rebalance.

I am really confused now! Which oil is the best or does one have to experiment?

i think you need the castor oil for clearing out the blackheads, but the proportion of castor to carrier oil (be it olive oil/sunflower/almond as per your preference) you vary according to how oily your skin is. as i understand it, if you are using too much castor oil, your skin goes too dry and flaky.

Can I push in and ask how often you do it, please? I have only just started but the website says not to do it every day. Am I supposed to use it every evening until I have clear skin and then once in a while?

I do it every night before bed to take make-up off. I don't find I need moisturiser afterwards. In the morning I just rinse with hot water in the shower/bath and put moisturiser on before make-up.

BUT I don't use castor oil - I think it can be a bit harsh which is maybe why they say not to use it every day. I don't see why you couldn't use something like sunflower or rice bran oil every day though.

I used to use vitamin E oil on a night time to moisturise. My skin felt plumper and my spots did decrease.

The skin has a ph balance as everyone knows and using harsh chemicals to cleanse it will create an imbalance and make the oil producing glands work harder until the overproduction blocks the pores.

I use Dermalogica Special Cleansing gel now. Soap free, neutral balance and cleans my skin without it feeling tight. Then I apply Bio oil. Haven't looked back really. I do get one hormonal spot every month but it's so much better than the multitude I used to have.