Oil free cleansing questions. Good or Bad?

[loubielou31]

I had heard of this method years ago but am now inspired to try it because of Mumsnet influence (although I will not be trying out the haircut!).

My skin is fairly normal combination, occasional spotty outbreaks, will it work for me? Currently a Clinique type 3 girl but like the idea of something cheaper.

Have any of you been using the method for a long time (months)? Is it still working for you or did you only use it for a couple of weeks / months and then revert back to your former routines?

The method I've seen links to recommends sunflower oil, is this really the Tesco litre bottle I've got in my cupboard that I use for frying eggs or more like a sunflower equivalent of Extra Virgin Olive Oil? I realise you can use Olive Oil but I really don't like the smell. I do have cold pressed rapeseed oil in my cupboard.

I have a similar skin-type to you and Clinique worked well for me (but like you went for something cheaper).

I tried olive oil for a bit, and it made my skin breat out horribly. I also used Bio-Oil for pigmentation and again, while it worked on the pigmentation, I broke out badly. It may work for you, however, so perhaps try it but be prepared to stop if things go wrong?

Now I've just gone back to trying different things ... still in skincare limbo.

This is for you if the OCM makes you break out badly.

I have combination skin prone to both dry patches and occasional breakouts plus a bit of redness. Oil cleansing per se is very acne-inducing for me, but cleaning my skin with a baby oil that's a mixture of several oils (Burt's Bees Apricot) combined with removing the oil with soap has worked really well for several months - my skin is cleaner, supplier and has improved so much that I'm in the process of letting go of liquid foundation altogether.

What works for me - I do this every night

1. oil cleansing (just two drops of oil on a piece of cotton, spread all over my face. I get very flushed from hot or cold water and scrubs irritate my face so I don't do the muslin and dilutions routine)
2. rinsing the oil off with lathering soap (regular cheap Dove from the supermarket, as per someone's recommendation here)
3. applying either an overnight moisturizer or moisturizing in the following morning. Eucerin does wonderful, non-comedogenic moisturizers that really have cleared up my persistent dry patches. La Roche-Posay also does an OK moisturizer that's good for daytime (Toleriane Riche).

Someone on Makeupalley had succesfully just used regular apricot kernel oil from the food aisle instead of Burt's Bees. Haven't tried it personally. If I leave the oil on my skin or mix a couple of drops of oil with my moisturizer, I get horrible, boil-like cystic acne that scars badly and takes forever to heal. (I don't need foundation any more but I need concealer to cover those horrible bluish scars.)

All kinds of wipes, toners and scrubs damage and irritate my skin. I think a part of why the OCM works for many is that it encourages you to use less products on your face - hence less sensitivity. It also very effectively gets rid of any traces of make-up.

try coconut oil, I just reviewed it, it's AMAZING
yumetc.blogspot.com/2011/05/coconut-oil-ultimate-cleanser.html

I just use castor oil. Never had any problems.