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Oil cleansing method

540 replies

mammya · 12/03/2009 08:56

Thank you to the mumsnetter who mentionned this a few days ago! I looked it up and have done it a couple of times, and it is fantastic! It has made such an amazing difference to my skin in such a short time: it is much clearer, softer, with no dry patches, and some old stubborn blackheads are finally gone. And it is cheap! What's not to like!

For anyone interested more info here

OP posts:
toffeeapple · 20/04/2009 11:33

I've stopped.
I used my facial scrub this morning and after the school run, as it was hot, my face looked like a mirror it was that oily. Shit.
I not only stopped because of the pores but I've also noticed that since I started my hair has gone a really funny texture, kind of really dry. Did anyone else get that?
Why would that be?

Sooty7 · 20/04/2009 11:45

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toffeeapple · 20/04/2009 11:58

Ah ah!! I am quite hairy anyway and I certainly have a blackead beard at the moment, but yes I mean the hair on my head.
It's always been quite luxurious although with blond highlights, but for over a week it's looked, dry and compact.

Grammaticus · 20/04/2009 12:00

I got castor oil from the Boots counter no problem. About £1.40 IIRC.

Sooty7 · 20/04/2009 12:01

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toffeeapple · 20/04/2009 12:24

To be honest, I've got to go back to the oil thing in any case, I just can't carry on with my regular face scrub, only using it once this morning has made my face AWFULLY oily, my foundation doesn't even stay it's disgusting.
Why haven't I noticed that before? Yeah maybe the hair is a coincidence but it's weird, it seems to coincide with the time when I started the OCM.
I might try coconut oil (do you mean instead of the castor oil or together with?)

Sooty7 · 20/04/2009 12:50

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toffeeapple · 20/04/2009 13:34

Cool. What are your pores like? Do they look better or worse since the OCM? I suppose the mask helps with them?

whoingodsnameami · 20/04/2009 19:35

toffeeapple, my hair has gone dry and wiry too, I thought it might be the ocm as I never have a problem with the texture of my hair, I never blowdry or use any products in my hair, I just use straighters once in a while, in fact, I have just realised something, my hair actually went much better until I started using the castor oil, also although I consider myself to have quite oily skin, I think the ocm worked better for me just sunflower oil and a touch of bio oil, I am thinking of not bothering with the castor oil.

whoingodsnameami · 20/04/2009 19:37

A good wat to descibe how my hair feels at the moment...........it feels as though I have been sanding the ceilings and its full of dust, kind of thick and dry.

Sooty7 · 20/04/2009 20:29

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nappyaddict · 21/04/2009 00:03

My hairdresser actually recommended using hot castor oil as a hot oil treatment on my hair as it was very dry and damaged. It's meant to prevent split ends and breakage. It's also good to use on children as a moisturiser or hair conditioner cos there's no chemicals in it. She said it can also be used to thicken hair up and for hair loss. You are supposed to apply it directly to the scalp and roots of your hair, massage it in and then wrap your hair in a towel, leave it overnight and wash it out the next day.

When I told my beauty therapist friend I was using the OCM method with olive oil and castor oil she told me to massage the castor oil into my eyelashes - it makes them thicker and longer and to massage the olive oil into any areas where i removed body hair cos it's a hair growth inhibitor.

You learn something new everyday!!

I have been using a mixture of almond, sunflower, avocado and rapeseed oils. I tried olive oil but I found it too drying and I found jojoba irritated my spots.

However I am a bit worried about this comment I found posted on a different forum:

"would like to say that castor oil in conj with olive and jojoba for 3 months def caused a lot of extra white facial hair on both my sister and my face while we were doing OCM. It is on my cheeks, chin and lip. I also had a lot more eyebrow growth - like brooke shields in the 80s!!!!!! basically i have a layer of white fur over my face, and a few that look like whiskers- more spiky. Very notceable side on.

we still have hideous cystic acne from the ocm, mine are at the infected boils stage now 3 months on. I am spending a fortune on acne prods and will vist my doctor for antibiotics tomorrow morning. they are so deep and infected that a greenish pus (not even yellow!) comes out of them. We also have rash like white clogs all over us - like a beard. looks great with the extra hair!!! I am in a lot of pain with them. most of them are under my jaw along my neck and at the sides of my chin. I probably have about 11 either big red/purple blind ones at the moment that are all swollen and about 5 with the yellow green pus heads and 5 that are further along and started to scab. I am a mess.

we did nothing else but ocm differently- we are also 10 years different in age so it can't be the same change in hormones!!!!!

that is our ten cents worth! see our "ocm ruined my skin" thread for more info. the hair came a bit later but it is really noticeable and my sister has started removing it. I am a 31 year old blue eyed blonde who has never had excess hair issues before! and she is 21 and fair too!

beware ocm- i wish i had not been swayed by all the hype, it is retrospectively the worst thing i have ever done in the name of beauty.

we are sad every day as we just want things back the way they were."

LouieStrumpet · 21/04/2009 09:48

I tried this last night and although my skin is not glowing this morning, I had itchiness under my chin that has calmed down a lot.

I think I will keep at it a while and see what it does - it's going to be really cheap if it works well!

littlesilversnowbeetle · 21/04/2009 09:49

christ on a bike nappy, that's terrifying

toffeeapple · 21/04/2009 13:25

Oh my god! Nappy I definately DON'T need any more facial hair. But do you know what? Funily enough, I noticed that my eyebrows have definately grown longer. There's even hairs growing at the top of them now!!
What's scary about the castor oil as well is that it makes your skin swell. I read that on a french website where it said to apply it with caution.
And last night in bed it felt like my lips were huge, I even had to get up and look at myself in the mirror!
I read on the same website that it was v good for hair growth (hair, eyebrows, even eyelashes) so I can imagine that it makes hairs in ALL areas grow.
That post does sound a bit sensational to be honest, it sounds like they are trying to "shock" by exaggerating.
It's scared me though, I'm only using jojoba tonight.
whoingodsname my hair has started to look like and feel like that even before I used castor oil, but defo since doing the OCM (originally only using Olive Oil).
I want to stop but my face looks so oily when I wash it normally.
All of you ladies who carry on with the castor oil, will you tell us in 3 months time if you are all looking like monkeys?

toffeeapple · 21/04/2009 13:43

Anyone else's hair looking dodgey (not sure about the spelling of "dodgey" I'm french so forgive me ladies)

Kewcumber · 21/04/2009 13:48

no problem with my hair and I can;t see how on earth putting oil on your face would affect the texture of your hair.

The "facial hair" thread sounds more t=like they both have polycystic ovaries.

I have not developed any facial hair and have PCOS so if anyone is going to it would be me. If Olive oil were a convincing hair inhibitor it would be discussed in the PCOS community which AFAIK it isn't.

nappyaddict · 21/04/2009 14:06

Toffeeapple - I have combination hair (oily roots and dry ends) My hairdresser told me to try rubbing a few drops of castor, coconut or jojoba oil in the ends of my hair every day. You don't need to rinse it out cos you only use a very small amount.

Also she told me to buy a cheap conditioner just for using before I shampoo my hair. She told me to apply loads of the cheap conditioner to my wet hair and then shampoo and condition (with my usual conditioner) as normal. Applying the cheap conditioner before you shampoo protects the ends from getting stripped of oils too much.

You can use coconut and jojoba oil as a hot oil treatment aswell. Use the same method that I posted for the castor oil above.

Vamonos · 21/04/2009 16:09

toffeeapple - what oil are you using with the castor oil? Just wondered as olive oil did make my face feel quite odd and 'papery' so it might do the same to hair as well.

The sunflower oil was much better from that point of view.

Alarming stuff about the castor oil I think I'll keep the proportion v small - actually I found that 100% sunflower oil seemed to clean everything off very well anyway.

toffeeapple · 21/04/2009 17:16

vamonos come to think of it, at the very beginning of the OCM I was using olive oil only and I remember rubbing a bit of it in my hair thinking how great it would be to have one single oil for every use.
I left it in and didn't rinse. It must be that then.
And like Kewcumber said, putting oil on one's face cannot make one's hair dry, only I thought my hair started to look dry before I put the Olive oil in my hair. I must have been wrong.
To be honest I mistreat my hair with all sorts (straighteners, blowdrying) so it's probably a coincidence that it's showing signs of dryness now. I probably need a good haircut as well (I think I'll skip the highlights this time, it's that bad).
I can't stop looking at people with shiny hair now .
Thanks Nappy, are you still carrying on with the OCM even though you think it might be the cause of your drying hair?
I suppose instead of cheap conditioner before washing you can put castor oil/coconut/jojoba on wet hair or homemade mayo, as a mask, I'm sure I've read that somewhere.

But at the moment, I'm not doing ANYTHING new to my hair a part from staying off the hair straighteners and washing it less often and having a good haircut, otherwise if I use too many things and it gets worse, I won't know what's caused what.

whoingodsnameami · 21/04/2009 19:09

Before I bought the correct oils I used vegtable oil, and I think it gave me better results, am thinking of switching back, anyone know any reason not to use veg oil, as none of the ocm websites mention it?

Tigerbear · 21/04/2009 19:40

Ooh, just went off to Waitrose and Superdrug and Boots to get my stash of oils. Castor oil nowhere to be found - Boots had sold out of their last one - it's all you MNers, buying up all the stock! Decided to go for a blend of sunflower and avocado, and have just done my first cleanse - WOW it was fantastic! My skin looks glowy and brighter, very soft and clean.
My hands were still a bit oily after the hot water and flannel, so I just rubbed it all in, and now have super soft and moisturised hands too!
I just want these massive lumpy spots to go away now, so will let you know how it goes...

nappyaddict · 22/04/2009 00:22

toffeeapple - my hair has always had dry ends. it hasn't happened since i started ocm. sorry i probably wasn't very clear. i have a tendency to ramble on! how long can you leave your hair before it looks greasy?

Kewcumber · 22/04/2009 10:57

whoingodsname - olive oil IS a vegetable oil so I doubt theres much problem using other veg oils. Most no-name veg oil is rape seed oil.

I would assume avocado oil is more moisturising then a caster oil? But probably quite a bit more expensive.

mammya · 22/04/2009 13:50

I'm back to using pure almond oil, as I found my avocado-olive-castor oil mixture too drying. Almond oil, on the other hand, leaves my skin all soft and dewy (never thought I'd ever describe my skin as dewy!), but still does a good job on the old blackheads. I will try adding a tiny amount of castor oil to the almond oil and see how that goes.

I agree with Kewcumber, that surely any pure vegetable oil will work well. I think it is mineral oils that shouldn't be used with this method.

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