Oil Cleansing Method

Stop what you’re doing and take a look at your face.  Go to a mirror and look at it, really look at it. What do you see?  Do you see dull, lifeless skin?  Do you see blackheads, whiteheads? If so, let me let you in on a little secret.  Even if you think you have perfect skin, you’ll want to stick around if you are still using commercial type products to cleanse your face.  *Wow, that sounded like an intro to an infomercial, sorry.*

It all started about 4 weeks ago when I was at Target looking for face wash. I was stuck in the usual conundrum. You probably know it well. I wanted something that would be good, you know really get my face clean and make it glow like the stars.  So I start looking at the ingredients.  Salicylic acid was something I had heard of.  Supposed to take care of acne I think. Alpha Hydroxy and Beta Hydroxy were somewhat familiar too. I knew they were good but could not for the life of me remember what for.  And then the doubt set in. Sure, I guess I would pay a few extra bucks if it was worth it, but do those things even work??  Or is it just a really good marketing ploy?  I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed the generic brand of a wash I used as a kid because “at least my face feels clean when I use it.” I drove home not really thinking anymore about it.  When I got home, I looked at the ingredient list (I didn’t do it at the store because my brain started to hurt) and saw “menthol” listed.  This sent an immediate annoyance through me.  What? What in the world does menthol have to do with cleaning my face?  And then it hit me…”my face FEELS clean.” Menthol gives your skin that tingly, almost cold feeling when you put it on your skin.  “It triggers the cold scepters on our skin,” according to one definition.  When in the world did we start to equate cold and tingly to clean and fresh???  Those stupid makers added menthol to the product so that I would be fooled into believing that my face was super clean because it FELT like it…..and I fell for it!! Thus began my search for a homemade cleanser that worked.

It just so happens that we had made plans to visit some friends that coming weekend.  While watching the kids play in the water I said something about olive oil and Diane (one of the friends we were visiting) said “oh, I clean my face with that.”  Now, if I could go back and replay that moment movie style and add a soundtrack, there would totally be angels singing and a fake light bulb above my head. She told me all about OCM. What it was, how she cleans her face at night, and the success she has had with it.  Her last words were “just look it up.”  Look it up, I did. Ya’ll there is a whole underground movement of people cleaning their face with oil!  But unlike Fight Club (“his name is Robert Paulson”) we can totally talk about it.    So, let me tell you. 

 

OCM stands for Oil Cleansing Method.  If you want to read the full process of how it works you can see it here, but the basics is while it seems counterintuitive, oil dissolves oil.  Our skin naturally creates oil and when we wash our face with an everyday cleanser, it strips our face with those oils leaving our skin tight.  Our body then tries to battle that by producing even more oil.  We are left with an endless cycle of tight skin, followed by oily skin.  The theory behind cleansing with oil is that the oil you clean your face with will dissolve the oil that is locked within your pores that has been hardened with nasty bacteria and dirt.  The steam from the water will allow your pores to open so that you can then wash away the impurities.   

Out of all the crunchy recipes I have tried, this has been by far the easiest to convert to. I will never wash my face with a commercially sold wash again.  I have been doing this for close to 3 weeks now and can definitely tell a difference.  My nose and chin were covered in blackheads when I started (TMI??) My nose is almost completely clear while my chin is getting better each day.  The bonus is that you do not need a makeup or eye remover.  The oil removes the makeup completely.  

So how does is work?

There are many different oil blends that you can make.  The staple in all of them is castor oil. Castor oil is known to clean pores and draw out impurities. I've also read that you should make sure it is "Cold Processed."  Apparently some oils are processed with heat and this kills some of the beneficial properties.  Because castor oil is so thick, you must mix it with a thinner oil. I use olive oil.

You can do different ratios depending on if your skin is naturally oily or naturally dry.  I decided to make it easy and just did half and half.  

Step One:    Mix your two oils in a bottle or just right in your hand

Step Two:    Rub the mixture all over your face, focusing on any trouble spots.

Step Two:   Run a wash cloth under hot water.  We're not scalding our faces here, just make sure it's hot enough to open your pores.

Step Four:   Lay the cloth on your face for a minute and pretend your away somewhere getting a facial on a deserted island. I repeat this step a second time when the cloth gets cold

Step Five:  Wash off all of the oil.

Step Six:   Don't skip this step.  Rinse your face with cold water.  This will be sure that your pores get closed once they are all nice and clean.

I know this is long, but don't give up on me!! If you stayed this far, good for you!  You now have a chance to win your very own Sophisticated Hippie blend. 

Here's how:

Answering one of the following questions below in the comments section (on the blog, not Facebook) will get you one entry.  Copy and pasting the blog link on your Facebook page will get you another (you must submit a second comment saying you pasted it.)

WHAT IS ONE PRODUCT THAT YOU WISH YOU COULD FIND A HOMEMADE RECIPE FOR?

WHAT IS ONE PRODUCT THAT YOU COULD NEVER GIVE UP, NO MATTER HOW CRUNCY COOL IT IS?

You have until Friday, July 8th at 12:00 noon CST to enter.  
Good luck!