Naturally Beautiful and Frugal: The Oil Cleansing Method!

Let's go back to sophomore high school science for second ok?  You most likely learned in that year if not earlier that substances solve each other.  Water solves water and oil solves oil.  In light of that, why are we scared of oil touching our face? Most products on the market are oil free and packed full of sulfates just like hair products.  This helps only to remove oil off of your face completely making your skin over compensate for the loss thus, over producing and making your skin more oily than desirable.  This can cause problems for people with sensitive or acne prone skin.  I am fortunate to have been blessed with skin that doesn't have problems, but for those with problems, it can easily damper your mood.  Since I like everything to be as natural as possible that goes in and on my body, I did research on natural cleansing routines for the face.  I soon found the oil cleansing method! Scientifically it makes sense to me, just like my curly girl method I previously posted about.  The oil cleansing method is based on two main oils and then others essential oils are added to customize the oil blend for the individuals skin type.  Depending on your skin type, you will use a ratio of caster oil and a lighter moisturizing oil as the base for your blend. The ratios for oils as follows:

Dry Skin: 20% Caster oil to 80% lighter oil
Balanced Skin: 30% Caster oil to 70% lighter oil
Oily Skin: 40% Caster oil to 60% lighter oil

Caster oil breaks up the nasty dirt and build up that blocked into your pores.  And for those of you that have cystic acne, I'm happy to report to you that caster oil also breaks up and prevents those nasty things on your face.  Quite using harsh scrubs and soaps on your acne, it only agitate it and moves the bad oil around on your face!

Picking a lighter oil  
Most people use either Olive oil or Sunflower oil.  I use sweet almond oil since I do have sensitive skin, but problem free skin.  It's light and moisturizing. Here are some other types that are great for skin. (Stay away from coconut oil! It will solidify in your pores...bad!)

• Jojoba (all skin types, but very desirable for acne-prone skin)
• Sweet almond (all skin types, especially oily)
• Grapeseed (all skin types, especially oily)
• Avocado (dry and aging skin)
  
• Sunflower Seed (all skin types)
  
• Olive (all skin types) - make sure it's a good quality olive oil
  
• Apricot Kernel (dry, aging, and normal skin)
  
• Argan (all skin types, especially aging skin … very pricey)
• Tamanu (all skin types … very pricey)

The lighter oil serves the purpose of a moisturizer and replacer.  It replaces the bad oil that the caster oil broke up with good oil.
Adding other oils to your blend
Once you've established what lighter oil you add to your special percent of caster oil, you can then decide what other essential oils to add to your blend.

General Care:	Lavender, rose, rosemary camphor, cypress, geranium, chamomiles, rosewood, geranium essential oils and hydrosols
ACNE:	Tea tree, Manuka, Helichrysum, lavender, spike lavender, thyme linalool, rose geranium, tea tree, Petitgrain, grapefruit, sandalwood, Vetiver, mints, basil, German chamomile, atlas Cedarwood, rosewood, Palma Rosa, thyme, Cajeput, Niaouli, Yarrow Hydrosol
ASTRINGENT:	Grapefruit, yarrow, rosemary, lime distilled
BLACK HEADS:	Coriander, thymus vulgaris, peppermint, lemongrass
CHAPPED/ CRACKED SKIN:	Myrrh, patchouli, sandalwood, Vetiver, Cajeput, roman & German chamo, lavenderCalendula infused oil.
CHILBLAINS:	Black Pepper, Cinnamon leaf, clove bud, ginger, lavender.  (ie, circulatory stimulants to promote warming.)
CLEANSING:	Sweet Basil, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, Niaouli, peppermint
COMBINATION SKIN:	Geranium, Rosewood, Ylang-ylang, Rose Geranium Hydrosol, Neroli Hydrosol
DEVITALIZED SKIN:	Eucalyptus globulous, myrtle, neroli, basil juniper, lemon, lemongrass, Niaouli, peppermint, pine, orange, oregano, rosemary, spearmint, geranium, grapefruit
DRY ACNE:	Petitgrain, lavender, spike lavender, clary, rose geranium
DRY SKIN:	Carrot seed, Cedarwood, clary, jasmine, geranium, lavender, orange, Palma Rosa, rose, roman chamo, rosewood, neroli, Petitgrain, Mandarine petitgrain, Vetiver, sandalwood, ylangylang, carrot seed, lavender, rose or neroli hydrosol, Calendula infused oil
ECZEMA:	German Chamomile, Helichrysum, Lavender, Bergamot, Carrot Seed, Atlas Cedarwood, Roman Chamomile, Juniper, Myrrh, Palma Rosa, Patchouli, Sandalwood, Teatree, Yarrow, Ylangylang. Calendula infused oil, Cranberry Seed Oil.
HYDRATING:	Palma Rosa, sweet orange, Mandarine, tangerine, rose, most hydrosols, esp. Neroli
INFECTIONS:	German chamo, Manuka, eucalyptus, lavender, myrrh, roman chamo, rosemary, spikenard, tea tree, thyme linalool, calendula, Palma Rosa, Niaouli, laurel, myrtle, rosewood
INFLAMMATION:	Helichrysum, st. johns Wort infusion, carrot seed, Cistus, galbanum German & Roman chamomiles, clary, myrrh, myrtle, rosewood, angelica, yarrow, Helichrysum, Witch hazel or Chamomile Hydrosols
ITCHING:	Jasmine, heli, lavender, peppermint, roman chamo, Lavender or Witch Hazel hydrosol
LARGE PORES:	Myrtle, lemongrass, rose, Cedarwood
MATURE, AGED SKIN,  WRINKLES:	Carrot seed, elemi, Cistus, frankincense, galbanum, fennel, geranium, myrrh, patchouli, rose, Clary, rosewood, sages, cypress, fennel, lavender, neroli, Sea Buckthorn Berry Extract, Rose Hip Extract.
NORMAL SKIN:	Atlas Cedarwood, geranium, jasmine, lavender, neroli, roman chamo, rose, rosewood, ylangylang, angelica, all hydrosols
OILY SKIN:	Roman & German chamos, Cedarwood, (atlas, red, texas) geranium, Clary, lavender, Ylang-ylang, lemon, peppermint, Niaouli, Cajeput, cypress, calendula infusion, frankincense, patchouli, sandalwood, juniper, Melissa, yarrow, coriander, Petitgrain, lime distilled, grapefruit, thyme linalool, Lavandin, spike lavender, rose.
PIMPLES, blemishes:	Tea tree, Manuka, Lemon Myrtle, German Chamomile, Helichrysum italicuum, thyme linalool, Cajeput, oregano (spot only) Niaouli, rosemary
PUFFINESS:	Oregano, Spanish marjoram, cypress, peppermint, rosemary, fennel, celery, clary sage, roman chamomile
REGENERATION:	Frankincense, lavender, neroli, patchouli, rose, rosemary, sandalwood, teatree, Helichrysum, elemi, Vetiver, spikenard, caraway, Palma Rosa, Spanish sage, Clary, lavender, galbanum, myrrh, myrtle, calendula, carrot seed, Cistus, CO2 combo
REVITALIZING BASAL LAYER:	Carrot seed, Rosewood, Niaouli, tea tree, orange, calendula
ROSACEA:	German chamomile, Helichrysum italicuum, rosewood, Helichrysum hydrosol
SENSITIVE SKIN:	Roman & German chamomile, rose, Palma Rosa, Helichrysum, neroli, rosewood, carrot, angelica, jasmine, Neroli, Chamomile or Yarrow Hydrosols
SCARS:	Helichrysum (in a base of Rose Hip Seed Oil), carrot seed, lavender, petitgrain, galbanum
SKIN TONER:	Calendula infused , lemongrass, chamomiles, lavender, neroli, orange, rose, frankincense, Petitgrain, lemon, hydrosols

Make sure you know the potency of the essential oil you are adding especially when only making a little batch. For example, when using high potent oils like tea tree, lemon or peppermint oil, you only need 2-3 drops per half cup.  I use a blend of lemon grass, peppermint, rose, lavender and tea tree oil in my base of caster and sweet almond oil.  Don't be afraid to play around with different blends till you find one that you really like!


Once you have your blend all you will need is a dirty face (yes even with make up on, in my success it removes my eyeshadow primer and mascara better than any eye makeup remover!) your oil blend and a washcloth! 


Step One
Put a quarter size amount of your oil blend in the palm of your hand and apply to your face.  Massage the oil into your face for 5-10 minutes.  


Step Two
Turn on your sink faucet and allow the water to get rather hot, but not to where it will scald your skin.  Wet the washcloth in the hot water, ring it out slightly and apply to your face.  


Step Three
Let the steam from the washcloth open up your pores and soften the oil.  


Step Four
Once the washcloth is warm to room temperature, slowly remove the washcloth while wiping away the oil from your face.  


Step Five
Wet the washcloth again with warm-hot water and wipe away the remaining oil on your face. Repeat this until all the oil is off of your face.   The good oil has already been replaced into your pores so it is very important that you get all the bad oil off of your face! 


Thats it! You're skin will feel super clean and look great!


Your skin might go through a purging period where it will be a little bit more oily than your usual skin type for 1-2 weeks.  This is normal, stick with it! 




Happy Cleansing!




~ Hayden Lorraine