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Oil cleansing is the use of natural oils to clean your face in order to restore your body’s balance of oil. As a result, you’ll get nourished, healthier looking skin in comparison to when you are cleansing with soap-based facial washes.
The idea is that the oil that you massage into the skin, loosens and dissolves the impurities that settle in your pores. Oil cleansing methods include steaming your face to open your pores allowing them to be cleaned easily. The oil-formula you apply on the skin prevents your skin from producing an excessive amount of oil.
Certain types of food in your diet, including dairy products, sugary foods and foods high in salt cause an excessive amount of oil to be released from the skin. This oil clogs up your pores and leads to oily, acne-prone skin with blackheads. Although cleansing, scrubbing, toning, and moisturizing can improve your skin’s health, you need to watch what you eat and keep it hydrated to keep it healthy from the inside.
Castor oil is the most common type of oil used in oil-cleansing, the proportions of castor oil that you will use will differ depending on your skin type. Your skin type will also determine what oils you will be using in your blend.
Oil Cleansing Blends
- Oily skin: Mix 30% of castor/hazelnut oil with 70% olive/sunflower seed oil or any other oil.
- Combination skin: Mix 25% of castor/hazelnut oil with 75% olive/sunflower seed oil or any other oil.
- Dry skin: Mix 10% of castor/hazelnut oil with 90% sunflower seed oil.
The castor oil in these blends is what will do the cleansing of the pores. The other oils will dilute the castor oil and reduce its thick consistency while providing nourishment to your skin.
If your skin is on the drier side then use less castor oil.
The Oil Cleansing Method
- You’ll need a clean, soft washcloth, some hot water (either running or in a bowl) and your oil blend.
- Pour some of the oil blend (about a ¼ of your palm). Rub your palms together to heat up the oil.
- Do not dampen your face. Massage the oil onto your face for 2-4 minutes to open up your pores. Use slow circular motions working it into your skin with gentle pressure, pushing out impurities and unclogging pores.
- Leave the oil on your face for 10 minutes and let it do its work.
- When you feel like the oil has saturated your pores, soak your washcloth in the hot water and place it on your face. The heat from the water should open up your pores even more and the washcloth will absorb all the oil. Make sure the water isn’t too hot, it should be warm enough to soften your pores (similar to how a steam machine works).
- When the wash cloth has cooled, wipe (not rub) your face down with it. Wash the wash cloth in running water, dip it into the hot water and place it on your face again. Repeat this 3-4 more times.
- Your skin should feel supple and smooth. The oils should fix any patchy and flaky areas but if your skin still feels a little tight then massage in a couple of drops of the leftover blend onto your face while it is damp. Gently massage the oil into the skin so there’s a film of oil left on your skin.
Try and do this oil cleansing method at least twice a week. Note that when you first start oil-cleansing, your skin can break out. Allow your skin some time to adapt to oil-cleansing, it can take 3-4 sessions before your skin adjusts its oil production.
You can’t fix your skin overnight. Expensive beauty products are loaded with chemicals that may or may not suit your skin. Natural remedies are much cheaper and will never harm your skin the way chemicals do.
Give oil cleansing a try, you'll love it!
Be sure to share this article with your friends, or leave us a comment if you have tried the oil cleansing method.
Author Bio:
“Brooke Whistance is a passionate health and lifestyle blogger who loves to write about prevailing trends. She has been living in Los Angeles, California with her family including, her parents two siblings and her cats. She is a featured author at various authoritative blogs in the health and fitness industry and currently associated as a blogger with Hourglass Express, providers of quality waist trainers, belly bands, and other weight loss products. You can always follow her at @IamBrooke94.”
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