cleansing oil

my post about coconut oil last week brought up some good questions both here and in person. one question was if the oil makes you break out. from my experience, no, it doesn't. but if you've been using conventional products, your skin may have a period of breakout to get used to the natural oil and kick the synthetic out. skin blemishes are often a by-product of the diet, although some are prone to the body 'letting off steam' through acne than others. for instance, when eating poorly, i'm more likely to get intestinal problems than skin problems. the same can go for what you put on your body. if the pores are used to being stripped and then clogged with synthetic chemicals, they may freak out when they are left to their own accord, causing a breakout before they balance out again. does that make sense?

i'm no skin expert, but i have skin, and that has led me to make some observations. when using products meant to take the natural oils off of the skin, i am more likely to have an oil imbalance. this is because my body works extra hard to restore the proper oil ratio for me. this is what led me to using coconut oil on my skin. but then it led me a step further, into using cleansing oil on my skin in place of a face soap. i make a cleansing oil that i use once a day. the rest of the day i use water only. during the summer i rarely have to use coconut oil on my face, but in the winter, i tend to dry out more, thus causing me to use the cleansing oil followed by the coconut oil for moisture.

making the oil is easy. i use a base of castor oil, which has cleansing properties. because i have drier skin, i use one part castor oil. if you have oilier skin, you would want to use more. to this i add some sort of carrier oil. this time i used 3 parts sunflower oil, which is high in vitamin e. i usually use a mix of grapeseed oil and sunflower oil, but i was out of the grapeseed. to this i add about a 1/2 part of neroli oil. neroli is fantastic for your skin(helps regenerate skin cells, reduce scarring, etc)! but it is pretty expensive, hence the stinginess. then i add a couple of drops of sweet orange essential oil for a nice smell.

when i'm ready to wash my face, i use the dropper and put about 5 drops in my hand. i massage it into my face and then rinse off. then i pat dry with a towel. if i feel like it is too oily, i'll use a wet wash rag and gently wipe it off.

i've been using this off and on for about a year now. i based it on a super fancy oil my sister bought from her super fancy facial lady. i just bought all the ingredients, added some castor to the mix and experimented with the measurements. the bottle i use is a leftover tincture bottle that i washed and peeled off the label.

if you decide to make your own (and i hope you do) experiment with different oils until you find the mix that is right for you!