One of the most important things to remember when dealing with your skin is that your body creates oil to help keep your pores clean and free of debris. In order to dissolve this oil and get at the trapped dirt, you need to use oil to cleanse your face.
Now no one is allowed to freak out! But – that will cause breakouts, right?
No, it won’t. Breakouts happen for several reasons.
- Hormonal: Fluctuations in hormones can cause breakout for a variety of reasons. The underlying cause may even be an undiagnosed autoimmune disorder.
- Genetic: Some people are just predisposed to acne.
- Psychological: Being stressed out CAN cause acne. When stress is high, the likelihood of a breakout can increase.
- Infectious: Some types of bacteria are known to colonize in the pores of the skin. These bacteria can disrupt normal, healthy skin function and result in an acne outbreak.
- Diet: Many times eruptions on the skin are a direct result of a food sensitivity or allergy. Finding the root cause can greatly reduce the number of outbreaks.
Once you figure out WHY your face is breaking out, you can take the appropriate steps to remedy the situation. Now, back to using oil to clean your face. There are a few guidelines to follow when blending carrier oils to use as your OCM base. First, start with about 20% of the whole as castor oil. Castor oil is drawing and helps to clear the skin of deep dirt in the pores. The remaining 80% is up to you. At the end of this post, you’ll find a few links that can help you choose the carrier that’s right for you.
You’ll want to know what type of skin you have. Perhaps you already know, but if not here is a handy tool I found for you to use to discover your skin type: http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-Your-Skin-Type
Knowing your skin type is useful in choosing which carrier oils will make up your oil cleanse. Adding essential oils is like icing on the cake! You can seriously customize this concept to really fit the goals you have for your skin! Let me give you a few examples.
- Oily Skin Lemon or Lime & Tea tree
- Dry Skin Helichrysum, Sandalwood, Carrot Seed and/or Patchouli
- Sensitive Skin Roman Chamomile and/or Lavender
- Synergies we offer several synergies that may be useful for skin preparations. Click this link to see them: Therapeutic Synergies
None of these ratios or recipes are set in stone. You may have to experiment a little in order to find what works well for your skin. Always make a small “batch” in order to see how it works, then you can scale up or change as needed. In order to learn more about carrier oils, check out this post: Carrier Oils – The Other Part of the Equation. This will guide you in choosing carrier oils that suit your needs. Other great posts like DIY Facial Serum and Beauty Masks have helpful recipes that you may consider using to customize your carrier oil blend.
So once you’ve made your oil cleanse you’ll follow these step to use it:
- Massage a quarter sized amount into the skin
- Using hot water, wet a wash cloth and apply over the face to steam the skin (this allows the pores to open and the oils to get inside to help pull out the dirt)
- Wipe the skin with that wash cloth
- Rinse the wash cloth
- Repeat steps 1-4 at least one more time
I like to do this in the evening prior to bed. After cleansing with oil, you’ll find you don’t need any additional moisturizer. In the morning, I simply use water and a wash rag to wipe my face clean. I will apply a light serum in the morning!
As always if you have any further questions or concerns, please email us at aromatherapist@planttherapy.com. We can also be found on Facebook at Safe Essential Oil Recipes.
