Oil Cleansing: Week 3

Earlier today I posted a very late "first impression" of oil cleansing. Today is exactly three weeks since I started this routine, so I'll go into some detail of how I cleanse with oil and what I think of it so far. 

I've now created a blend of grapeseed oil (3/4) , pumpkin seed oil (1/4), and tea tree oil (I believe I put in two or three drops. I didn't make a very big solution since I'm just testing it out). I also bought two 100% polyester towels from Walmart; they're very soft and non-irritating to the skin, unlike most regular wash cloths. (I use one towel per wash, so I don't use them every time.)

I pore a liberal amount of the solution in my hands and rub it all over my face (I don't have to mix it with water in my palms or on my face first). After gently rubbing it all over in a massage-fashion for at least a minute, I'll rinse my towel in medium-warm water and lay it over my face to help open my pores. (**I first started rinsing the towel in water as hot as I could manage, but my skin reacts much better to slightly-warmer-than lukewarm water.) After that, I'll wipe off the oils. This first step is to remove my makeup. As my last step, I'll rub another small amount of the solution onto my face and flip the towel over, use the same temperature of water, and do my best to completely wipe all of the oils off. This second step may not be necessary, but I have a thing about removing my makeup before cleansing. It just doesn't make sense to me to say I can thoroughly cleanse my face while makeup residue is still present on my skin. Finally, I'll use my hands and rinse the skin a few times until my skin feels smooth instead of just oily (it's a subtle difference, but it's there). You really want to make sure the excess oil is completely rinsed off. 

First off, the process feels AMAZING. It's like having a mini facial each night, and it's so simple. I love not having to use 4 different products each night. The only extra step I include occasionally is, if I'm having a bad breakout, I'll take a q-tip and put a drop of tea tree oil on it and dab that on the trouble spots. 

Unless I use the tea tree spot treatment, I usually don't have to moisturize my skin at night. I still could without it feeling oily, but the oils are doing a pretty good job helping my dry skin.

I'm only oil cleansing at night. I've done it occasionally in the morning, but usually I don't have enough time before work to go through this process. I use a facial towelette instead (right now I'm using Pond's Evening Soothe Towelettes, but I'm not a huge fan). 

As far as ACNE goes: Your skin has to go through a detoxifying period when oil cleansing. At first I didn't break out - in fact, my skin looked great. However, within about the last week and a half, I started experiences major breakouts. I was in a lot of discomfort, but I stuck with it. Within the last few days the acne has calmed down a bit, and I would say the worst is on my forehead and jawline. With makeup and from a distance, my forehead doesn't look bad, but I have lots of tiny bumps (not exactly whiteheads) and blackheads. I'm trying to decide if it's just the icky stuff trying to release from pores or if I'm reacting to one of the oils. I'm going to give it another week and if it doesn't start to clear up, I'll eliminate one of the oils.

(I do want to quickly mention that yes, my skin has been clearing up in the past few days, but I also started drinking Yogi's Skin Detox tea and I think that has been contributing to it.)

I hope to post again next week at the one-month mark and let you know how it's going. 

Again, this is what I'm using for MY skin. I did a lot of research, as I mentioned in my "Day One" post. If you're wanting to try oil cleansing, make sure to research your skin and different oils.