Oil up your face!

As I said the other day, I've got a cold going on. And when I'm sick, it's not pretty because my eyes? Well, they always look horrible. As soon as my nose starts to get stuffy my eyes immediately start to water and it looks like I'm crying. To stop the tears from flowing, I use tissues, which eventually dry out my face and cause it to be red and poofy. To counteract the dryness, I put some jojoba oil on it, which reminded me that I haven't shared my new(ish) skin care regimen with you guys! I wanted to do it for a while before I shared my results so my opinion would be honest, and then I totally forgot about it.

(Side Note: Vince just asked, 'Are you blogging?' since I was totally ignoring what he was saying and was typing, and I said, 'Ya,' and he replied 'About time!' It made me laugh so hard that he looks forward to reading my blog.)

So, a few months ago I was looking up a recipe to make my own deodorant and came across a step-by-step guide on Instructables. Holy goodness, that site is amazing! After further perusing, I came across an Instructable for washing your face with oil. Um, what? Oil?! Yes, oil.

It just so happened I was looking for a different face wash because I was almost out of mine, and it was hella expensive. My sister sold Mary Kay for a brief period and as a way to support her I bought some face wash...for like $50. BUT, I will say that the face wash is amazing. Seriously, I loved that stuff and my face loved that stuff. (But not as much as it loves the oil now.) At the same time, I don't have the money to pay that much for face wash!

So after reading about using oil to wash your face, it made sense. When you wash your skin with soap it strips the oil from your face. It's the same concept as shampoo. When you take away those oils, your skin (or hair) makes up for that by producing MORE oil, which causes breakouts and oily skin. If you use oil to wash your skin, though, your body doesn't need to produce more and you can control that amount of oil you put on it!

So here's a breakdown of what I use, how I use it, how often I use it, etc.

What I Use: organic sweet almond oil and tea tree oil to wash my face // jojoba oil as a moisturizer, when needed 

If you read the original Instructable, it tells you all about the different oils you can use. Basically, different oils do different things for different skin types. Universally, I think almond oil is the least noncomedogenic (doesn't clog pore) so that's what I chose to start with and it's worked great! The jojoba oil is also noncomedogenic and is a much lighter oil than almond oil, so I like it when I need to dab it on a little dry spot. I use the tea tree oil because it is an antibacterial that helps with acne.(I also apply it to my gums when I have a toothache!)

My oils happen to have labels that say it's good for your skin but you can use regular cooking oils! The stuff I have for my face are food grade as well but they just happened to be cheaper that the regular cooking oil. I would have bought whatever was cheaper!

How I Use It: I keep it in a little once ounce dropper bottle. (The blue bottle in the above picture) 

When I'm in the shower, I just use a dropper full of it and that's all! Even though the bottle is super small, it lasts SO long because you don't use a lot of oil.

How Often I Use It: once a day/whenever I shower
I'm too lazy to wash my face with oil when I'm not in the shower! On the days I don't wash my face, I ALWAYS 'clean' my face with a washcloth. I get my face wet and wipe it with a wet, warm washcloth to at least rinse off all the grime from that day.

Also, I usually take a shower in the morning or night, so whenever I'm not taking a shower, I'll just 'clean' my face with a wet washcloth. For example, if I took a shower the night before, I'll just wipe my face in the morning and call it good.

If I go a day without showering (which is frequently) I just clean my face with a wet wash cloth in the morning and before I go to bed. As long as I'm not going 3 or 4 days in between showers, it seems to work!

The Steps While I'm in the Shower: (No, I didn't take step by step pictures, but if you want that, click here!)
< I get my face wet with warm water. Using a wet wash cloth, I 'exfoliate' my skin, aka: wipe the grime off that happens to be there.
< I put a dropper-full of oil into the palm of my hand and then using both hands, spread it on my face. I usually take a few seconds to rub it in well.
< While I let the oil soak on my face, I do whatever I'm going to do during the shower: wash my hair, shave my legs, etc.
< Before I'm about to get out of the shower, I get my washcloth wet again and under the streaming water, I wipe the oil off my face with the washcloth.
< That's it!

How I Moisturize: jojoba oil
For the first couple weeks that I was washing my face with oil, my skin was still a little dry. To counteract that, I would put a dab of jojoba oil in the palm of my hand and using the tip of my finger, rub it where it needed to go. Now, I don't need to use it except on occasion!

Tips:
< When you are wiping the oil off your face, don't wipe too much! I would wipe my face until I couldn't feel any oil at first, but then I realized it's good to leave some of it on. It isn't shiny on your face and it doesn't feel oil when you face is dry, it just gives it some moisture.
< Give it a few weeks! Your skin will react no matter what you apply to it when you change up your routine. If you get a couple extra pimples at first, they'll go away! Give it time before you say you don't like it. And if they don't go away? Go back to your original routine.
< It's not a miracle worker. I still get a zit here and there, but no where near as many as I used to and they heal a lot faster.
< Dry you wash cloths separately (and wash them separately if you use warm water), otherwise the oil with transfer to your clothes and they'll start to smell weird. I wash my clothes in cold water most of the time, so the oil doesn't transfer, but they will in the head of the dryer!
< I typically use a wash cloth for 3 days, and then get a new one. I'll keep the old one in the shower, though, to wipe the mascara off my eyes.

Overall Results: I love it
Seriously, guys, this is amazing! I love that I'm putting 2 organic ingredients on my skin, and not 25 different chemicals, and I'm getting better results! It's a lot cheaper as well.

EDIT: By the way, my skin was super oily in some areas and super dry in others before I started using this, and now it's pretty even all around.

So I think that's all? If you have any questions, let me know!