Have you heard? There may be a better way to wash your face!

Ok. So I'm a teenage girl that struggles with keeping her acne under control. Like I eat more than 1 piece of junk food and I have at least 2 new breakouts even though I work out 2-3 times a week and drink water constantly and do everything right. Well I was using proactive and yes it works for me but I was sooooo tired of washing my face with chemicals just to keep it clear and then deal with super dry skin and then by noon have really oily skin (hello gross!)
So my mom was doing some research because she was curious on some more non-chemical ways to take care of your skin and she stumbled upon The Oil Cleansing Method. Let me tell you something. This method changed my life. I no longer have super oily skin or super dry skin. I don't even have to use moisturizer anymore! And the best part is (well I guess there's more than one) I only have to wash my face once a day (in the evening) and it takes off all your make-up and pulls that gross icky stuff that got stuck in your pores all day out of your pores!

So this oil cleansing thing definitely is one of those what? why would you wash your face with oil??
Well here's the definite good parts to this and I can back these up:

• It helps balance your face's normal oil levels. 
• Oil dissolves oil (this is common chemistry)
• It pulls all the gross stuff out
• It feels wonderful as a massage
• It nourishes your skin :)

The Hard parts:

• Finding the right blend
• The adjusting period is 1-2 weeks normally
• It is kind of time consuming (but hey once a day isn't bad so do it in the evening)

Ok so now you probably want to know how you go about doing this Oil Cleansing method stuff right? well here's the quick version and the way I prefer to do it. (you can change this up to whatever works for you)

Any of these oils is normally good to use but you may have to experiment with what works for you:

Castor oil (highly recommended since it has very good cleansing properties)

Sunflower seed oil

Avocado oil

jojoba oil (this works for some people but not all)

any kind of vegetable oil really

Try not to use:

Coconut oil (this does work for some but most break out)

Olive oil (same as coconut oil)

I use Castor oil and Sunflower seed oil. I love these two together and they work for me. I use about 1/3 castor oil to 2/3 sunflower see oil so 1 tsp castor oil and 2 tsp sunflower.

These are the best ratios to start with and then whatever you feel is right for YOU

Oily: 2/3 castor oil to 1/3 sunflower oil (or your choice of oil)

Normal: equal ratios

Dry: 1/3 castor oil to 2/3 sunflower oil

These are best to start off with and then make it your own. But the more castor oil you do the dryer it could make your skin since it is very thick which is why we thin it down some with a thinner oil.

Here's the steps:

1. Put down all your other cleaners and make-up removers. You do not need these

2. either mix right there with the oils on hand or use a premade oil mix like I do and use about a quarter size amount to spread evenly across your face. (you can use more if you want)

3. Massage your face gently and do not scrub! Do this as long as you want but do it for at least 2 minutes.

4. Let it sit there for at least a minute to pull out all the icky stuff. If you want let steam hit your face for 5 minutes (if you do this in the shower like I do then put it on when you first get in and rinse off when you're done with everything else)

5. Take a clean wash cloth and run it under water that is as hot as you can stand and ring it out. Lay it over your face and steam it to help get the oil off. I have seen where you steam and then wipe the oil off. I personally do not wipe it off as it is my moisturizer as well but you can wipe it off if you would like to.

6. You're done!

You can add essential oils to your blend which is never a bad thing as I love essential oils (especially Young Living which is pictured above). Ones that help with acne specifically or have healing properties are best. But this is up to you whether you do or not.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and maybe even try it. But remember there is a week or two transitioning period where your face may break out a little more and be a tad more oily but this comes with your skin getting used to the change and it is so worth it. I encourage you to try this and if you don't like it in the end well you can go back to your old ways and there is nothing wrong with that.