All of my life I have had awful acne, cystic, blackheads, whitehead, etc. I have literally had some kind of acne since 3rd grade and I am now 21 years old; as you would expect, I'm pretty tired of it all. I've tried creams, antibiotics, proactiv, nutragena, clearasil, etc!
So when I found the oil cleansing idea, I was ecstatic! I did a little research and started using the one explained on
this blog. I started this cleansing regimen on Tuesday, April 16, 2013 after work (it was technically the 17th cause it was after midnight, but it was my Tuesday night, so, yea). Anywho, next morning (my morning, it was like noon, I'm on late/overnight shifts lol) my husband said he noticed it clearing up a little and it is definitely not dry or oily any more, just soft and supple. I usually am oily in t-zone and dry everywhere else with acne all over, so it's a nice change!
According to the directions on the blog:
Buy cold-pressed castor oil (what I got was a $2.68 5oz bottle from walmart, it said "cold pressed" right on the label, found with the laxatives), it pulls out impurities, but be warned, if you're prone to facial hair this is probably not a good oil to go with because it will thicken and elongate hairs (supposedly), which is a good thing if you have thin eyebrows and eyelashes, just dab it along your lashes/brows. Also, buy 100% extra-virgin olive oil (what I bought was a $2 6oz bottle also from walmart with the cooking oils, make sure it does
not say "tasting" on the front in small letters) it moisturizes your skin and keeps your glands from over-producing oils (which would cause more acne).
And that's it! Combine the two in the ratio best for your skin type:
For normal skin that you just want to make better, use a ratio of 1:1 (2 tbsp of each oil),
For oily/acne-prone skin, use a ratio of 3:1 Castor to EVOO (3 tbsp of castor oil and 1 tbsp of EVOO),
For dry skin, use a ratio of 1:3 Castor to EVOO (1 tbsp of castor oil and 3 tbsp of EVOO)
These amounts should last about two weeks.
After washing your hands, if wearing makeup, take a piece of a paper towel or cotton ball/pad and dab a drop or two of your oil mixture and just wipe of the foundation/eyeshadow/blush (for eye liner and mascara, use your best judgment, I would just use whatever cleaner you regularly use).
Get a washrag/wash cloth/whatever you call it. Turn on your hot water and right after you cut it on, take about a quarter size in the palm of your hand and massage it into your face. Wet the washrag with the hot water and ring out, let it cool down as much as you need to not burn yourself, but it needs to be able to cause a steam effect. Place on your face and keep it there until it has cooled completely. Once cooled, wipe off all oil off your face. (this part wasn't specified but I felt like it helped) you then rinse the rag out with as-hot-as-you-can-stand water, then apply the rag (the side you did
not use to wipe the oil off previously) to your face once again, let sit until cool, then wipe off remaining oil. Let air dry or pat dry.
This blog says to do it at night, and that's what I do too, that way you can get your make up taken off at the end of the day too. If you exercise or shower in the mornings and feel like you need to, you can wash your face like normal and just dab the oil mixture (use very little) to keep your face moisturized and from over-producing oil after.
And that's it, just repeat every night! According to some comments on the blog I got this from it may get a little worse before it gets better, many antibiotics do this too; because it's pulling the impurities out, it will probably show a little more for a little bit, it's normal.
I will show before pictures and updates after a week and again the week after next and will post really early Wednesday morning, like 2am-ish, both weeks.
Thanks for reading and I hope this helps both you and I!
- Julie :)
