Oil Cleansing for Healthy, Vibrant Skin

If you’d told me a couple of years ago that I’d be washing my face with oil, I would‘ve said pfft!

With acne-prone, patchy, blackheady, oily yet somehow also dull skin, I thought (and was always told) that water and soap based cleansers were best. I got accustomed to that tight, stripped feeling after washing. And almost afraid of feeling even a hint of oiliness on my skin, because oil is bad, oil is causing all of my troubles, oil must be controlled, dispelled. Right?

Thankfully the universe intervened and I’m a person who likes to try new things!

Why Oil is a Friend Not Foe

When I was a young adult, oil was talked about like an evil thing that needed to be purged from my skin at all costs and all times of the day. My 1990’s skincare routine included harsh soaps, alcohol-based sprays and an array of chemical- and detergent-loaded medical creams. I shudder now. Of course these products did nothing for my skin except dry it out excessively, dismantle the protective acid layer, etc. leading to patchy, flaky, greasy skin.

What I’ve learned since:

• When we strip our skin of its natural oils and acids, it must quickly repair itself by reproducing more oil. This leaves us in a vicious cycle from tight/dry to greasy/irritated. Not to mention that most soap products these days, even organic ones, contain things like surfactants or fragrances that further irritate skin by trapping debris and consistently disrupting our natural oil production cycles. They also cause dry skin that flakes off, further clogging pores.

• Washing with the right blend of high-quality oils, however, is gentle and can actually feed your skin nutrients rather than stripping it. Oils do not disrupt the natural acid mantle or drastically shift the pH. They do not attempt to fight and control, but rather support your skin’s natural processes, helping it find a more peaceful rhythm and balance.

• Ultimately, it is a combination of oil and water can keep skin looking soft, supple and healthy.

• High-quality oils are filled with an array of anti-viral, antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. They are highly anti-inflammatory plus high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and they’ve been used medicinally for many centuries and will clean your skin. We use only low-PUFA oils, which contain lots of good saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids that come with their own healing benefits. Learn more in Our Favorite Oils for Skin Health.

• Oil dissolves oil. Which means that high-quality oils can effectively remove excess sebum in pores, as well as dirt, make-up and other debris from skin without harming your skin’s natural barriers. Oil cleansers can leave you feeling softer and brighter, but not greasy.

• To avoid scarring from acne or other irritation, the key is plenty of moisturization, i.e. oil. It may seem counterintuitive if you’ve been on the “evil oil” train for a while, but if your moisturizer isn’t causing your breakouts, then do keep using it when acne pops up, because it can promote healing and prevent scarring.

Again, there may be an adjustment period if you’re coming from years of soap-based cleansers. The oil cleanser may begin to unclog your pores, and the oil barrier on your skin may need some time to reset itself and relax its overproduction of oils.

Tips for Transitioning Into Oil Cleansing

Oil cleansing had its challenges at first, I must admit. I broke out everywhere, even in places I had never before. And my blackheads got bigger, blacker. BUT my skin also looked alive for the first time in my adult life! There was color! And an actual glow (cliché, but true).

It was enough to keep me going.

After a few weeks, the acne was gone – leaving no scars behind, which was new for me – and my nose was looking less like a minefield of blackheads. My skin had never looked healthier, despite my 40th birthday lingering just around the corner. There was no going back to soap for me.

Here are a handful of tricks I discovered that helped me transition fully into oil cleansing:

I used a soft washcloth to help gently remove the oil after washing with my hands. That helped. Please go gently here – no harsh cloths, no hot water, no tugging and pulling at your face! Simply wet a soft cloth with lukewarm water and slowly massage the excess oil off. You can absolutely do this with your hands as well, but I guess I needed the cloth in the beginning to ease me into this new territory of soft, shiny skin and not the dry, tight skin I was accustomed to.

After cleansing, I always used a toner – NOT an alcohol-based toner filled with chemicals, but one made with hydrosols, or floral waters. A toner that could remove any excess oil or grime and actually support my skin, rather than send it into a tailspin of imbalance.

Once a week, I used this clay mask to help draw out things that were trapped and/or trying to come to the surface. This helped tremendously during the transition I think! I even have a customer who mixes our oil cleanser and clay mask together into a balm to use as a daily cleanser. “It’s creamy and nourishing yet cleanses my skin so well,” she wrote. “My new favorite daily ritual.”

Also, I continued to wash with soap one, maybe two, times per week – and I used traditional Aleppo soap for this, which is made with just oils – no detergents or foaming agents, fragrances or preservatives. This weekly soap cleansing lasted about a month or two, and then I let go of the soap completely.

By then the acne, blackheads and patchiness were disappearing. I believe the oil was pulling everything out of my skin at first, hence the transition. The oily/dry cycles stopped too as my skin found a balance. I believe the soap cleansers were stripping my natural oils, causing erratic oil production cycles and dull looking skin.

Oil cleansing is so natural for me now, so easy and quick and effective. It has simplified my skincare ritual significantly! Since I’m supporting my skin now, allowing it to behave as it knows best, there’s no need for a bunch of other products to “fix” it.

Last year, my family went abroad for 3 weeks, and I forgot to pack my oil cleanser. My skin was a disaster within days. I even purchased another oil cleanser but the high-PUFA oils like almond and sunflower didn’t work for me at all, not even in the short-term — and I really can’t recommend them for the long-term.

My oil cleanser is also infused with wildcrafted elderflowers, which are ideal for cleansing due to their anti-fungal compounds and mildly astringent properties that promote clear and healthy skin. Super rich in all kinds of nutrients (antioxidants, bioflavonoids, fatty acids, tannins, vitamins), elderflowers are both anti-inflammatory and antiviral. They can protect against sun and other free-radical damage, even skin tone and help balance oil production, preventing breakouts.

I tested our oil cleanser for a few weeks without the elderflowers and truly noticed a difference!

Nature has already created healing for us

I believe this because I see it every single day.

Facial cleansers and soaps produced by popular cosmetic companies create their products in a laboratory setting. Nothing natural or therapeutic is used, and if they are, the ingredients are sterilized and/or isolated. It’s mostly all detergent and chemical based. These companies attempt to mimic what nature has already created for us. And while synthetic soaps have been advantageous at times, over-cleansing as a general habit of life doesn’t lead to healthy, strong skin.

Will oil cleansing give you perfect skin? Well my skin is not perfect. But it functions as it should now. My skin is far healthier. My skincare ritual is far simpler. I am happier, my skin is brighter. We are alive. I think being alive and healthy is more beneficial than trying to maintain some ever-shifting idea of ‘perfection’ we’re constantly being sold. I believe my skin is more beautiful for it too. But more on that in another post…