I know that washing your face with oil may sound a little odd at first, but trust me—this ancient secret is a great way to cleanse and nourish your skin! The reason oil cleansing works is basic chemistry: like-dissolves-like. Using nourishing organic oils to clean your face helps break up the grime that gets caught in your skin’s natural sebum while not harming the microbiome of the skin. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
One of my favorite base oils for oil cleansing is organic jojoba oil. It’s wonderful because it’s very similar in structure to our skin’s natural sebum. Fun fact: jojoba oil is a liquid plant wax and not an oil! This makes its shelf life and stability considerably higher than many other actual oils. Organic avocado oil, pumpkin seed oil, sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, and olive oil are also marvelous base oil choices.
One of the best things about oil cleansing is that you can customize the blend to fit your specific skin needs. If you have normal or slightly oily skin, using only a base oil might be perfect for you. If you tend to have drier skin, a blend of one part nourishing oil to three parts base oil can help bring your complexion back into balance. If you have combination or oily skin, start with a blend of one part astringent oil to five parts base oil. Depending on your skin type, you can increase the astringent oil up to a ratio of one part astringent oil to three parts base oil. If your skin feels tight when you’re done cleansing, reduce the amount of astringent oil in your formulation.
It might take a little trial and error to find the perfect blend for your skin. We recommend starting with small batches with just one or two oils. Below is a tried and true recipe to get you started. However, the combinations are almost endless.
Ingredients
Directions
As with all changes to your beauty routine, it may take your skin a week or two to be happy with the new practice. Some people experience an occasional blemish as their skin adjusts. This doesn’t mean oil cleansing won’t work you. If you experience more than a few stray blemishes, tweak your recipe and try again. It took a few tries for me to find the perfect blend for my complexion, but now that I've dialed it in, I’ll never go back to soap!
You may also be interested in:
Topics: Natural Body Care, Recipes, Specialty Ingredients
Jessicka Nebesni is the Senior Marketing Strategist and Herbal Liaison for Mountain Rose Herbs. Her passion is to share the most educational, empowering, and useful resources with the Mountain Rose Herbs community and on her IG account @herbalasfolk. Having practiced Macrobiotic food preparations in California, beekeeping in Oregon, and making herbal crafts for local farmers markets in New Jersey, she has a wide variety of experiences and knowledge to share. Her passions include preserving food, gardening, practicing herbal wellness, making DIY skin and body care recipes, and living a lifestyle of minimal impact on the Earth.
I know that washing your face with oil may sound a little odd at first, but trust me—this ancient secret is a great way to cleanse and nourish your skin! The reason oil cleansing works is basic chemistry: like-dissolves-like. Using nourishing organic oils to clean your face helps break up the grime that gets caught in your skin’s natural sebum while not harming the microbiome of the skin. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
One of my favorite base oils for oil cleansing is organic jojoba oil. It’s wonderful because it’s very similar in structure to our skin’s natural sebum. Fun fact: jojoba oil is a liquid plant wax and not an oil! This makes its shelf life and stability considerably higher than many other actual oils. Organic avocado oil, pumpkin seed oil, sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, and olive oil are also marvelous base oil choices.
One of the best things about oil cleansing is that you can customize the blend to fit your specific skin needs. If you have normal or slightly oily skin, using only a base oil might be perfect for you. If you tend to have drier skin, a blend of one part nourishing oil to three parts base oil can help bring your complexion back into balance. If you have combination or oily skin, start with a blend of one part astringent oil to five parts base oil. Depending on your skin type, you can increase the astringent oil up to a ratio of one part astringent oil to three parts base oil. If your skin feels tight when you’re done cleansing, reduce the amount of astringent oil in your formulation.
It might take a little trial and error to find the perfect blend for your skin. We recommend starting with small batches with just one or two oils. Below is a tried and true recipe to get you started. However, the combinations are almost endless.
Ingredients
Directions
As with all changes to your beauty routine, it may take your skin a week or two to be happy with the new practice. Some people experience an occasional blemish as their skin adjusts. This doesn’t mean oil cleansing won’t work you. If you experience more than a few stray blemishes, tweak your recipe and try again. It took a few tries for me to find the perfect blend for my complexion, but now that I've dialed it in, I’ll never go back to soap!
You may also be interested in:
Topics: Natural Body Care, Recipes, Specialty Ingredients
Jessicka Nebesni is the Senior Marketing Strategist and Herbal Liaison for Mountain Rose Herbs. Her passion is to share the most educational, empowering, and useful resources with the Mountain Rose Herbs community and on her IG account @herbalasfolk. Having practiced Macrobiotic food preparations in California, beekeeping in Oregon, and making herbal crafts for local farmers markets in New Jersey, she has a wide variety of experiences and knowledge to share. Her passions include preserving food, gardening, practicing herbal wellness, making DIY skin and body care recipes, and living a lifestyle of minimal impact on the Earth.
