Oil Cleansing Method and What Cleansers Work Best for You
Oil-based cleansers have gained popularity in the skincare realm and are essential in many skincare rituals. Before and even now cleansing skin with oils would’ve sounded slightly horrifying, especially to those with oilier skin types. A big misconception of the skin is that using less moisturizing and hydrating products will make the skin less oily but in turn, it does the opposite. Skipping moisturizer or any products with oils can compromise your skin barrier and lead to worse fine lines and wrinkles, increased breakouts, and decreased elasticity. All in all, anyone can oil cleanse despite what their skin type is.
For many years, makeup wipes have been the go-to for a makeup remover, a staple in nightly routines. We now realize how makeup wipes can actually advance the aging process due to the harsh rubbing. Makeup wipes aren’t meant to cleanse the skin, they’re meant to break down makeup and they’re evidently bad for our environment as they are not biodegradable. Just imagine how many discarded wipes and their ingredients are bioaccumulating in our environment! We’ve moved past the phase of glorifying makeup wipes, it’s time to replace the wasteful and harmful product with oil cleansers.
What are oil cleansers?
Cleansing oils are a gentler method for removing makeup, excess sebum, pollutants, as well as having the ability to clean out clogged pores such as blackheads and whiteheads. Typically other cleansers are water-soluble and remove water-based impurities from the top layer of the skin. Oftentimes, water-soluble cleansers, specifically foaming cleansers can actually strip your skin and even lead it to produce more oil. Oil cleansing is great if the skin is dry and dehydrated as it doesn’t strip the skin of its natural oils.
What oils can I use?
When discussing facial oils and other skincare products the word non-comedogenic or comedogenic is brought up. To clarify, comedogenic means it clogs pores causing blackheads and breakouts. This is why we look for non-comedogenic ingredients so as to not clog our pores but even when using a non-comedogenic product, our skin can still react differently to it than others. This leads to another mistake often made, that you’re able to use any oil on hand for oil cleansing. There are a vast variety of oils suited for different skin types.
For oily and acne-prone and even sensitive skin types, you’d want to look for oils with grapeseed, tea tree, and rosehip as they’re lighter in texture and don’t clog the pores avoiding breakouts and irritation. For those with dry and/or aging skin, oils with jojoba, argan, and marula are rich enough to be able to absorb into the skin, moisturizing and soothing dry/aging skin due to the fatty acids in these oils. All these oils can also be used at the end of your skin ritual or mixed with moisturizer to lock in hydration. Oil cleansers that are formulated with the oils listed and also available on the Simple Healing Space Shop are the Salud Cleansing Honey Oil and the Free Flow Botanicals Cleanse Facial Oil.
(Please do not use cooking oils such as vegetable or canola for oil cleansing as these are comedogenic and will clog your pores leading to more breakouts!)
Well...can’t I just use coconut oil?
For the body, coconut oil can work as a pretty good body oil for many. However, for the face, we’d want to avoid massaging our face with coconut oil.
Coconut oil is actually very high on the comedogenic scale and will not be your friend if you’re prone to breakouts as it will clog pores even more. I’m sure some of us have been intrigued at some point because someone we knew ‘swore by coconut oil’ and we never visibly see them with breakouts or dry skin, but this is where we must remind ourselves that something that works for someone else will not always work for our skin and it’s best to stick with ingredients more beneficial to our facial skin health.
How do I oil-cleanse?
Take a few drops of oil into dry hands and proceed to massage the oil on dry skin for at least a minute if not more to thoroughly clean out the gunk buildup from the day.
Then with either your hands or a wet cloth gently remove the oil with warm water (never harshly rub).
Move onto the next cleanser in your double-cleansing routine or leave it there and lightly pat dry the skin then move onto the rest of your skin ritual.
Allow this oil-cleansing method to be your at-home spa nightly ritual. Take your time with this ritual and your skin will feel softer and less irritated.