Got pesky blackheads? Slather oil on your face!

Sounds counterintuitive doesn't it? It's called the Oil Cleansing Method. I've been doing it for a week now and I notice a big difference in the look and feel of my skin. I've had blackheads on my nose and chin since I was about 12 years old and I could never get rid of them. I'd wash my face and they'd be right back. I could still see them. Even masks didn't really work. With using this oil stuff they are starting to go away! I keep running to the mirror to check and yeah, it's seriously working. My pores are still big, so I have empty holes in my face but I suspect that will change once all the gunk gets out.

I have acne prone skin that's oily, dry, and normal in some spots. Though I haven't had a problem in awhile, I get cystic ance too. It's only been a week but so far so good, no pimples no nothing execpt glowing skin and empty pores.

I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil (yes, the stuff you cook with) mixed in with a little Castor Oil (yes, the stuff that makes you poop). I also mix in a little tea tree oil because that's always helped with my skin.

So who's going to try this?

http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/
http://www.thebeautybottle.com/index.php?opti on=com_content&task=view&id=6&Ite mid=2

edited to add the following

Okay, for those of us who are having problems here are some Trouble Shooting tips.  I would add this to the first post but since it's been edited by a mod it won't let me.  Boo.  Maybe I'll add it to my second post. 

Anyway, everyone's skin is different.  You have to find what works for your skin.  Same thing when you use commerical facial cleansers...you have to figure out what works for you.  If you're having breakouts that you believe are related to OCM try these Trouble Shooting Tips:

1.  Your skin doesn't like EVOO (or whatever oil).  Try different oil.

2.  Your skin doesn't like Castor Oil.  Does it work without castor oil?  Some people do a modified version of OCM without castor.  Some people have luck with just EVOO or Jojoba (or whatever). 

3.  Your skin doesn't like the ratio of EVOO (or whatever oil) to Castor.  Change your ratios around.

4.  You're not spending enough time rubbing the oils in.  Give it at least 5 minutes.  Take some you time and enjoy.

5.  You're not getting enough dirty oils off your skin.  Spend more time with the rag on your face and take more care to get the oils off.

6.  Your skin does not like your washing off technique.  Lay a hot rag across your face.  Hold it in place.  Let it sit there until it cools a little.  Gently wipe your face.  Repeat.  Don't scrub.

7.  Your skin doesn't like the hot rag approach.  Try doing OCM in the shower and forgo the hot rag.  Instead, rub your oils in for AT LEAST 5 minutes then wash with water only.

8.  You're not soaking your wash cloths in dish soap and very hot water for a long time before sending them through the washing machine.  Laundry detergent cannot get the dirty oils out of your rags.  Dirty oil rags can cause you to break out.  Only use a rag once. 

9.  Your skin is too dry.  Try using plain EVOO (or whatever oil) as a moisturizer.  Or try bumping down your % of castor oil.

10.  Are you over washing your face?  Are you using your normal harsh cleanser in the morning then doing OCM at night?  Try washing your face with just water in the morning.  It's not gross, trust me.

11.  Are you under washing your face?  Are you washing your face with water only in the morning and doing OCM at night?  If you have time, do OCM in the morning and at night.  If you don’t have time, try using a light cleanser in the morning.  Look for one that's oil based.  You could probably find something good at a health food store.  

12.  Are you doing OCM everyday?  Try doing it only once every other day.  Maybe everyday is too much for your skin.

13.  Are you NOT doing OCM everyday?  Maybe you should try it.

14.  Maybe your skin needs extra pimple busting power.  Try adding a few drops of EO to your mix.  I highly recommend tea tree oil.  Other all around skin helpers include lavender, rosemary, geranium, and rose.  Do some research and see what might help you.

I just saw this post, and I am really excited to try it, but I have a question.  I live in Florida, and use a moisturizer everyday that has sunscreen in it.  Can I still do that and use this method or am I going to have problems.  I have to wear sunscreen on my face here.  I spend an hour in the car twice a day in that blaring sun! 

Dove2424,

I live in Southern California so I'm pretty much in the same boat as you, and I have been using my regular moisturizer after I do the oil cleanse for about 2 days now.  So far it has been working ok.  Give it a try and I'm sure it should be fine. 

Have fun with it and let us know how it goes.  I'm excited about it too.  I took a before picture and will post it with my after picture in a month or so.  I hope we'll be able to see a difference.

Diana 

I started this Friday night and so far so good! I couldn't find sunflower oil or tea tree oil at the little market by my house so I used Castor and evoo then I added a bit of vitamin E oil to help heal what I currently have. It started to drain some of the swollen spots almost instantly. This freaked me out but I didn't pick at them and now they're almost gone! I have no new breakouts, thank goodness, and the ones I have are not so angry looking. I'm so glad I stumbled across this post! Even if it doesn't clear my face, I'm definitely not so dry and flaky and I don't look washed out and ashy! Thank you so much!

I tried the olive oil and castor oil with a essential rose oil. It helped with my daughters sunburn and practically got rid of her insect bites!

On me, it helps clear up and spots I have, soothes the redness that I get, and leaves my skin lovely.

On my bf, the blackheads on his nose are actually coming out by themselves.

When I went back to my other make up remover, I found that my skin got worse so had to bin that and carry on with the oil... what a shame that I have to pamper myself every night! Highly recommend this one!

All right, CCers! I've been doing OCM for nearly 2 weeks now, and I'm really liking it! My skin feels nice, and after the initial outbreaks I got (which may have been caused by TOTM or just my skin getting used to the new method), my skin has been clear! I also feel like doing OCM has helped reduce the marks left by old zits and has maybe made my fingernails stronger? I could just be imagining that last part though.

Some other things I've been doing while doing OCM is making sure I sleep on a clean pillowcase and pull back my hair before I go to bed, that way there aren't many extra oils making their way into my skin while I sleep.

For those of you using more than 30% castor oil, I believe you're defeating the purpose of the method. The website states to use 30% for very oily skin - more than that is going to overwork your skin and cause more breakouts. The purpose of OCM is to moisturize skin - even oily skin - with healthier oils that won't cause breaking out. If you use more than 30% castor oil, your skin will begin to dry out and will overproduce its own oil, which causes break outs. I know it's scary, but don't be afraid to be gentle and moisturize your skin!

I've been following this thread for a little while and have recently started using OCM.  I haven't really noticed a difference yet, but I'm still trying to get my portions rights.  I'll let you all know how it turns out.

Christyjoy--It's very possible that your fingernails are being strengthened by the oil that gets on them as you put the oil on your face.  Also, the two websites suggest very different portions.  The first website suggests using" Oily Skin: Try a blend of 30% Castor Oil to 70% Sunflower Seed Oil; Balanced Skin: Try a blend of 20% Castor Oil to 80% Sunflower Seed Oil; Dry Skin: Try a blend of 10% Castor Oil to 90% Sunflower Seed Oil".  The second website suggests "5/75 EVOO/CO for Oily skin, or 75/25 EVOO/CO for dry skin".  I tend to have very oily skin and anything more than about 50% EVOO leaves my skin looking (and feeling) like an oil slick.  In fact, I'm starting to edge more towards 75% Castor Oil.

jewels I want to thanking for posting about this method.

I've been trying it for a little over a week and my skin is so much better! Not completely clear yet but getting there. I'm doing 15% castor and 85% evoo. I was thinking of adding some vitamin E oil to help speed up the healing of my blemishes. And maybe getting some tea tree oil to keep on hand for spot treatments.

No prob. 

I'm thinking of adding some geranium eo the next batch I make.  It's supposed to be good for acne, and for balancing oily skin.  Plus I'll enjoy the smell.  I'll let ya'll know how it works out.

ETA: It tingles!  It kinda freaked me out a little.  Not sure if it will be a permanent addition, but I quite liked it this time around.

i've recently added vanilla extract to the EVOO. it smells really nice, but can it possibly do any harm?

I would only be concerned about the alcohol in the extract.  Alcohol can be drying to your skin.  If you're not drying out, I imagine it's just fine for you.  Enjoy the yummy smell!

I have a question... I don't have castor oil so last night dying to try this I washed my face like normal and then did the EVOO to my face.. I then followed the directions.  My face has never felt so soft, but a little dry so I put on a tiny bit of EVOO on after and went to bed.. This morning I woke up and my face looked so fresh!  So I went to the store this afternoon (grocery, Publix) to get the castor oil.  I could not find it and after hunting for a half hour, I asked someone. They don't carry it.  So can I keep using EVOO till I find it AND where the heck do I find it!?

i duno if anyone wants to hear this...but in my culture castor oil is used to darken hair or to help thicken hair...so putting it on your face...i dunnno!! (those baby hairs/peach fuzz on your face may just mature!)

Dove, as long as it's doing good for your skin keep on keepin' on.  If you have a drugstore near you look there.  Castor oil will most likely be in the laxative section.  Just make sure you don't pick up Mineral Oil on accident.

Kishmish, lol!  I haven't heard of that.  I'll let you know if I grow a mustache.

update:

I'm thinking the breakouts I had were probably due to TOTM but also may due to the sunflower oil.  I switched to EVOO last night.  I wanted to use Jojoba oil but couldn't find it.  Anyone know where to get it?

I made up two mixtures, one with about 45/55 CO/EVOO and one with 33/67 CO/EVOO.  I will only use the first one a few times a week to avoid drying out my skin.  I also added a little TTO to both.

I had a good amount of time to myself last night (fiancee wasn't there bugging me) so I was really able to spend a good amount of time massaging the oil into my face.  I think that might have been part of the problem before too. I had only been spending about 2 minute massaging the oil before wiping it off.  This time I spend a good 5-6 minutes.  I also actually felt some of the blackheads and oil plugs coming out!  I know that sounds a little gross but it was amazing what was coming out.  I was rubbing and started to feel little grainy pieces all of sudden.  I was able to find one of them on my finger tips and sure enough it was a blackhead.

I'll update in a few days with my results!

Last night my two teenage boys (one is 18 and the other is 13) asked me to do the oil cleanse on them (I did 20% castor oil and 80% evoo and used my facial steamer on them too).  After I was finished with their "facials" their skin looked so nice!  My 13 year old has major problems with blackheads on his nose and can never get them out, it was as if they were permanent.  My niece who is an estetician gave him a few months ago and even SHE couldn't get them out.  She told him that the only way he'd be able to get them out is by drinking massive (not deadly, just massive) amounts of water for a long time to soften his skin up (he never did try the water trick).  Well, last night while I was giving him his facial you wouldn't believe how many blackheads came out.  One was so big and fat it looked like a worm was coming up through his pores.  Sorry this is so graphic, but all three of us were amazed at how fast it worked and at how much gunk came out of their skin (both boys!).  Today when I saw them I noticed that both of their faces look so clean, clear and HANDSOME!    I'm glad that they didn't think they were too macho for getting a facial.  Ha, ha, ha......

Jewelsmcblah is awesome for starting this thread!!!!

FYI for anyone having trouble finding the necessary oils: CVS Pharmacy carries Castor oil (yes, with the laxatives!), and there is a franchise in MI called Vitamin Hut that carries a ton of oils for cooking and cosmetic purposes.  Also, you could probably find them in "natural health" or "natural food" stores.  Just about every mall has one now.

Ok maybe I was using too much Castor Oil I think I made my batch with about 40 or 50 percent. I kind of stopped because I kept getting the little bitty red bumps, on my jaws where I'm prone to the cystic acne and I can't have that so I stopped doing it every day. Now I just do it maybe once or twice a week. I don't want to make a new batch because that oil ain't cheap. Does anyone think that the sesame seed oil was making the bumps? To remind you my batch was 40% castor, 20% jojoba, 20% grapeseed oil, & 20% sesame seed.

I really want this to work. I also read somewhere that we should make our batches in a dark colored glass bottle. I guess that preserves the oils somehow, instead of a clear plastic bottle which is what I have now. I was scared to try the evoo, but maybe I will. Plus I'm pregnant now and I wonder if this will help with the stretch marks that I will be trying to avoid!!

Nenewa,

I don't mean to sound negative or anything but don't you think that you are mixing an awful lot of oils considering you seem to have kind of sensitive skin (little tiny red bumps & being prone to cystic acne)?  Maybe you should try to simplify it a bit and just use castor oil and evoo.  I know you already have the stuff made and you're right, it is expensive....maybe just make a tiny, little batch of the one I mentioned and see how it works for a while.  Also, I think you only doing it once or twice a week is a good idea.  As for the dark bottle, I saw that on the video someone posted but I don't think the site said you had to do it.  I keep mine in a clear glass jar in my medicine cabinet, so it's pretty much out of the light all the time.

Congrats on your pregnancy.  I would definitely try the concoction on my tummy if I were you, can't hurt (you can always use the batch you already have made on your tummy and make a different one for your face).  Also, drink lots of water, I heard that helps with elasticity and stretch marks.

Diana

I've always heard EVOO helps with stretch marks.  It's hard to say what oil is causing the little bumps because you're using so many.  It could be all of the oils.  I've read that a lot of people have problems with grapeseed oil.  You're just going to have to experiment.  Curious, are you soaking your rags in dish washing detergent.  If you're not, the old dirty oils left on your rags could be causing the bumps.

Thanks deedus!  I'm glad it works for your boys too!

I developed little red bumps on my chin, too.   I've been using  50% evoo,  25%  castor oil, and 25% vanilla/jasmine oil (I can't stand the smell of the evoo/castor oil mixture so I added these oils solely for the smell).  I think that my skin in that area might be too sensitive to handle the different oils or the bumps might be some sort of allergic reaction.  I'm going to try going back to just 50% evoo and 50% castor oil.