The play by play, hey when you struggle with breakouts detailed info matters right?!! If not then you must have great skin. So recap.
Let us preface us with what I USED to do, for like, EVER.
-I meticulously washed my face with BWC alpha hydroxy cleanser twice a day.
-blemish control lotion (toneresque stuff)
-eye serum ( I'll post what I use soonish)
-blemish touch stick
-mychelle serum
-mychelle spf moisturizer in the a.m.
Anal for clear skin, that is me. I also used a microdermabrasion scrub twice a week. Which I will share that with you too sometime. All... two of you.
So starting Jan 5th, I decided because of running out of my serum so I thought I should dial back on the product usage to save some money. I started researching, do you reaaaaallly have to wash your face in the morning/oily skin etc; I stumbled across a plethora of blogs about this oil cleansing method. Heresy I tell you, but I was intrigued by the oil skin breakout stories that had turned their skin around, that using the proper oils helped skin to function as it was meant to. And it does make sense that companies would love to compound your problems and keep you coming back for the NEXT thing that was finally gonna help. *Tangent alert* I am just now realizing and learning how amazing our bodies were designed, how man has dinked with that in hopes of bigger and better but we're in worse shape healthwise, stresswise. Look at how our bodies heal themselves when treated correctly, given the right nutrition ( netflix docs I'm telling you!! Hungry for Change, Food Inc etc) naturally our bodies can do what they were meant to do. We forget how amazing the Creator designed all these amazing details of nature and our bodies to work together and function. Countless benefits to getting your sleep, not living such a fast paced stressed life, eating healthy, exercise. Anyway enough about that, so that is how I came across OCM.
My skin status before starting OCM, oily, pore clogged always, under control but always clogged areas. It was also prone to itchy breakouts and irritation in times past. Skipping washing my face in the mornign didn't seem to make it worse tho it did take getting used to, do I tone or not tone? serum or not?? splash some water on face? dab my forehead with a tissue? nothing? put, dare I say it, moisturizer OVER my unwashed skin?? I've been all over the board here.
Day 1- (or night I should say)I can do this, I have clogged pores oily skin and I. am. rubbing. oil. on my FACE. I prepared to wake up for church with a disaster. Morning came and I was no worse off than usual. relief.
-Few more days, finding that I needed to changed my castor oil ratio, it was drying me, from 60-70% to50/50 currently. Discovered that putting my oil mix on my eyes irritated them. So used almond oil for eyes and they were happy again. I have also been trying this on makeup days, to rub the oil on, then tissue the makeup off before I get into the shower to do the the oil cleansing routine, I notice my toner cottonball was much cleaner this way. I started getting zits in places I didn't usually and my pores were releasing grody little plugs, some hard like sand, others softer. Gross but hey if you have zits you get it!
-Days 8-10 Skin looking crappier than it had in a while, while some pores and the sides of my face were smoothing out, I had some stupid zits that, dad gum it I picked at. GRRR you know the battle goes in your head, " I can help this resolve faster if I juuuust...." So while we are talking about " pore clearing" ;) Here are my tips, wait as long as you can, or don't even pick or poke at ALL most zits resolve on their own. If it's real obvious something needs to be done: This is what works best for me, sterile needle, sterile comedone extractor, after a steamy shower, prick it once with the needle to make channel, then you use a rocking back and forth motion with the extractor, don't push too hard, you'll make it worse, if the zit won't yield after 1 or 2 times, you're done, walk away, it's not time and it may be itjust needs to resolve on it's own. I broke my own rules on two zits last week and kept going back thinking THIS time we'll clear it!! Ok so at this point in the game, I kept thinking, that's it, I have to use my cleanser... I need to do my microdermabrasion!! But I took the advice of the blogosphere and stayed the course so as to not confuse my skin, let it work itself out. Ok ok.... ok.
-Day 11, discovered something, almond oil, my newest bestest friend, it downright awesome, I put on my cheeks the night before, my skin there was looking good, I even put it on my oily forehead, it wasn't as oily in the morning... HUH? And more zit talk sooorrrreeee, but it brought 2 zits to a head within hours and they cleared easy. Gross, yes, I'm sorry but other pore clogged suffers need to know this!!
-Day 12 I think I made it through the wilderness...somehow. ;)
-Day 14 continued improvement!! Face smoothing out, bumpy forehead getting smoother, I'm really amazed. really. No, my skin is not perfect, and it's still working out some cloggs but it keeps getting better and better and I haven't felt my face this smooth in years!! ( since getting off the pill in 2008 my breakouts got worse, tho it is so worth it to be off them fyi)
The Routine Rundown Thus Far.
OCM at night.
If makeuped, oil up and wipe with tissue then procede.
-Wet face
-Massage in oil blend ( I use half castor oil half flax oil with a few drops of tea tree oil)
-Wet your clean washcloth with real hot water, not to burn you, but warmer than you could stand pouring on you in the shower, ring it out, and press on to your face gently till it cools down to room temp. Wipe the oil from your face, get everywhere, leave no area unwiped. I then rinse it out. Heat it up again, use the other side of the cloth, steam and wipe once more.
-now maybe eventually I will get this down to a science where my skin is just fab and well balanced it's good to go with nothing else to do for the face routine but I need to make things are harder on myself, more time consuming and expensive. so next:
-blemish toner lotion stuff
-eye serum
-blemish touch stick on breaking out areas
-mychelle serum
-the little magic bullet that's done so much for me lately, almond oil on the orbital bone eye area is that right?? orbital bone? And now I've been patting it on my cheeks and forehead, I'm going to get real crazy and let my chin in on this too tonight!! I also have been putting it around my nose, it always gets flaky and porecloggy and it's helping it, it's so strange!!! oil on those problem areas.
Now morning time, it's not set it stone but here is what seems to be working, no washing, no toning, a splash of water on my forehead and eyes, pat dry, blemish touch stick on zits, almond oil around eye area ( not upper eyelid or makeup will slide all over probably) and forehead clogged area. IF I plan on being outside that day, spf mchelle.
-unexpected goodies from OCM. longer thicker lashes, not falling out nearly as much!!! When I'm oiling up my face I use some on my chest, another bumpy unhappy area, I don't steam or anything just gently wipe with the washcloth, it's so much better, smooth and clear.
-A general guide to the oil mixes:
25 -50% Castor oil to any of the following oils:
Olive Oil, best for DRY skin.
Flax, grapeseed, jojoba oils for normal and problem skin. Heck, who knows maybe you could do a tiny percent of castor oil to these if you have dry skin, probably so but it takes some tweaking at the beginning.
Play with the ratios, you'll be able to tell if your face is feeling tight and pulling this is not the goal, you don't want the tight feeling. This may even make a difference from winter to summer how much your castor oil portion varies. Also my fave to add for anti fungal and anti bacterial, some drops of tea tree oil, I put maybe 2-3 drops into 2 ounces of my oil mix.
-Tips
-Prepare yourself for your skin to look worse than it did before you started at the beginning, but don't be afraid to adjust your oil ratios while your skin is working things out.
-Stay the course, you're going to want to cop out and use a scrub, a facewash " just this one time..." but be strong, it will mess with your skin adjustment.
-optional : take some lysine for a few days, I did for about 5 days. Did it help?? It certainly didn't seem to hurt.
-ask yourself, what other products am I using on my face? does your moisturizer you're putting on afterwards, contain fragrance(parfum), parabens and other chemically crap? This won't help your cause. Check out the Skin Deep Data link at the top of the blog to see what your products and ingredients rate. I am a really big fan of using the almond oil or something like it, grapeseed or jojoba on your face,dry, breaking out, where ever.
*if something crazy happens and you break out in HIVES on your face then I would stop, or see what is in your mix you could be reacting to, though in my own research I haven't come across these stories, doesn't mean they aren't out there...
To think that maybe I can start my daughters on the right foot when they get older and not have them enter into the wretched cycle of crappy skin is pretty exciting for me.
Now, when I slather that oil all over my face, it actually feels good and not freaky weird anymore, my face is smoother and happier. Now face says " welcome, oil. welcome." ;)
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