Olive oil on my what??

Ingredients: Olive oil
 Sugar
 Clay mask
 Patience
 
My skin was both dry and oily. It felt tight and uncomfortable and yet would have a yucky oil layer over it. I washed, scrubbed, and moisturized to no avail. It dawned on me one day at the eye doctor that I had been going about this all wrong. The eye secretes tears and oil to form the tear layer. The oil mixes with the tears and prevents the tears from evaporating. Ever notice how dry and scratchy your eyes feel after you cry? It's because the tear layer has been washed away.  The eye needs both oil and water to be healthy. Oil is essential for the health of our skin too; it also prevents our environment from pulling water from our skin. Our bodies are defensive; if we strip it of oil it will strike a counter attack. So, basically the more we wash away the more it will secrete. I know you are thinking, but oil causes break outs! Well, it does when your body makes it excessively and when it gets trapped by dead skin and makeup. So, how do you wash your face without stripping it of its essential oil? You wash it with oil.

Say what?

The bottom line is your skin doesn't have to be perfectly clean.  It just needs to be free of dead skin and makeup. Oil sticks to oil and will wash away enough excess oil and make up to be clean without stripping it. It's time to put your obsessive side away (this was really hard for me, but you learn to let it be); scrubbing until we see no dirt or oil is bad! Your skin has its own defenses that when stripped bare  leaves it vulnerable to bacteria...which cause infection, aka zits!  I have found olive oil to be inexpensive and effective but you can experiment with any natural oil: almond, etc. However, no mineral oil, aka baby oil! It is a petroleum product and will smother your skin because it isn't permeable.  The next thing you need is patience. Your skin needs to start trusting you again; it needs to learn you are not going to attack it again with harsh chemicals. So, hang in there and give it a few weeks at the least.

Now, the how; wet your face and rinse off as much makeup as you can with water (and only water!), then pour a small amount of oil into your palm and massage it into your skin and eye area (it's awesome for removing eye makeup!), and rinse with warm water only. At this point you're thinking I'm crazy because you will feel slimy. Don't panic, take a towel and pat (not wipe) your skin until it's soft but not greasy. And you are done! 

Make sure you aren't using makeup products that will dry you out too!  No talc! Try blotting with tissue instead of reapplying powder throughout the day.  You might notice the first weeks that blackheads might appear or worsen. To help with this we need to exfoliate the skin. I cannot stress enough to not overkill on this step! About once a week take a small cup of table sugar and add just enough warm water to it to make it like wet beach sand. Wet your face and very gently, again very gently, massage circles on your skin (not the eye area though). Do not rub it raw! Just enough to remove the top layer which is dead and can clog pores. Do not do this more than once a week! Again our bodies are defensive and will make more dead skin to protect itself!  If you don't like the sugar you can use a body puff scrubby but again be gentle. Afterwards add oil while skin is still damp because we want to trap that water. If you get a break out, use a clay mask to help clear it but only on the breakouts or a little on large pores but do not do this too often. If you have scarring you can use salicylic toner but do not wipe it, use a qtip just on the needed spots. 

Don't forget to hydrate from the inside too; drink your water! Hang in there, this isn't an overnight cure. I have been doing this for months. My face is finally softer, more comfortable, less break out prone and not greasy!

~Nicole