If you've taken chemistry, you're familiar with the "like dissolving like" concept. Oil (carbon chains, etc) and water don't mix because oil is non-polar while water is a polar molecule. Certain non-comedogenic oils can be used to "dissolve" the excess sebum on your face, instead of having to use a soap to break the bonds between the oil molecules and wash them away. I don't know about "water-only" washing, but oil cleansing can make sense. It replaces the sebum on your face with a light layer of the oil you use, which (if non-comedogenic) doesn't have the ability to clog pores, like sebum does. The skin needs a natural layer of some type of oil, or it freaks out and over-produces. This is why even oily skins need moisturizer. Hope this helps

So, for you folks out there who have oily skin and who never use cleansers or soaps on your face, how are you getting rid of your excess sebum? Surely you aren't just letting it stay there.

 

Vitamin B5 and Acetyl-L-carnitine. Water only. Facewash if I actually get dirty or germy.

I only use water and olive oil as moisturizer. There is so many wrong things in your post! No wonder if you have acne forreal.

1 - Don't wash your face for 5 minutes. Just wash 3 times with WARM water and splash 1-2 times with COLD water, should take less than 20 seconds.

2 - Don't use HOT water, that horrible for your skin.

3 - It's a huge misunderstanding that you have to wash all your oils away from your skin, it makes it much worse.

4 - dap your face with a towel until its almost dry and then put a small amount of extra virgin olive oil on your skin and thats it.

The funny thing about people with oily skin is that they are so worried about trying new stuff. If you search the internet you will find people with oily skin using only natural oils and they say it was very scary to try to add oil to already oily skin but it cleared their acne.

So these tips are worth gold, trust me ^

I have to admit that I didn't try this back when my skin was grotesquely oily. Now, after my diet changes, my skin is just slightly on the oily side. But there are any, many reasons why you don't want to strip away your sebum which doesn't just sit there. It does things and contains things that protect and are involved in normal skin function. It's part of what makes your skin's acid mantle which protects you from microbial infections. And it contains enzymes involved in normal exfoliation and they can't function unless in an acidic environment. And enzymes that inhibit DHT, a major culprit in acne. So stop stripping it away.

Soap is very alkaline. Tap water is usually slightly alkaline, but your ph can quickly recover from contact with water.

What you eat and do to yourself affects sebum production and quality. Fix those things and you'll have sebum thats more protective and makes your skin glow.

In the meantime, try blotting away oil, then oil cleanse with a high linoleic acid containing oil like grapeseed. See the pinned Good Things thread. There's a section specifically on Sebum quality. And be sure to click the link to the linoleic acid thread.

I like using gel face wash I find it very sensitive and non drying than soap.

Hey guys I'm back months later to my original posting because I'm tackling this issue again. When I first posted this thread and read the responses, I simply didn't believe/agree with them...I'm pretty hard headed haha. And as a person who has had oily skin for over a decade, I was afraid to try anything new.

However, since I posted this thread, I have been making permanent lifestyle changes (in order to avoid getting diabetes) that have in turn caused some dramatic changes in my body and mental clarity. I have been phasing out high-carb foods such as rice, potatoes, milk chocolate, grains, etc and have been replacing them with more leafy greens, nuts, nut-based flours, and more omega-3 based foods such as fish and flax seed. And I'm now adapted to 72% dark chocolate and can't stand 60% anymore because it tastes too sweet.

I have noticeably lost fat around my belly and some in my face, and people around me tell me I look like I have lost weight. I suspect I have lost 20 pounds but have not bothered to weigh myself for months so I'm not sure. But all my clothes fit more loosely than ever and 1 pair of pants are now too big to wear anymore. I also look better than ever in dresses.

And my face now only gets like 1-2 new breakouts per week, whereas before, when I was eating lots of carbs in my diet, I would get 2-3 new breakouts per day. About a month after decreasing the carb-count in my diet, I cut back my use of normal body wash on my face by half, and replaced that usage with a more mild cleanser. I also started moisturizing daily and haven't stopped since.

I can't believe how many things I had assumed were correct for my skin that were wrong all along:

1. I thought that the squeaky clean tight just-washed face feeling was good for my skin, but what it really means is that I stripped my skin of all the oils it needs to be healthy.

2. I thought that sebum was my worst enemy and that it was causing my acne, but the reality is that sebum is a healthy oil and that my body was making too much of it because my high-glycemic diet was causing my body to produce too many androgens which in turn ramp up sebum production.

3. I thought that the more I washed my face, the better, because the oil was bad and I had to get it off of me ASAP.

4. I thought that moisturizers were for people who had dry skin, and that they would always leave behind an oily feeling on the face.

5. All oils are bad/evil for acne-prone skin.

What I have found so far:

1. A more mild soap doesn't strip my skin of all its oils.

2. A moisturizer does not feel oily on the face, and it causes skin to heal faster and makes the skin produce less sebum throughout the day.

3. Sebum is not the enemy. Carbs are. Carbs and over-washing cause an oily face.

But now I'm looking into the oil cleansing method that you guys talked about and I'm as confused as ever about it. When I wash my face with a cleanser, I know that this cleanser is going to do several things for me:

1. Kill germs and bacteria.

2. Remove makeup.

3. Remove excess oil.

Now, when I think about cleansing with an OIL, I do not associate oil with cleansing, but rather with clogging. Can an oil really kill germs/bacteria, remove makeup, and remove excess sebum? I have my doubts! Perhaps someone here who has been using the oil cleansing method successfully or who knows more about it can enlighten me.

This whole subject has brought up some fundamental questions for me. I have even questioned the very subject of cleansing itself and find myself re-evaluating bathing. What do I need from a shower or face wash? I need to kill germs. I need to kill bacteria. I need to remove dirt and excess oil. That's about it. But can oil do all that for me?

If you've taken chemistry, you're familiar with the "like dissolving like" concept. Oil (carbon chains, etc) and water don't mix because oil is non-polar while water is a polar molecule. Certain non-comedogenic oils can be used to "dissolve" the excess sebum on your face, instead of having to use a soap to break the bonds between the oil molecules and wash them away. I don't know about "water-only" washing, but oil cleansing can make sense. It replaces the sebum on your face with a light layer of the oil you use, which (if non-comedogenic) doesn't have the ability to clog pores, like sebum does. The skin needs a natural layer of some type of oil, or it freaks out and over-produces. This is why even oily skins need moisturizer. Hope this helps

1) congratulations.

2) you shouldn't be using any antibacterial cleansers of any kind. And non bacterial soaps don't kill the bacteria, the friction of your hands, running water and slippery lather wash them down the drain. And most of the bacteria on your face is beneficial. You cause an imbalance by killing them and let harmful microbes grow.

3) oil is fabulous for removing makeup.

1) congratulations.

2) you shouldn't be using any antibacterial cleansers of any kind. And non bacterial soaps don't kill the bacteria, the friction of your hands, running water and slippery lather wash them down the drain. And most of the bacteria on your face is beneficial. You cause an imbalance by killing them and let harmful microbes grow.

3) oil is fabulous for removing makeup.

Wow, #2 blew my mind. I looked at all the soaps in my bathroom and found that one of the hand soaps I'm using doesn't have an antibacterial component and therefore when I use it, I'm not killing the germs, but just rinsing them down the drain off my hands. And I'm probably not rinsing them all off. And one of my bodywashes isn't antibacterial either.

All my life I've been assuming that any and all soaps are actually KILLING the germs. I had no idea that for the most part all they do is catch some of them for rinsing off.

So then what is my regular bodywash doing for me? Taking away my body odor? Because it's not nearly as cleansing as I had been assuming all this time. It obviously rinses away excess oil, dirt and sweat. But I guess that is about it! And I wonder what it's leaving behind on my skin...

I need to find an affordable body wash that has a very mild surfactant because sodium laureth sulfate is just too harsh for my skin.

1) congratulations.

2) you shouldn't be using any antibacterial cleansers of any kind. And non bacterial soaps don't kill the bacteria, the friction of your hands, running water and slippery lather wash them down the drain. And most of the bacteria on your face is beneficial. You cause an imbalance by killing them and let harmful microbes grow.

3) oil is fabulous for removing makeup.

Wow, #2 blew my mind. I looked at all the soaps in my bathroom and found that one of the hand soaps I'm using doesn't have an antibacterial component and therefore when I use it, I'm not killing the germs, but just rinsing them down the drain off my hands. And I'm probably not rinsing them all off. And one of my bodywashes isn't antibacterial either.

All my life I've been assuming that any and all soaps are actually KILLING the germs. I had no idea that for the most part all they do is catch some of them for rinsing off.

So then what is my regular bodywash doing for me? Taking away my body odor? Because it's not nearly as cleansing as I had been assuming all this time. It obviously rinses away excess oil, dirt and sweat. But I guess that is about it! And I wonder what it's leaving behind on my skin...

I need to find an affordable body wash that has a very mild surfactant because sodium laureth sulfate is just too harsh for my skin.

Sigh. I don't know if you are legitimately misunderstanding or are determined to not understand. But the obsession with avoiding and killing all microbes you come in contact with is one of the biggest reasons people these days have such poor immune systems and are filled with allergies that were unheard of when I was a kid. And antibacterial soaps are why we now have antibiotic resistant strains of bacteria including one that causes such a severe infection in people with poor immune systems that it kills half the people who get it.

I don't personally think sebum is the enemy. It's there to help protect our skin and keep it moisturized. The drier my skin is the more acne I get! And alternativista is completely correct about antibacterial soaps! There are healthy bacteria you don't want to get rid of.. antibacterial cleansers destroy any natural microbial balance you have on your skin.

I used to use harsh cleansers every day, sometimes multiple times a day.. my face was no clearer and it was always dry and red and flaking I developed severe rocasea. it took me years to figure it out but simplicity and natural methods can very often be your best option.

I just cleanse and tone with apple cider vinegar once a day, and then moisturize with olive oil, jojoba, and sometimes coconut. I love oils. I can't believe I used to be so anti oil and anti sebum. I'm not totally clear yet but I don't have tomato red skin anymore!

I think we as a society are too often overly concerned with germs.. I mean of course you want to wash after handling raw chicken or something lol, and if you're sick you should try not to spread that around. But we've gotten obsessed. Every household cleanser on the shelves these days is ~antibacterial~.. our immune systems are totally suffering for it.

I don't personally think sebum is the enemy. It's there to help protect our skin and keep it moisturized. The drier my skin is the more acne I get! And alternativista is completely correct about antibacterial soaps! There are healthy bacteria you don't want to get rid of.. antibacterial cleansers destroy any natural microbial balance you have on your skin.

I used to use harsh cleansers every day, sometimes multiple times a day.. my face was no clearer and it was always dry and red and flaking I developed severe rocasea. it took me years to figure it out but simplicity and natural methods can very often be your best option.

I just cleanse and tone with apple cider vinegar once a day, and then moisturize with olive oil, jojoba, and sometimes coconut. I love oils. I can't believe I used to be so anti oil and anti sebum. I'm not totally clear yet but I don't have tomato red skin anymore!

I think we as a society are too often overly concerned with germs.. I mean of course you want to wash after handling raw chicken or something lol, and if you're sick you should try not to spread that around. But we've gotten obsessed. Every household cleanser on the shelves these days is ~antibacterial~.. our immune systems are totally suffering for it.

And the bacteria are evolving and becoming stronger as only the strongest survive the antibacterial soaps and they are the ones that multiply. Not just in us, but also in our waterways, which also suffer from overgrowth of other microbes when the bacteria should be there is destroyed. Also, our plumbing is suffering because microbes that would eat up much of the gunk in our pipes are being killed and so your get more clogs and probably dump more chemicals into the drain and thus into our water.

alternativista,

I wasn't trying to keep my antimicrobial bodywashes and soaps, I was trying to understand bodywashes and soaps and their true role in cleansing my body because all this time I had assumed that all soaps were killing bacteria and that was the supreme function of them.

Oh, how ignorant I was!!!!!

Since my last post in this thread, I have made several sweeping changes to my facial regimen. Things that I never thought in my life I would be doing. And the outcome was shocking.

I began the oil cleansing method. After much reading and watching of videos, I purchased grapeseed oil and lavender oil as a facial cleanser, and jojoba oil as a moisturizer.

The number of breakouts on my face decreased! I was in shock. And my face felt fully moisturized all day. And it didn't feel heavy and weighed down either.

I also stopped wearing makeup 6 days out of the week, and guess what. Again, fewer breakouts!! This is a makeup I had been using for years!!

Guess what this means! Soaps and makeup cause breakouts!!!! Who would have thought! Certainly not me. But now I know I need to change my makeup. Just a FYI for everyone out there, the makeup I used for many years that made me breakout is Maybelline. I will never be using it again.

To some folks, these statements might be very obvious, but to me, they were totally shocking.