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The Oil Cleansing Method. Negative Experiences

 
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(@onefatalgoose)

Posted : 03/08/2013 1:01 pm

Many users have tried the Oil Cleansing Method and did not have success. It could very well be that Oil Cleansing of any type is not suited for your skin. But it could also be connected with a few issues i have with it, at least as it's described in most articles/posts.

Here's a link to the acne.org oil cleansing method post.

 

The first issue I have is the use of Castor Oil. If you have never tried using Castor Oil before, holy lorsh, is that stuff thick and sticky. I would never, ever apply that to my face. It has pore clogging capability written all over it. It's part of the reason i feel like users report negative results after two weeks, like cystic acne. But only part...

The second issue i have is with EVOO. For some, the oil is not too acidic for the face. But for myself, and it seems many others, it causes excessive redness and irritation. If you have ever swallowed a tablespoon of EVOO, it burns. This burn does not happen when you swallow grape seed/rose hip seed/apricot kernel/sesame seed. I haven't tried Hemp Seed oil so i can't comment. But when i oil cleanse, i use rose hip seed oil only. It is so incredibly thin and soothing, it's ridiculous. But the other oils i mentioned are great options as well, but they aren't quite as thin.

The third issue i have with oil cleansing, is that once you steam your face and wipe away all of the oil, your skin is literally oilless. You've cleansed off the oil you produce naturally, as well as the oil you added to your face. So you are left with zero acid mantle, and skin that is without any coating. My theory behind this being the cause of acne showing up two weeks later is not ground breaking: It's because your skin is starting to overproduce oil in order to reach a balance. And when your skin is tight due to lack of oil or product, it would make sense that the pore would restrict as well making it difficult for the natural oil (which you are now producing more of) to escape the pore.

So my solution to this issue would be to add a tiny amount of rose hip seed oil back to the skin after the oil cleansing process. This is what i do and have never felt any tightness that i felt the initial night i tried oil cleansing using castor oil and EVOO.

It might be worth your time to try this revised method of oil cleansing. I think it's a great method, especially if your acne is strictly a result of impaired functioning of the pore

Also: If you want to make the cleanse even purer, you could use distilled water that you heat on the stove. This will be free of all the impurities that are in tap water

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(@dejaclairevoyant)

Posted : 03/08/2013 3:31 pm

I used grapeseed oil when I did the OCM. It caused really bad damage to my skin and terrible acne, to the point where I was getting staph infections. I think people with severe acne really need to use soap and other anti-bacterial stuff on their face. But this might work for some people with mild to moderate acne.

edit--sorry meant to say I used grapeseed WITH castor oil. Not alone.

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(@darkheart)

Posted : 03/08/2013 7:55 pm

I used grapeseed oil when I did the OCM. It caused really bad damage to my skin and terrible acne, to the point where I was getting staph infections. I think people with severe acne really need to use soap and other anti-bacterial stuff on their face. But this might work for some people with mild to moderate acne.

edit--sorry meant to say I used grapeseed WITH castor oil. Not alone.

I agree. The oil cleansing method should be reserved for "mild to moderate cases" of acne - definitely not severe acne, that's a horrible idea. When my acne was very severe I would break out so horribly from cleansing with argan/grapeseed oil - it really made things much worse. I believe the only thing your should be using on your face when your acne is severe is a facewash and prescription cream from your derm with a high quality moisturizer and nothing else.

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(@onefatalgoose)

Posted : 03/10/2013 3:59 pm

I used grapeseed oil when I did the OCM. It caused really bad damage to my skin and terrible acne, to the point where I was getting staph infections. I think people with severe acne really need to use soap and other anti-bacterial stuff on their face. But this might work for some people with mild to moderate acne.

edit--sorry meant to say I used grapeseed WITH castor oil. Not alone.

Thanks for sharing deja,

Yeah, it simply might not be for everyone. I was scared sh-tless when i first tried it. Didn't cause cystic acne for me though. Actually helped my condition. But i omitted castor oil after the first night of using it, fearing it was a terrible oil for the face

Also deja, have you tried consuming organic licorice root powder for your hormones? I've heard great things about it's ability to aid in adrenal function. I simply make a cold version and shake up a teaspoon in half a liter of water

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(@livvie)

Posted : 03/12/2013 10:41 am

Not a big fan of the oil cleansing method, personally. It may work for some people, but I tried the oil cleansing method for over a week but stopped because I noticed it was clogging up the area around my chin. My skin also started getting really dry, which I was not expecting considering I thought oil was supposed to moisturize? I think it's the castor oil that does that, even when I just mix a little bit in.

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(@lifeinfaith)

Posted : 06/19/2013 7:55 pm

Blog here - Read all the comments - [removed]

Around April of 2012 my boss told me about OCM and finally convinced me to try it so I bought castor oil in the drug aisle and mixed it with my extra virgin olive oil in the kitchen. I used it off and on maybe once every 2 weeks for several months...never noticed a major effect but did start noticing slightly more clogged pores than usual. I attributed it to stress and stopped using OCM for a while and used gycolic acid...I picked OCM back up more frequently in Sept-Oct 2012 and then we moved to Colorado Springs. I started noticing more and more clogged pores around my mouth and nose, where I normally did not get pimples (I have always been Tzone for breakouts). I attributed this to the dry air we had moved to and started using OCM even more. Early November I bought grapeseed oil and used it to clean and moisturize my face almost daily...my face continued to get worse and for some reason I thought I needed more oil. In mid February I went to see an aestetician for the first time and she told me not to use the oil since I was already oily. I stopped and went back to moisturizer and in March is pretty much when all hell broke loose. Since I wasnt really using OCM at that time anymore I didnt think of it...it was like every single pore in my lower face was clogged and I started getting swollen breakouts too (which are not common for me). In April the derm told me it was hormonal and recommended Spiro to accompany my retinoid use. March-April were the worst acne I have ever had in my life. I think the antibiotics were finally controlling the swollen ones...but I had to literally manually extract every single clog as the retin a was bringing it up over the period of 2-3 months. I don't know how many I extracted...but they were all stuck under the skin. I always commented that my skin had seemingly changed in the way it functioned...Ide never had major issues on my cheeks and jaw...and some of the clogs were in lines across my cheeks, like every pore effected and took sooo long to come out. After finally getting most of all that gunk out (4 months after stopping OCM) I am still getting occasional clogs rising to the surface, but it was nothing like it was. After reading the comments in that blog as well as the negative reviews on makeupalley - http://www.makeupall...sp/itemid=73176 and her story - http://beautyandinsp...-review-be.html I finally realized how what had happened to be was EXACTLY what happened to so many of these women, seeing effects for months later. I even read some saying there's took over a year to correct after OCM. Mine has gotten so much better in the past few months that I am hoping my skin is pretty much clear of all that stupid oil and possible infection now. I am still going to take Spiro to control any excess oil and antibiotics for the next month. I hope I am over it, but I can't believe I was the cause of it. I am 90% sure using OCM was the worst thing I could have ever done to myself. It caused so much anxiety and trauma over the past several months. The stress caused from that may very well be affecting my skin too....but I cant imagine that my experience is a coincidence if so many women using OCM had literally the exact same experience, type and location of pimples. I have my 6 week derm checkup tomorrow and will be talking to her about this in depth. The retin-a micro (and microdermabrasian) has been a godsend in getting this stuff out of my skin much faster than it would have.

This gives me hope in that this shouldn't continue. Since I caused it myself with oil...once all that is out of my skin it shouldn't be something inside of me that is causing it...however it makes me so angry at myself...that I did this to myself. Such a simple stupid mistake could cause such terrible effects. Wow. What I did to myself in the pursuit of perfection. It is definitely humbling. Anyone reading this, DO NOT TRY OCM!!!

Has anyone else had a similar experience with OCM they would like to share?

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(@connielb)

Posted : 09/29/2013 12:00 pm

I am so glad I am not alone here. I began using a very expensive & popular organic oil cleansing system (did not want to use the actual product name here) after deciding to clean up my beauty regimen. I started using that product and during the first few weeks they said I could expect a detox period. If the breakouts became too troublesome, they suggested doing the OCM a few days a week along with their products. Well, my breakouts were so bad I began using only the OCM hoping it would calm my skin. Two months later my skin was the WORST it had ever been in my life. Even in my teen years, I would maybe suffer with maybe one or two cyst type pimples at a time. This method had completely disrupted my skin. I went back to using my Proactiv because it has always worked for my skin. Well, I am almost six weeks back on Proactiv and my chin is still breaking out everyday with new painful cystic acne. They hurt so bad and are so inflamed I can't even get my make up to properly cover it up. It is so bad I don't want to leave the house. How are there so many people that can use this method and the organic products I used and not have problems. I don't see any negative reviews anywhere and I have been searching over the last few months. So glad I found this forum. Just to tell my story somewhere helps. I can't believe, like so many other people, that I did this to myself. DO NOT USE the OCM but if you do, go into it knowing that a minor acne breakout could turn into your worst nightmare.

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(@lifeinfaith)

Posted : 09/30/2013 9:18 pm

Well more than 3 months later and I want to say my face is "back to normal". I hope this gives hope to anyone who had the OCM ruin their skin. In all it took about 6 months to clear everything and get back to normal, wth the help of antibiotics, retin a micro and trips to the aestetician. I wold recommend going to see a dermatologist to treat it. Without getting on meds I dont think it would have cleared in 6 months. I dont have any scars from it, so hopefully with time you guys will be back to normall too!!

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(@anthony22)

Posted : 10/06/2013 4:43 pm

I tried the oil cleansing method for a little over three weeks, in my experience, it didn't make my skin any better, but at the same time, didn't make it any worse. The good ol' Cleansing and moisturizing is all I really needed.

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(@quetzlcoatl)

Posted : 10/07/2013 1:23 am

I recently cleansed my skin with castor oil two times, a couple days apart. My skin is suffering now because of it - hundreds of comedones (I did the cleanses about a week ago ). I don't think I'll be touching oil again, though I think it's really wonderful for people who can handle it.

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(@f93d)

Posted : 10/08/2013 5:22 pm

OCM is the worst thing to do to your skin, based on my experience.

I'm suffering the consequences. The reviews all said there was a purging period; I believed it.

Here's the sour reality - there's no such thing. Once these hundreds of comedones show up, it's over. They just stick inside your skin and inflame one by one. They don't go away.

I rarely, if ever get big cysts and/or blood pockets (blood mixed with other gunk lingering under the skin for months) since pre Accutane.

OCM brought this nightmare back in just 3 days.

I've had 200+ comedones since the start of August, and it's still not over. At least one gets inflamed every day (only got inflamed since I started treating it, however. If I did nothing, no inflammation, however I'm stuck with the comedones)

Paula's 2% BHA became a real good friend, started that 2 - 3 weeks ago and it helped to reduced comedone count by maybe 60%. However at the same time I manually extracted at least 50 of them. I've used 5 20% SA peels over the past month.

I'm also low depth skin needling + applying the 2% SA. It just wasn't getting in deep enough.

It blows mainly b/c before OCM I was so close to acne freedom. I was just looking for the finishing touches and was recommended OCM. On a positive note, it looks like Paula's SA is the trick for me.

Kamaza liked
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(@user354689)

Posted : 10/08/2013 8:39 pm

i tried the oil cleansing method and i decided to go in another direction for cleansing purposes. what would really benefit people when doing something like this is to only use the oils that are low in comedogenic ratings. something like castor oil seems like it'd break you out, yet it's low in terms of the comedogenic rating (1).

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(@kamaza)

Posted : 03/03/2014 6:39 am

Hi guys, I have been reading your posts above about OCM. I too have had a horrible horrible experience from it. I tried OCM for the first time 2 weeks ago, I used a small amount of castor and avocado oils and followed the method as instructed. I've always had problematic skin (extremely oily and acne prone) but over the last 3 -4 months it had really cleared up with no major breakouts, just the odd pimple here and there. I had some scarring and quite a bit of blackheads so I thought I would try the OCM to help clean out the blackheads... big mistake!!

The next day my skin felt bumpier than usual which I didn't pay too much mind to at the time, however by the 3rd day I woke up to red rash like bumps all over my skin, especially around my mouth and on my nose, which was odd because I don't usually breakout on those areas.

2 weeks in I have broken out so badly everywhere! I have cystic acne on my chin, along my jawline, under the skin pimples all along my cheeks, bumps all over my forehead. Nothing is helping and it seems to be getting worse by the day. I wake up with more breakouts every day and scarring is already showing up. Its really getting me down and I feel so silly because I did it to myself. I only wanted to clear out the stubborn blackheads but I didn't expect to ruin my skin completely.. I wish I had never tried OCM as my skin was on the road to recovery. Now I'm dealing with more stress from my skin!

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(@tealollie)

Posted : 04/07/2014 4:54 pm

I tried OCM for three weeks because of an occasional cyst here and there and all the rave reviews on how beautiful peoples skin had become. I am in my early thirties and maybe I am experiencing that oh my! wrinkles and age creeping in. I started at the end of December. At first all was good I had that healthy glow, skin soft and smooth, but then the breakout started. I researched a ton, others saying hang in there blah blah blah. I feel I was doing it just as others who have good success were, tried only three different oils with different ratios, grapeseed, jajoba, and castor. I had a few pesky blemishes in the beginning, but four weeks in I quit because I developed cystic acne ten times worse on my chin as well as many,many comedomes that are still mostly there, some regular groups of pimples with pus (ewww), along with occasional pimples on my forehead. My chin is where I would used to get that one pesky cyst once or twice a month that would linger for at least a week maybe two before I tried OCM, so I assume that's why I suffer there now after OCM the most.

My skin was really good before and I have never had acne like this. It is disheartening and I feel for those who have dealt with this most of their lives. Anyhow, it has been three months since I stopped and I am still dealing with it. It wasn't until this past week that I have stopped getting inflamed cysts and the ones there are shrinking and I have some lovely scars. I started The Regimen three weeks ago with a break in between because my skin was so dry. I backed off a little and am now going slowly. I have nothing painful on my face right now but some cysts/nodules still linger under the skin. My record shows that those white comedomes will probably erupt with time. I am sure the The Regimen is doing good but I only started after I had tried more natural things: black soap (good but wasn't enough) will try it after cleared, manuka honey (made me itch), masks, ACV ect.... All were good, didn't make things worse but didn't help to clear fast enough. I am getting married in June and my fiance just thinks I was nuts for putting oil on my face. And he is right, we laugh now. I am happy this works for some, but beware and don't believe all the hype on the net. What works for them, may not work for you. Test spot for a few weeks, maybe a month or two at first, lol. But prepared to work hard to clear it if you react poorly. This stuff is stubborn!!

You know what I have used pretty much most my life to have clear skin? Dove bar soap. I was always asked what I used for my "porcelain skin " and people were surprised. I would use occasional SA for spot treatment and ice on that one pimple I would get. I didn't even know I needed to exfoliate until 2 yrs ago when I had my first and probably only ever facial. The person was like what?! you never exfoliate? She could see it in my skin, but I and others couldn't. I have occasionally exfoliated since but not often. So my point is I always received compliments on my skin on how I look way younger then my age and all I did was bar soap cleanse and really, really moisturized with SPF. It wasn't until I started doing other things and stripping my skin, when I broke out. Too much is not good (for me anyway), I need to get back to my simple way. Now I am resorting to more chemicals to clean up the damage I caused and my skin is in a vicious cycle, stripping everything good to clear it up. BP doesn't make you very pretty either, at least at first. I think I look ten years older now lol. I am not sure how much my scarring will be. Hopefully not a lot I am pretty healthy and heal well.

Kamaza- How is your trying to clear it up going?

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(@doctorbrenda)

Posted : 04/16/2014 12:19 am

The most common cause of acne for most people is over active sebaceous glands (oily skin). Although I have not personally reviewed any science on this approach, my experience tells me this is not only unlikely to reduce your lesion count, but may make you break out even more.

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(@silver83)

Posted : 05/13/2014 11:53 am

I have struggled with mild to moderate acne that I was able to get under control for the past few years with Cetaphil, BP and Retin-A. I ran out of Retin-A about 6 months ago and have been unable to find the time to get my prescription refilled. About 3 months ago, I started breaking out a bit on my forehead, like 2 or 3 whiteheads, so I started looking remedies that didn't require a prescription. Unfortunately, I came across OCM.

I did OCM every night for a month. At first, I was just using olive oil, which didn't clear up my break out, but didn't really cause more. Then, I tried hemp seed oil, which yielded about the same results. Then, I started using a mixture of borage seed, grapeseed, hemp seed and hazelnut. Within 2 weeks, my face erupted with painful cystic acne on my forehead, chin and cheeks that I had never experienced before. My skin was so red and inflammed, it almost seemed swollen and disfiguring. I didn't realize how bad it was until people I hadn't seen in a week or two had trouble recognizing me. I didn't suspect OCM until I missed one night and actually saw my face calm down a bit.

It's almost been 2 months since I've stopped doing OCM. I found a great dermatologist who suggested a regimen of iS Clinical Cleansing Complex, sulfur sulfacetamide, Bactrim and CeraVe moisturizer. He agreed that OCM does work wonders on some people, but it's a huge gamble-- there's a huge amount of information needed to get it right and many people risk infection not getting it right! The Bactrim has been essential in purging my skin from the inside out, while the sulfur sulfacetamide has tremendously helped to minimize the existing acne from the outside. My pimples have been reduced by at least 80%, but now I have hyperpigmentation to deal with. It's been hard as I have been embarrassed to go out and be in public since. I have never been one to wear makeup, so I don't even know where to start with covering it all up.

I would encourage anyone who is going through the same bad experience with OCM to see a dermatologist, or at least their primary care physician to get back on the road to clear skin. I know I learned my lesson, stick with what works!

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(@star1984)

Posted : 07/02/2014 3:35 pm

I also had horrible reactions to the OCM. I used Hempseed oil and rosehip. I've never had "acne" issues really. I just would get a red bump here and there, but like some of you I wanted that perfect complexion. I've always been a little obsessive about my skin given that I'm extremely fair, almost white. It's safe to say for as smart as I'm constantly told I am, this made me officially where an idiot hat (that I really wanted to pull over my face). It seemed to work wonderfully at first, then i started getting these extremely painfully and deep cysts. I've gotten glycolic facials off and on for 5 years because one small bump would leave a big red mark on my face. I hadn't been in about a year and ran to her in tears. I think I cried for 2 months and I'm not an emotional woman. It's timing was the worst too. I turn 30 this year, got divorced, and was about to meet my boyfriend in chicago while I was at a very important business conference. All if really wanted to do was find a dark room. I had the same thing, whole lines of pores along my cheeks turned into HUGE cluster breakouts that we so deep even my aethitician was having issues getting all the disgusting gunk out. I also went to a derm and contacted a spa in Vegas. I started using milk cleanser and pure aloe vera as well as a moisturizer. That with the glycolic facials and my face out better. This all started in mid-April of this year. My skin is better but i still think it look horrible. I still get cysts that seem to come in 2 or 3's and now apparently i get blackheads, whiteheads, and pimples. Although they have also gotten much better. I started taking the Minocycline this month. I was scared to take it at first because of all the side effects. I also moved away and now i'm having issues finding a place that will do glycolic facials even when i tell them it helps my skin. My boyfriend comes home in a few months and I really want my skin back to normal. It will never be perfect, especially with the scares the cysts have left behind but normai would be nice so i dont feel ashamed i'm such an idiot.

Oh, and the Derm said mine was caused by "severe emotional trauma", not sure it's the cause but it was certainly the effect.

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(@lifeinfaith)

Posted : 07/04/2014 1:27 am

We all seem to have the similar experience of our skin never being the same after OCM. I have actually had to go on accutane recently because over a year since the OCM mess and my face never was the way it was before...my question is, is this just coincidence that many of us started using OCM because we were trying to fix something or noticing our faces were changing and they were already on course to change (hormonal,aging etc) regardless of the oil use or not, or did the OCM really permanently change something in the skin? I have a hard time rationalizing that it could permanetly affect the skin...those layers affected have long sluffed off after a year and the skin is very resilient. It is just oil... But I really don't know. If anyone who has knowledge of skin chemistry or oil skin reactions could respond it would be enlightening!

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(@sarka90)

Posted : 07/24/2014 4:26 am

I have been using OCM for last 2 weeks and 3-4 days ago I started to breaking out so badly. Mostly around my chin, nose and cheeks , where I never had problem with. They so big, red and painful. My work mate was asking me what sh*t food I've been eating recently coz my face look much worst. I looked at my face last night and was actually crying. I think my face was never as bad as its now. I wasn't sure what it couses but didn't think is that until I found this forum. I used 30% castor oil and rest is saffower oil and tea tree (heard is very good for acne). I'm going to stop using it. Horrible horrible horrible experience! Never again!

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(@mindall123)

Posted : 07/25/2014 7:35 pm

I've had a similar experience to all of you. (Pic attached) I used the ocm two months ago and now I still have these tiny bumps all over my face and nothing is working to get rid of them. I just started a low dose accutane hopefully it'll work. I hate the OCM at this point. My skin is so rough.post-409669-0-01479600-1406334917_thumb.

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(@leadingforce)

Posted : 07/25/2014 9:03 pm

I've had a similar experience to all of you. (Pic attached) I used the ocm two months ago and now I still have these tiny bumps all over my face and nothing is working to get rid of them. I just started a low dose accutane hopefully it'll work. I hate the OCM at this point. My skin is so rough.image.jpg

they are closed comedones , try using aha 10% or retin a

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(@mkgirll)

Posted : 10/09/2014 5:42 pm

I too had an AWFUL experience with oil cleansing. I only used it (75% grapeseed, 25% castor) for 8 days and I have discontinued it for 9 days now. I keep breaking out every single day, and I fear that it is going to get much worse- even worse than it has already... I started on doxycycline yesterday and i'm using The Regimen (which I had success, if only I had just stuck to it..). My question is: is there any other way I could speed up the process of recovery? I'm thinking the doxy will take a few weeks to kick in, and there is a pretty bad infection going on right now. Maybe juicing? Loads of fruits and veggies? Any input would be incredibly helpful since I'm soooo desperate. :(

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(@jakitoy)

Posted : 10/11/2014 5:46 am

Many manythanks dear for sharing such an important and informative link with us. many of the person nowadys face the problems of oily skin , so disgusting the condition is!

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(@sashamarie)

Posted : 06/03/2015 8:30 pm

Oh geez, now I'm not so sure if I want to start...

 

I'm only interested in the OCM as a way to effectively break down my makeup and get it all off BEFORE I wash my face with Neutrogena 2% SA face wash and follow up with moisturizer.

 

I was going to take just jojoba oil and maybe mix in some Vitamin E oil. I don't want to use any of the other oils, especially EVOO, because I know they'll break me out. I don't have horrendous acne, but I have quite a bit of clogged pores that have left me with some tiny closed comedones (whiteheads).

 

I feel like part of the reason my pores keep getting clogged is because my makeup isn't getting removed properly.

 

Does anyone have any experience with jojoba oil? Or using an oil to cleanse and then follow up with SA face wash?

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(@boobiebutt)

Posted : 09/07/2015 12:40 pm

It's seems that all of you went into this without knowing what DEMODEX is. That seems to be the common denominator.

People 96% of us and 100% of you have DEMODEX MITES IN YOUR SKIN. If u have ever smoked or done antibiotics internally or topically or are RH(-) blood type you will have an out of control overgrowth of these nasty things. Google an image of them!

Your face has millions of pores and follicles clogged up with these critters. They DESTROY SKIN. The only thing that destroys their lipid protective coating and mills them is castor and coconut oil....this is why they cause the worst break outs. I'd rather have a bit of pimply skin for a while then tons of premature wrinkles later....because that is what they cause. The zits are caused because these critters die in skin and decompose....hence the infection.

I too had a perfect complexion all my life...but way to many wrinkles. I'm breaking out everywhere and I actually love it. You have to keep oil on at all times

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