Oil Cleansing Method (OCM)

I haven't really started using oil cleansing method religiously because I have a lot of acne (moderate acne) suddenly on the right side of my cheek and I don't want to irritate or spread it more. But from all the research I have done about acne and from everything that I know about it, here are my conclusions as to why OCM may not work for some people: Firstly, before you go ahead and slather anything on your skin, know that your skin is generally very delicate. 1. Most people back in the day never had as much acne as we do now, simply because they left their skin alone. They ate natural, organic food and washed their face naturally. Finally, they didn't slather on a ton of makeup/creams/sunscreens on their face. This is definitely something to think about as we put a lot of sh*t on our face that eventually clogs pores. Letting your face breathe is EXTREMELY important. I know this because I finally understand the structure of a pore. Inside every pore is a hair follicle and a sebaceous gland that secretes oil on to the surface of the skin. Acne happens when your sebaceous glands are either very active or your pores are blocked by something (either dead skin cells or comedogenic makeup or a pore blocking moisturizer or any makeup, period). Usually overactive sebaceous glands are not the only reason acne happens. When sebaceous glands are too active and the oil doesn't have an outlet to be pushed out, it keeps getting filled up in the pore. Bacteria then rushes into the pore to feed into the oil and this creates acne. So it makes sense that if you slather something on your skin that is not good for you and let it sit for a long time, the oil in your pores keeps getting built up because it doesn't have an outlet to be pushed out, leading to acne. 2. Steaming/extremely hot water is usually not very good for you, and it isn't very convenient either. Whenever I steam my face or scrub it too much, I get more acne. If you find that OCM is giving you more acne and you are steaming/scrubbing your face, cut the steaming and scrubbing out. If you are putting makeup or any other thing on your face on top of OCM and it is breaking you out, this is probably because your skin now has (on top of all the extra oil) ten layers of foreign stuff on it that is blocking all your pores. You are using the wrong combination of oils + steaming your face + slathering something more on your skin after (even if it is just oil). Imagine what that does to your pore. Steaming opens up pores and removes natural oil from pores + you put more oil and scrub it in (putting a lot of external oil back into the pore) + you put more oil on top of the pore. To me, this would look like a balloon filling up with more and more oil and at the same time producing more oil from within and finally being blocked by more oil/makeup. Bacteria rushes into the pore and creates acne. 3. Oil is definitely good for your skin because it restores moisture in your skin which is usually stripped off from all the harsh soaps/detergents we put on our skin. So the idea behind OCM is correct. You just need to do it the write way and not fill up your pore with unnecessary amount of oil. I generally slather sunflower oil on my skin every night to remove dead skin cells and restore lost oil back to my pores, and then I take a cotton pad to wipe all the oil off. After that I wash my skin with a gentle cleanser. I need to use the cleanser because I don't want my pores blocked by dead skin cells or I don't want dirt and dust to stick to my skin since I live in a very humid, hot and dusty environment. After I wash my face with the cleanser, it feels nice and soft without all the extra oil. It looks clean and fresh as well. I only do this at night. In the morning I was my face normally with a soap free cleanser and put a moisturizer on. That's it. No makeup, only eyeliner. I need my pores to breathe.

I started using grapeseed oil as a cleanser about a month a go because of its astringent, healing and moisturising properties. and after a month of use the results are amazing, my pores look unclogged, my blackheads are reduced, I have had no breakouts what so ever and my skin is actually glowing! I have seen that many of you have had a bad reaction to the OCM because you have used coconut oil, personally I would not recommend coconut oil for the OCM if you have oily/acne prone skin or any type of acne prone skin, as coconut oil actually have a very high comedogenic rating compared to other oils suck as grapeseed oil or sweet almond oil (which I also highly recommend). this means that when coconut oil Is applied to oily or acne prone skin it is more likely to clog pores if used as a moisturiser or if it is not washed off thoroughly, and due to the greasiness of the oil it is most likely to leave residue on the skin anyway leading to blackheads, breakouts and possibly cystic acne. I am saying this from experience because I tried coconut oil for the OCM and after a few days of using it my skin FREAKED OUT, I have spots everywhere and I was embarrassed to even leave the house. however sweet almond oil and grapeseed oil are actually know to unclog pores and get rid of acne so I would highly recommend them for the OCM or as a moisturiser. if you would also like to use any other oils I would recommend doing some research on the comedogenic ratings of the oils and the uses of the oils as you may find that some oils are used more for moisturising and dry/flaky skin that for cleansing and getting rid of acne. some people have had very positive outcomes from using coconut oil, but the majority of them had originally dry /combination or dry/flaky skin. if you are relying on just reviews make sure that that person has a similar skin type as you because you might end up wrecking your skin.

This method did not work for me. If you're on the fence about this, personally, I don't think it's worth the risk. A few days into the OCM my face started to break out in closed comedones on my cheeks.. I have NEVER broken out on my cheeks, ever. Until trying the OCM. These comedones took forever to come to head, at one point I counted over 50 on my cheeks, and they left me with horrible, deep red pigmentation marks. It's been 6 months since I stopped and some of the marks have yet to fade. Again, this is not worth it.

This is my 5th day on ocm and i am starting to get alot of heavy and angry breakouts that i never had on my forehead! But pimples on my chin have visibly reduced. Should i continue though? I read many comments that says to stop ocm but i do feel like giving it a go. Omgggg hahahaha but i really do not want to get anymore breakouts. i am feel like once i continue with this ocm, theres no going back for my breakouts :(

I have been using hemp seed oil on my face as a moisturizer on and off for about 2 years now and I have never felt like it caused me to break out, although I do have acne-prone skin.I just recently started using it in the Oil Cleansing Method. MY BACKGROUND I'm 24, I had mostly clear skin growing up but at age 20 I got the Mirena IUD and it broke me out horribly, I started getting cystic acne which I used to not get, after a year when I finally clued in that it was the Mirena making a mess of my skin, I had it removed and switched to the copper t-novo iud (which does not release any hormones) since then my skin has still been a struggle, not as bad as when I had the mirena - when I had the mirena I'd get acne all over my my cheeks, chin, my temples, and my forehead. Now without the mirena it is just my cheeks and chin that tend to get acne. I've tried a lot, acid peels (salicylic and lac tic acid), I've tried so many topicals, Proactiv, and I even had a few laser treatments which HURT. A lot. Some more than others, but yea pure torture. My acne eventually came back. I've also tried clean eating, I've noticed dairy and sugar (especially combined- icecream!) break me out, but even avoiding those and drinking 8-12 cups of water a day I still break out, and on top of that my red scarring was extremely slow to leave. REVIEW OF OCM - 2/3 Hemp seed Oil, 1/3 Castor Oil So like I said I used to moisturize with Hemp seed, and now I recently started using it in the OC method. At first I thought it was pretty good, I could feel it removing little blackheads and the tiny clogged pores very easily, but then I decided to add castor oil to it and I love it!!! It is the perfect mix for me. Before using this method my skin looked dull and lifeless, like it was lacking collagen. Basically, I looked gaunt, like I was under-nutritioned even though I eat quite healthy. This oil combo not only greatly reduces my redness, but it plumps my skin like nothing other!! But the great thing about the plumping, is that I put it under and on my eyelids too, and they don't swell up whereas other oils and also vaseline cause me to have gross puffy swelling. Note that this plumping of my skin only happens if I steam my face with the oil on, if I skip the steaming I don't get this so the steaming is very important. MY ROUTINE I OC at night every night and occasionally in the AM. At night, I grab my oil from the fridge (Hemp Seed oil Must be kept in the fridge) and I start massaging it all over my face, over my makeup (sometimes if I have heavy mascara on, I will rinse my face with water just to get most of it off, and then towel dry completely, but I don't use any other cleanser apart from the oil). So, I put it onto a dry face with clean hands and I begin to massage it into my skin for about 10 minutes, and then I soak a face cloth in hot hot water, ring it out a bit and drape it over my face, trying to seal it around my face with my hands. I re-soak it in hot water usually 3-5 times, I keep going with the steam until I feel I've gotten enough to give me the plumping effect. Then I either wipe the oil off with the cloth in an upward motion (I don't resoak it because I don't want to take all the oil off) orr if I had just gotten out of the shower or something and the whole bathroom is very steamy and hot, I will massage again and maybe even take some time to massage down my neck to get flow going in my lymph nodes. And ta da! Done. I don't apply any moisturizer because hemp oil penetrates the skin so amazingly well (and its a 0 on the noncomedigenic scale). In the morning, I wake up with significantly less redness than what any less skin routine would give me, and cute collagen-filled cheeks! So in the AM I just leave my skin be, unless it was a hot night where I was sweating a lot, then I do the OC again, but this time taking a bit less time to massage it in (depending on how much time I have) Anyways if you've tried OCM and it wasn't entirely pleasing you to the degree you hoped, I HIGHLY SUGGEST you try it with hemp seed oil and castor! It even leaves my skin looking matte! I seriously can't say enough about it. The only downside is it needs to be kept in the fridge or freezer. For me this isn't much of an issue because my place is small and my bathroom is right next to my kitchen. Totally worth it though, if you have to run down to a kitchen that is far away, I suggest just washing your hands thoroughly and then going to your kitchen to get the oil, and then start massaging it straight onto your skin while you're still in the kitchen, no need to grab it and bring it to the bathroom with you just to have to go put it back again. Ps- I've tried this with coconut oil, olive oil, and grapeseed oil, I would say that Hemp is superior to all of them. (Can be found at a health foods store!)

Worked for me! and it will probably work for you. I used olive oil and castor oil but dont use coconut oil because it is common that it clogs pores. I left it overnight , and today! my face feels nice and if you put some castor/olive oil on your bags and on your eyelashes, it will make the bags go away, and your eyelashes longer.

I have been using the OCM twice a week for the last three years. It has worked really well for me so far. I use a mixture of 40% castor + 60% almond oil. I have always wanted to try using safflower oil but never did because almond oil works great for me. Let me just give you some background about myself. I am a 29 year old from India, with a light brown complexion. I have normal skin which turns a little oily in summers. I have had a clear and smooth skin most of my life. I never had a single blemish on my face till the age of 24. Having always been kind of a nerd, I never bothered with my appearance or skin care. I started having little zits on my forehead and around my mouth. When people started commenting on how my skin is not as clear and baby smooth it used to be before, I started experimenting with a lot of beauty products to clear my face - washes, scrubs, masks, creams, you name it. It only made my skin worse. One day I got a big angry tomato red acne on my left cheek, and then another one near my mouth. These were not the harmless zits that went away in a couple of days. They were deep cystic acne. I saw a dermatologist right away. After taking the prescribed medicines, my left cheek cleared. But!! I got 2-3 new spots on my right cheek. Then that cleared up too...and I got more spots on my left cheek. My cheeks started looking like tomato patches. This went on for a while. My mom suggested this could be hormonal. I saw my gynecologist who ran a few blood tests for me. I was diagnosed with some early symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Disorder or PCOD. My doctor put me on birth control for three months (to regularize the menstrual cycle). She also prescribed another pill for PCOD for the next six months. With that and a LOT!! of lifestyle changes (diet, exercise, sleep, posture), my PCOD was under control. Within a month, my skin started clearing up. My complexion slowly got back to being flawless the way it was. After almost a year of being miserable, I got my clear skin back. I stopped experimenting with face products. I still do not use any commercial wash, cream etc. on my face if it is not recommended by my dermatologist. I do use homemade masks, scrubs made with kitchen ingredients though. I started doing the OCM only when my skin was absolutely clear. I noticed my complexion had started looking very dull and lifeless. I came across the OCM on a beauty blog. I was intrigued and decided to try it with 40% castor + 60% EVOO. The results on the first two days were amazing. I had this amazing glow on my face. But after a week, my skin felt a little dry and started looking dull again. I switched from EVOO to jojoba oil. That gave me tiny white heads on my nose and forehead. So I stopped doing it every day. I started doing it once a week and switched to almond oil. Luckily, almond oil did not break me out. After a few weeks when my skin adjusted to it (NOTE: I did not "purge". I have read many people have had a purging phase with OCM. Not in my case). I started doing it twice a week. OCM has worked out well for me. All said and done, I would suggest people to try this cleansing routine, but with a lot of care. Try once a week. Please do not go overboard while rubbing in the oil. Five minutes are more than enough. If you have perfect skin/complexion, please DO NOT experiment with it. I would definitely NOT recommend this to anyone who has acne, rosacea, or sensitive skin. OCM involves a lot of rubbing in of oil, which might further irritate your skin and worsen your acne. Having dealt with terrible cystic acne myself, I truly understand how upsetting it is and how desperate one feels to try the next new miracle cure. Acne (especially cystic/hormonal) is best treated with the help of a good doctor and important lifestyle changes. I really helps if you stop obsessing over it :). Your facial skin is delicate, treat it with a lot of care. Hope this helps!! and sorry about such a long post.

Oh, how I wish the OCM had worked for me. I was completely committed for over 2 months. I'm 30 y/o and have combination oily/dry skin. I tend to only breakout on my chin (leads me to believe it's hormonal). Before starting this new method, I had just switched to using from using Proactiv to an organic blend of black african soap w/ a tiny amount of salicylic acid. Then, I'd use Clinique moisturizer. I wanted to try to wean myself off of these acne products, thinking, hey, now I'm 30, I probably don't need these chemicals, I'm probably just reliant on them. I did that for 3 months and would have maybe 1 small zit a week, sometimes maybe a cystic pimple, treatable with on the spot Proactiv lotion. So, I was pretty please that my skin was doing decently without needing daily acne treatment. I wanted to take it a step further and eliminate the need for the lotion (has some harmful chemicals in it and just thought it would be simpler, less products). Here's how it went: Week 1: Coconut oil 2Xday, no steaming...beautiful skin Week 2: Coconut oil 2Xday, not steaming...horrible huge cystic zits...3-6 at a time. I understand the whole purging thing, but this was insane. Then I read coconut oil bad for acneic skin so I then I switched to jojoba. Week 3-4: Jojoba Oil 2Xday...getting better Week 4-5: Jojoba Oil 2Xday ...horrible huge cystic zits, again only on my chin, tried adding the steaming method Week 5-6: Jojoba Oil, Castor Oil, Tea Tree Oil and Tamanu oil blend, with steaming method 2X day...mostly tons of zits again, sometimes I'd have a couple days of freedom, and I'd think my skin was finally adjusting. Week 6-7: continued Jojoba Oil, Castor Oil, Tea Tree Oil and Tamanu oil blend...realized that I now I 25 (yes 25) new ugly acne scars on my face. I started spot treating them with Proactiv again as it was just out of control. Week 7-8: Did OCM only 1Xday, back to African black soap in the morning. Still breaking out. Week 9: I quit. It was destroying my chin. This scarring is going to take months (years?) to heal (I have fair skin and it heals slowly). I'm now trying baking soda as my face wash, using a jojoba oil blend as a moisturizer for everywhere but my chin, proactiv on my chin, and my old Clinique moisturizer (just bought a Derm-e moisturizer today with NO oil...again, this Clinque moisturizer has some questionable chemicals in it.) Been 5 days and totally zit-free. So there's my (probably way too) detailed account. I have gone totally DIY/organic with all my cleaning and body products my last few months, so believe me, it hurt to give up on the OCM. But you know what...these chemicals, that I've been using my whole life, never did even a fraction of the damage that the OCM did. I'm going to just hope this new organic moisturizer doesn't cause break-outs and call it a day. I really tried my best here with troubleshooting. Would I recommend the OCM? Well, it works for some people, and I'm not sure I even regret it as it could have been great, but maybe I should have quit sooner. Maybe it just sucks for people with hormonal acne on their chin and jawline? Fair skin? Everyone's different.

I see that it's a hit and miss with this OCM thing. I included the list of oils you should avoid below. Hope it helps! I tried it about a year ago and it worked and then I stopped(stupid me) because I came back with bad acne. now I am going to start again. I think depending on the oils you use. It may not work for everyone because everyone's skin is different. but at least it gives you a better guidelines to which oils you should be using instead of splashing your face with just anything. I will NEVER use coconut oil on my skin, i have tried it without researching it, it's horrible for oily skin(at least my skin) so I did so much more research and I came across this article that talks about the different oils and their properties. so basically oily/acne prone skin people need to stop using Oils high in Oleic Acid(see list below) and start using oils high in Linoleic Acid(see list below). Our oily skin is so unbalanced, that is why we break out, we produce more Oleic acid than Linoleic acid. so we need to find a balance. If you are curious, I have used Hemp seed oil a year ago(which did not break me out) and now i am trying the Evening Primrose oil. I stay away from oils that have more Oleic acid thank Linoleic acid. I have heard great reviews on Pumpkin seed oil but I haven't tried it. I hope this helps...GOOD LUCK!!! Oils high OLEIC ACID: Avocado Oil, Aprikot Kernel Oil, Hazelnut Oil, Shea Nut OIl, Macadamia Oil, Sea Buckthorn Oil, Olive Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Palm Fruit Oil Somewhat balanced oils high in OLEIC ACID: Jojoba Oil, Coconut Oil, Flaxseed Oil, Tamanu Oil, Argan Oil Oils high in LINOLEIC ACID(best for oily skin): Safflower oil, Black Cumin Seed Oil, Hemp Seed oil, Evening Primrose oil, Pumpkin seed oil, rosehip seed oil, grape seed oil, soybean oil, wheat germ oil(comedogenic oil so be careful) somewhat balanced oils high in LINOLEIC ACID: Castor oil, kukui nut oil, pomegranate oil, sesame oil

So when I started OCM, I sort of blindly walked into it after watching about three youtube videos from people with already perfect faces and articles raving the "like dissolves like" ability and whatever. I purchased some organic, unrefined, unfiltered, etc. coconut oil while I was on a trip to trader joe's, and when I got home proceeded to slather it on my face dry and steam it off with a warm wash cloth. Let me tell you, my skin looked and felt amazing afterwards; my blemishes had already retreated a bit and my discoloration was significantly lessened, and my skin felt baby soft. I thought it was great that this one step method, along with an apple cider vinegar toner, was all I needed to keep my face clear, and after my acne had completely disappeared about three days later, I was sure I discovered the secret to curing my seemingly immortal skin condition. Then I came across this review page for OCM on acne.org. The reviews were of course largely negative, and I was so shocked that anybody could possibly have had a bad experience with this god sent elixir of a cleanser! I was soooo not buying that I could ever react that way, but as I kept reading (I ended up reading every review), I started to notice that a majority of the positive reviews were from people like me, who had just started using OCM and reaping the magnificent short-term benefits, while everyone in the negative reviews had stuck around long enough to see just how bad this wrecks your skin. I was effectively scared away from OCM after about the 40th negative review, and with phrases like "cystic acne" and "the worst breakout of my life" thrown in the mix, I felt so betrayed by my $8 jar of coconut oil and stopped using it immediately. And of course, my skin did not only return to its dismal condition prior to OCM, but it now featured the all-too-talked-about "closed comedones" typical of OCM after-effects studded across my jaw. And then what proceeded really was the worst breakout of my life. I haven't really had too terrible of acne prior to this, so I'm not saying that I had horrible cystic acne covering my entire face, but I did breakout in about 10 painful pustules on each cheek, accompanied with tonsss of redness surrounding it (this was about 2 weeks after stopping OCM). As I type this, I'm struggling through the brunt of this OCM-induced breakout, and really wish that I never tried the darn thing in the first place. I know some people have definitely had success with this, and apparently there's some sort of "purge period" that people go through (? sounds made up to me), but it just isn't worth sticking around for some sort of positive outcome when the getting there is so painful and horrible; plus, people see my face every day, and high school people suck. All in all, this isn't worth the risk. Go see your derm, don't trust something you read about online just because a few testimonials and some logical-enough presentation of "facts" makes it out to be great. If you don't understand the science behind it, don't use it unless a doctor tells you to.