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March 16, 2016
Use the right method
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.
June 17, 2016
Most of your advice is base on a lot of misinformed assumptions based on a very simplistic applied bit of scientific knowledge. That's not true - people "back in the day" didn't have less acne or use less on their face. Cosmetics have been used for thousands of years and people lived very often in crowded smoke filled conditions and encountered all sorts of environmental grime we would be horrified by. Every ancient medical text we find (earliest evidence - not earliest occurrence) have all sorts of ways to treat the common skin complaints of the time - of which there were so many and so much more life threatening than ordinary hormonal acne that such conditions are barely worth mentioning. Added to which people have been dying from infected port blockages that erupt into boils throughout the archaeological history. Basically we have it so good we have the luxury of worrying about non health or life threatening conditions. The oil cleanse method has mixed results because it's not based in any science and has a number of in built false assumptions. Like attracts like - overly simplistic application of the high school chemistry principle which in this case is superceded by the biology of how skin works. Natural is "better" - not true. Natural products are many times more likely to cause skin irritation because they come from plants that have their own defense mechanism. Irritation lead to skin trauma leads to infection. This craze for "natural" products is just silly, unscientific and superstitious. Clearly most products marked as natural do not occur in nature. So what you are getting is a less refined product using ingredients with less research about their effect on skin. Thirdly acne like eruptions take at least six weeks to form. Anything erupting from your skin hours or days after a new product or beauty treatment IS NOT caused by that treatment. It's either stuff that was already forming in your skin making it's way to the surface as part of normal acne cycle or it's a violent immune/inflamatoru response to untested unfamiliar harsh ingredients causing swelling in skin structures connected to the surface of your skin OR a milder drying out of your skin (castor oil and similar don't "cleanse" your skin of surface oil - they bind the water from it - that is the tight dry feeling) causing micro tears in your skin surface that your own surface skin bacteria invade causing an inflamed pus and white blood cell eruption similar to varieties of acne. Oil is most certainly NOT good for your skin because the skin has oil. That is just silly. If needed ANY moisturizer that is low irritant that can form a barrier to protect from moisture loss will do and all the oils commonly recommended are NOT low irritant NOR do they do a better job than other moisturizers. Your pores DO NOT breathe. That is just silly. They don't have lungs and they aren't there to collect oxygen and they do not expand and close. They are there to cleanse and lubricye your skin with its own substances. All face washes and cleansers DO NOT "strip your skin". That is a myth sold by cosmetics companies after your money who market the "natural is better myth". That is all it is. Marketing. First they make you believe pretty ordinary skin conditions that are not health or life threatening in the age of insane hygeine and antibacterial everything and antibiotics are a big concern/make you ugly/need special products to treat. This spreads. Then they sell you on why their product is better than any other competitors so your consumer dollars go to their shareholders. There are almost no regulations on the claims of beauty treatments. Those that exist all cosmetic products get around easily in their wording (look and read closely what EXACTLY do they say their product can do to change anything about your skin?)
Anything very distressing see a dermatologist with solid speciality postgrad medical degrees and a good local reputation.
December 4, 2013
Oil Cleansing Method Puring Relief
I just started OCM about a month ago. I used 1/3 hemp seed oil, 1/3 sunflower oil, 1/3 castor oil. I have acne prone skin and have tried EVERYTHING from the time i was 12 up to now 24 years old. The reason I wanted to do OCM is because I have blackheads and scars covering my entire face and now minimal pimples. I wanted my pores to unclog and shrink and this seemed perfect. I choose the hemp seed oil and sunflower oil because they will not clog your pores. The first two weeks was fine. I had blackheads literally coming out onto my hands. Two weeks later my face exploded. I mean, red spots everywhere, blackheads, little white heads, and big pimples on the jawline. My face felt like a giant scab. I wasnt sure If I was going through the so called "purging stage" or if my skin just didnt like it. So i did my research and I found that castor oil causes major problems for people. I changed my ratio to 1/2 hempseed, 1/2 sunflower, a teaspoon of castor and a few drops of tee tree. In stead of just rubbing the oil off with a washcloth and hot water, i just used african black soap (supposed to be great for your skin) to make sure all the oil was off my face. Then I either use a honey&cinnamon mask or Oatmeal&cinnamon&honey mask. After I wash off with water and apply a toner of 1/2 raw organic apple cider vinegar (with the mother) and 1/2 distilled water. Then I put on very very little spot treatment (I just used equate) The next day my face improved 50%! It wasn't dry, the redness was decreased, the bumps also decreased. I know this seems like an overload but everything I used was all organic (except the spot treatment) so there isn't chemicals in these things to kill your skin. All this together cost me about $40 but it will last me for at least 3-6 months easily. I hope this helps some of your who are researching some helpful hints for your "purging" stage. Some people cant handle OCM and if this last for more than a few weeks I suggest stopping before you scar your skin.
September 20, 2014
Depends on the oil
I tried this with three different types of oils. The one thay worked for my skin was grapeseed oil. The ones that did not work were Olive and Coconut. But the oil that works depends on your skintype
April 30, 2015
Not bad
I have been using OCM now for three weeks, every night and not using anything else on my face except a little sudocrem on some cystic acne that won't budge. While I can't say for sure that my acne is much better, the redness and soreness I was experiencing before has almost completely stopped. I mixed 8tsp of Olive oil and 3tsp of castor, with 5 drops of peppermint and 5 of tea tree oil. My boyfriend thinks it has made a big difference but I seem to have lots of little black heads, which I didn't notice before. Although that could be because I was preoccupied with the cystic acne, which was really inflamed and very painful.
Personally I think it definitely will be different for everyone, and for me, my skin couldn't get much worse so I was willing to give anything a try! The ingredients are relatively cheap and must be better than slapping a handful of chemicals on your skin, right?
I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, but it's stopped my acne from being so painful, even if it hasn't eradicated it completely. My skin is much softer and feels less grainy and in need of a massive exfoliation, and I feel better for using something natural and not chemically harsh. Obviously, you have to be prepared for negative effects too.
July 15, 2015
I read in Paulas Choice that Peppermint is an irritant.. I wouldn't leave any residue of olive oil on my skin but you've got tea tree oil and castor in there so it must be okay. Jojoba is a safe one to apply and leave on because it's pH mimics our natural pH level.
January 11, 2013
Cons:
Expensive
Positive clearing effects didn't last long
Messy
I used 20% avocado oil 20% Grapeseed oil, and 40% castor oil, and added 2 or 3 drops of tee tree oil. In the morning use a hot towel to open my pours and then rub it in, then wipe it off. At night I would sleep with it.
It started out great, my pores started to shrink my skin would glow and then it stopped working.. My skin is still not flaking but I feel like I have more acne then before. I think its worth a try but didn't work for me. I am 22 and got acne when I was 20 so my acne is random.
February 9, 2016
Should i continue?
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 :(
Pros:
My my skin glows
Natural
Don't have lingering red marks
Keeps my skin from peeling