Why are told that oil is bad when it comes to our hair and skin, and it needs to be removed to for us to be at our best. We use oil removing cleansers and lotions from head to toe. The products we use have so many chemicals and soaps, they actually strip our skin and hair of what they need along with the dirt. However, there are people on the natural-homemade-items front that are getting the word out that there are better ways! One of them is using oil.
I know it's hard to believe that
oil can actually be used to cleanse, but it's true. Oil dissolves oil. It can help balance your skin and clean out the dirt and bacteria naturally and effectively. Oil is not bad, the natural oil our skin produces helps to protect it. Hormones, dirt and trapped bacteria are what causes skin problems. When we use products with too many harsh chemicals and cleansers, we are stripping our skin of that natural oil, causing it to overproduce oil and throw things out of balance. By using healthy oil to replace dirty oil, you bring a natural balance to your skin and make it more healthy. Through
Simple Mom and
http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/, I found a simple recipe for your skin using
olive oil, which moisturizes, heals and nourishes skin, and
castor oil, which draws our dirt and bacteria from pores.
The basic recipe is equal parts of castor oil and olive oil for normal skin. You can modify this to suit your skin's needs. For acne prone or oily skin you use 3 parts castor oil and 1 part olive oil. With drier skin you use 3 parts olive oil to 1 part castor oil. Like I said, you can mix it up however you want to give your skin what it needs! Pour it into some sort of bottle and keep it by your sink. To use it, don't wet your face first. Just pour a quarter sized amount into your hands and massage it into your face, working it in for about a minute. Then wet a washcloth as hot as your face can handle, and put it over your face until it gets room temperature, about a minute or so. This step opens your pores, removing dead skin cells and impurities. After that use the wash cloth to wipe off your face. Your skin will feel softer immediately! :0) Olive oil is the same pH as human skin so it's the perfect cleanser and moisturizer, it works great for removing makeup and you only need to use it once a day. It makes your skin healthier, softer and brighter.
I use olive oil for more than just face cleansing, because it has so many benefits! I stopped using shampoo and conditioner over 6 months ago and I love it. I experimented with making my own hair cleaner using fresh made herb tea mixed with other things and I also tried using baking soda. I didn't like either of them alone or together. What I did find worked was the oil cleaning method for my scalp. I mixed together equal parts olive oil and castor oil, as well as some apple cider vinegar and tea tree oil. Sound like an odd mix doesn't it? Tea tree oil helps heal the scalp and can help with dry scalp, which I can have. I mixed it in a bottle so when I take a shower I shake the bottle, spray it directly on my scalp all over it, and then massage in with my fingertips. Never use your finger nails on your scalp because it can rip out hair. I put it in at the beginning of my shower and leave it in until I'm just about to get out, then I rinse it out. It works great! My hair is clean, soft, healthy and chemical free. There are so many dangers with the cancer causing chemicals in shampoos and conditioners these days, it's been such a relief to have something I can use that's safe AND effective! Like with the skin cleansing method, you tweak it to suit your needs. You can add essential oils for fragrance if you like, and to help you scalp and hair.
Now this next one is funny to imagine, but again so effective! Toss out your chemical filled shaving cream ladies, cooking oil is a shaving dream come true! Olive oil can be expensive, so if you need a cheaper oil try canola or safflower and see what you like. Basically you just keep a bottle of it in the shower, let your skin get wet and your pores open a bit, then rub it on like lotion and shave away! It moisturizes, helps prevent razor burn and leaves you feeling super smooth. I will notice it gets the razor a bit goopy but simple rinsing it under the shower head removes the goop. It's some of the clean oil, dirty oil from your skin, dirt and dead skin cells coming off. As for razor burn, this is a wonderful way to prevent it! I notice little to none razor burn when using oil to shave. My next tip for oil - wash your body in it. Yep, you read right! After I've shaved with it, I rub oil all over my body from face to toes. I leave it on for at least a couple minutes, then wash off with my organic all natural soap. The soap doesn't remove all the oil, just the extra oil to leave you clean and still very soft and moisturized. It works so great, because I get out of the shower so smooth and soft! And again, it's a chemical free way to moisturize the skin. :0) If you try any of these out let me know how you like them!
