Last time we covered the intro of oil use for hair and body purposes, including that psychedelic comedogenic scale chart I am still oh-so-proud of. Our mission today is to unpack the weird world of serums and oil cleansing as promised. Grab your lab coat and lets slide on in, with the help of a little oil lubrication. (I will NOT give it a rest.)
WHAT IS A NATURAL SKIN BARRIER??
Step right up for a totally basic skin-deep explanation of what a skin barrier is. We are like scientists here, but only because it is fun to dress up in lab coats, blow thing up, and make potions (not necessarily in that order.) You can find a really engrossing but digestible explanation here on healthline https://www.healthline.com/health/skin-barrier#what-is-it
But if you can’t figure out how to link, here is a summary:
Your skin (aka epidermis) is your largest organ! It keeps you insides in and the outsides out by all means necessary. From hydration to thermoregulation, you absolutely cannot survive without your skin, and folks with extensive damage (ie burns) to their epidermis can face life threatening types of shock and death due to fluid and heat loss.
The first line of defense to keep out out and in in is your skin barrier! This is the outermost layer and is comprised mainly of assorted fats including cholesterol, fatty acids, and ceramides. This seals out pathogens and environmental what-have-yous…. Mental exercise! Imagine lemon juice in a paper cut. Not just because I am a sadist, but just so you can picture how well your skin does at keeping the burning out when it is intact, healthy, and happy. We want to support our skin the best we can- we live in it every single day!
So what causes damage to your natural skin barrier? All sorts of abuse we hurl at it, but signs and symptoms of a damaged skin barrier include
- Dry, itchy, scaly, or discolored skin
- Skin infections (bacterial, viral, or fungal)
- Acne
- Sensitive or inflamed areas
Interestingly enough, if you DO visit that healthline article (that actually is really pretty helpful and isn’t full of a ton of western medicine) you will notice…. Drumroll…… how to repair your skin barrier using plant oils! With a handy dandy link to a pubmed article https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5796020/
“Plant oils have long been used on the skin for cosmetic and medical purposes because they have been found to have many positive physiological benefits. For example, plant oil application may act as a protective barrier to the skin by an occlusive effect, allowing the skin to retain moisture, resulting in decreased TEWL values.”
I can only imagine TWEL means Twerking Exuberantly With Luddites, but it is promising that Big Western Medicine is dabbling in a more holistic approach.
So what is the big secret? Well, cosmetics and pharmaceutical companies line their pockets when they sell you harsh, skin barrier-destroying, hormone-disrupting bullshit in plastic bottles that you HAVE to keep buying more and more of to desperately try to attain the complexion of the freshly-splashed photoshopped pre-teen on the label. Those nice exfoliating beads they promote are microplastics-plain and simple! Where do you think they end up when they go down the drain? They sure as shit don’t break down. And the ingredient list? Benzoyl peroxide is a known carcinogen! And I am SO guilty of using it when I was desperate with a face full of cystic acne and the dermatologist told me to ‘get a facial’. I believe the “would you eat what you put on your skin?!” topic deserves it’s whole own rabbit hole, so let’s just leave that there for now.
They do not make any money if you drink water, sweat, and slather on a dab of olive oil when you are cooking your spaghetti sauce as a skincare regime. TOTAL GARBAGE! And, this is coming from a company that is trying to sell you our face oils, so hypocritical? Maybe. Informational? Absolutely! Plus, the upside of our products is you can support a small business trying to give you the information you need to be healthy! (And our packaging is really pretty and convenient, too.)
Oil Cleansers: What! Oil on your Oil?!
Yep, it is a thing. Trust me. I have struggled with hormonal acne my entire adult life (20 years.) After many trips to dermatologists that gave me terrible pills and topical creams (before I was on a more holistic path) and being humiliated by people saying ‘why can’t you just wash your face?’ I finally found some relief to my acne from treating it internally (a sluggish liver can cause hormonal acne- it is on the list to talk about internal causes of acne) and topically by using OIL on my face to repair my skin’s natural barrier, my lesions and cysts have healed, and my acne scars are fading. I was terrified and very hesitant at first and definitely did not believe in this witchcraft. Visions of grease puddles worthy of a dimly lit checkered pizza parlor dripping off my face danced through my head. Then one day, I figured it couldn’t get any worse so I gave it a shot!
How is this magic possible you say? Well, long and short, that deserves a whole separate post on Oil Cleansing and Serums, but the quick and squeaky-clean run down is this: If you strip you skin of it’s natural oil, it freaks out and sends signals to MAKE MORE OIL! Leading to overproduction of sebum that leads to clogged pores, which leads to comedones and acne. If you gently give you skin something akin to what it is making- like jojoba oil- it will calm down the oil production. Viola- less harsh washing of your face, damaging your skin barrier, and creating that lovely pizza patina on your face.
Sooo, I know you are thinking ‘What about all the ‘Oil Free’ formulas that have been marketed in the mainstream skincare business for years?’ Well. Frankly, it is probably garbage. I don’t know, the caveat is that I am not a dermatologist. The dermatologists I went to told me to wash my face with dove bar soap day and night, which I did, which left my skin a dry, squeaky, tight nightmare that needed 3 different heavy topical creams to compensate.
What is an oil cleanser you say? Well, it is an oil you put on your face, smoosh around, and wash off. Plain and simple. Here is where we put on our snazzy lab coats and check out the theory and science behind it all.
Like destroys like, correct? Recall the “Fight fire with fire” verbiage, which yes- as a former firefighter I can vouch for. Oil destroys oil, right? Yep! So the oil cleanser bonds with the excess oil and dirt already on your face, and it can sink into pores dissolving gunk and helping to leave your skin moisturized, cleansed, healthy, and protected. Traditional facial cleansers (ahem, dove, and other oil free chemical rich junk) yes leaves you with the squeaky clean, freshly splashed, fresh-faced feeling, but at the same time it strips the good oil, destroys your good bacteria, and basically go full on scorched earth on your skin, leaving your poor epidermis stumbling around like a lost soul in the sahara, wondering what the hell happened and searching for any shelter and water possible: read (frantically build itself shelter by creating oil!)
With oil cleansing, you also get the added benefit of any makeup removal, including brutal waterproof /resistant mascara (my one luxury and beauty item.) It is like one stop shopping for your face!
The thing about trying out oil cleansing is to stick with it. Your skin can potentially go through a “purge” which much like the movie is a sinful nightmare-but for a limited time only. Your face probably has all sorts of goodies it has repressed and shoved down deep, and it just needs a nice oil therapist to ask ‘so how are you today?’ for it to totally unleash all the baggage. Not speaking from an emotional state, or anything.
Don’t get disheartened. Drink water, MOISTURIZE!! (counterintuitive, I know. See serums below), eat lots of good veggies, SWEAT!, smile, and realize you are more than your acne. This is a HOLISTIC supportive journey you can go on with your whole body, not just your face. There is no magic bullet. We are NOT selling Snake Oil, you heard it here first!
How to and all about Emulsification
So how to use an oil cleanser?
- Apply to dry skin, and gently rub in. Make sure you use enough oil to cover your skin so there isn’t any tugging, but not handfuls of the stuff.
Some folks like to cover with a warm wash cloth, or just massage in for as you can, a couple minutes is good.
2.Wet your fingers with a bit of warm water and massage for a last round
3.Rinse and massage off with warm water. Lots of buzz about oil cleansers will talk about it ‘emulsifying’ which is basically just mixing oil and water. Think about shaking up a nice oil based salad dressing- before it is oil sitting on the top of the vinegar and water, and afterwords its a nice creamy consistency. I can’t say I have ever really experienced a creamy emulsification, but whatever.
Sometimes I use a wet reusable flannel wash cloth to gently remove any excess oil. This can help lift any leftover dirt and gunk, leftover oil if you feel there is too much left behind, and it can gently exfoliate any dead skin cells. SERIOUSLY you do not need more mechanical exfoliation than this! More is not always better, and using brushes or harsh rubbing can make your acne and skin WORSE.
- Gently pat dry and follow with a serum and hydrosol combo as a moisturizer.
Serums vs Face Oils
Ok, so we mainly discuss face oils, but let’s just define a serum vs a face oil:
Serum: a water based formula highly concentrated with active ingredients that penetrates deep into the layers of your skin. This is sometimes not suitable for every day use, and is best applied after cleansing and before moisturizing.
Facial Oil: an oil based formula designed to act as a moisturizing and lock in hydration and protect the skin from external environmental damage and water loss. This can replace a traditional moisturizer, or be used after your favorite clean moisturizer.
So, basically, yeah, you can just rub oil on your face and call it a day. Adding a skin oil for your skin type can even help calm and heal acne. (See comedogenic scale. Jojoba is an awesome all-around oil even for acne prone skin.)
Sometimes your skin can need a little help absorbing oil right off the bat, especially if it is damaged or used to a nuclear skin regimen.
To apply, pat a few drops onto damp face and neck.
You can use a hydrosol before and after application to help absorption, instead of it sitting on your skin’s surface a la that pizza plate complexion look.
Hydrosols
Hydrosols are waters made by distilling plant material. Rose hydrosol is amazingly close to what the pH of our face should be, and therefore it can help our skin absorb oil instead of it skimming the surface of our skin,
Body Oils
So a body oil functions just like a face oil! It can replace our double down on your regular moisturizer. This is a great way to use clean, edible, simple ingredients on your skin to support your overall health and wellbeing. Our Lamp Oil is meant to illuminate and shine light on the ‘dark places’- all the parts of our bodies we have been told are ‘problem areas’.
Use this to exalt, celebrate, and give love to the places you avoid touching because you are programmed to believe they are imperfect, dirty, and shameful- worthy of being covered up, neglected, and erased. Exposure therapy is a type of therapy where we expose to the things we have turned into blind spots.
So, my brain is scrambled and full. SUM IT UP!
Why would we go into such a deep dive here? Well, we want you to have information that you need to support your own sacred temple. You can save money, support healthier personal and environmental choices, ditch pharmaceuticals and big western skincare industry through either supporting us or another small batch, clean business, or make your own!
Your body is a temple, anoint it with oil and celebrate it.
https://www.healthline.com/health/oil-cleansing-method#choosing-an-oil