Cleansers -Unlisted Brand - Oil Cleansing Method OCM
lalalea 4/23/2012 3:29:00 PM
Best thing I have done for my mostly non-inflammatory acne and oily skin. It took me a number of tries (over a number of years) to get this right, and the aftermath of those failed attempts was not pretty, but it was worth it! My face is practically flawless with almost blackheads and flesh colored bumps, and no redness or irritation that I had when I was using "gentle" cleansers (i.e., Cerave, Fresh soy cleanser, etc.). I've been using the following method every night for the past 6 months. My version of OCM is sunflower oil only with a few drops of manuka and/or regular tea tree oil. I don't usually steam my face first, but if I do it helps unseat even more comedones than usual. I massage the oil into my face for a good 15+ minutes while I'm watching TV at night. Then, I jump into a steamy shower and massage my face with water. Finally, I wet a muslin cloth and wipe down my face thoroughly. After I get out, I squeeze out a tiny drop of the same oil mixture (which I keep in a nalgene brand travel bottle made for oils), spread it over my hands and gently pat it onto my face. That completes my entire facial regimen. In the morning, I just rinse my face with water. Things to note: I make sure to soak my used muslin cloths in boiling water before washing them on the hottest setting my washing machine has to kill bacteria. I use a lot of oil to make sure my face is slippery, so I am not pulling my skin as I massage. Thoughts on other oils: Olive oil clogged my pores, which shouldn't be surprising since it is listed as a comedogenic oil and I am clog prone. Jojoba oil also clogged my pores and didn't provide good slip for massage. Castor oil dried out my skin, even at a 10% concentration with various base oils. Castor oil also exacerbated my acne, even though it is not listed as comedogenic. My guess is because it is so thick that even at low concentrations it makes the cleansing oil very difficult to remove. The thin layer of oil inevitably left on my face acted occlusively and sealed off my naturally oily skin, causing the sebum and bacteria to fester and cause acne. I have seen castor oil listed as an occlusive oil on some websites, but I can't verify their accuracy.
14 out of 14 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Sunscreen -Unlisted Brand - Elta MD UV Clear SPF 46
lalalea 4/23/2012 2:30:00 PM
Hmm, so this ss has broken me out the least of any ss I have tried (and I have tried MANY)... but it still broke me out quite badly. I don't know if I can fault the formulation though, because I have a growing suspicion that the physical sunscreens (zinc and titanium dioxide) themselves are what are making me break out by drying the surface of my normally oily skin and thus disrupting the oil flow. I found the ss consistency to be fine and since I do OCM, it was easy to remove completely at night. It didn't make me shiny, didn't pill during makeup application, didn't smell bad and I loved the pump packaging. For someone who doesn't have problems with physical ss ingredients, I think this product would work well.
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Skincare - Face -Garden of Wisdom - Neem Oil
lalalea 4/23/2012 2:21:00 PM
My original intent was to use this oil mixed in with my sunflower oil/manuka tea tree oil OCM. I was very happy with the sunflower/manuka combination because it was the only OCM combo I had found that didn't clog my pores. However, I wanted more antibacterial power and was afraid adding more tea tree would dry out my skin—enter neem oil. Yes, the smell was bad, but since I was wiping it off of my face anyway it didn't matter. I was thrilled at how amazingly antibacterial neem oil is without being drying at all! It seriously kicks manuka oil's ass. On top of eliminating all redness/inflammation on my face, it totally destroyed this small wart I've had on my jawline for 6 months. I had tried treating that wart with a ton of different topicals with no result, but after 2 weeks of rubbing diluted neem oil on it was almost completely gone! Unfortunately, after 1.5 weeks I noticed the familiar skin colored bumps, and then eventually blackheads and whiteheads all over my face. The clog situation wasn't as bad as with many other oils I have used (jojoba, olive, grapeseed, tamanu, etc.), but it was definitely noticeable so I decided to stop using it :-( I will save it for use on rashes and other skin conditions that might pop up on my body.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No