@funnyangle @ingrid_marinrin

SO LET ME PREFACE THIS BY SAYING THREE THINGS:
1) oil cleansing has SAVED MY SKIN
2) it took so much trial and error over many months and to be frank before i got a good hang of it it was actually exacerbating some of my problems and i was sO READY to just give up, actually i did like twice lmao
3) my skin has been extremely damaged by years of harsh products making it really hard for my cheeks to hold moisture in them and so i think that what works for me will probably have to be adjusted for someone with normal-er moisture levels than i have - my skin barrier was basically EXTREMELY FUCKED UP and had to be rebuilt again lmao but it's finally on the mend

but so my primary concerns were dry skin on my cheeks which were leading to hella acne and hella scarring, which is why i turned to this finally oKAY ONWARDS

OKAY SO THE ROUTINE THAT I USE IS DIFFERENT FROM THE ONE THAT IS RECOMMENDED BY MOST OIL CLEANSING WEBSITES:
i use a mixture of two parts avocado oil (which is very fatty and good for moisture, it's recommended for eczema which made me think it would be safe for my face lol) + one part apricot oil (which is good for sensitive skin and brightens the complexion) + a few drops of tamanu oil (reportedly good for acne and scarring, who knows)
- (most oil cleansing routines will suggest olive oil or sunflower oil as a base + something like castor oil which is very drying so i started out first reducing the amount and then deciding i was better off just cutting it out altogether AND I WAS RIGHT)
- i keep them in a dropper bottle and use about two droppers-full of the mixture at night, without taking my makeup off (it takes everything off!)--i rub it in all over my face for a little bit (some websites suggest like a minute or two but i've been fine just doing it for like 30 seconds lol but it does fEEL nice), leave it on while i brush my teeth, and then splash my face with warm water for a little bit, moisten a washcloth with warm water, and rub it all away lightly. (this is the kind of routine that requires a fresh wash cloth every day but i'm kind of obsessive about the things that touch my face anyway so now that i've switched over to this kind of thing i can't imagine going back lmao) (if you're removing makeup tho be aware that it will stain them u______u)
- (most websites will suggest that you steam your face by placing the washcloth under hot water, covering your face with it until the washcloth cools down, rinsing it and then repeating once or twice--this is supposed to open the pores and help dissolve the oil better, but i have found that since my skin has so much trouble retaining its own moisture, doing this was too harsh for it and was drying it out considerably, so cutting that out + dropping castor oil helped a LOT)
- i follow this with a rosewater and glycerine spray which is really cheap and from whole foods!! this is also supposed to even out the complexion and help retain moisture, i wasn't sure how much it was helping but i forgot it during the week i was home and my skin got really dry (also from my parents' central heating) and when i got back and started using it again it's been a lot better!!! so
- and then a moisturizer that i made for myself with avocado oil + beeswax (good to help seal moisture in!) (with a couple drops of bio oil which is supposed to help with scarring, idk shrug but it's not hurting lol) -- usually just on my cheeks bc my skin is actually really combination and my t-zone still produces a pretty normal amount of oil
- in the morning i rub argan oil (good for moisture and reportedly for scars? i was using rosehip seed oil but switched to argan when the winter set in bc the air has been dryer) on my cheeks when i wake up, splash with cold water a few hours later when i decide to finally get ready for the day (i wake up rly early lol) and then follow with the spray and the same moisturizer i use at night
- (and clinique's cc cream which i also add a drop of argan oil to sometimes :3)

OKAY THIS ALL SOUNDS REALLY COMPLICATED BUT ACTUALLY IT IS NOT - i like it because it is actually only made of a few simple ingredients and i know exactly what they are at all times!!!!!! and my skin is SO much healthier, my complexion is brighter, my t-zone is no longer overproducing oil in the way that you do when you strip it and my cheeks are relearning how to retain their own moisture which feels aMAZIGN after them being so fucked up omg. SO OVERALL I WOULD SAY THAT IT WAS REALLY WORTH IT even tho it took so much frustration and honestly i do kinda wish that i had healthy enough skin to just use a drug store face wash every day lol u know but overall i'm really happy with it and it's much better for me anyway.

AS FAR AS BUYING THINGS IS CONCERNED yes it is stressful because you don't know what oils are gonna match your needs right from the get-go. the most basic combo is olive (or sunflower) oil + castor oil and you can look at a lot of websites where people have comments about what combinations have worked well for them. (people recommend tea tree for acne, argan for extra moisture, that kind of thing) my suggestion is to start small (like only with one or two oils) and then work your way up from there adding the more fancy (ie: expensive lol) ones if you want to once you see how your skin reacts to things. i will say that it is really important to get them organic and cold pressed--i was getting it in some healthfood stores but switched to mountainroseherbs.com when i realized they were not marketing themselves as organic and therefore probably weren't lol and it made a HUGE difference at least for me, but i have sensitive skin, so there is also that to keep in mind. but things started turning around from me once i ordered avocado oil from there for the first time and now i'm nEVER GOING BACK. the nice thing about it is that even tho it is kind of expensive things do last a pretty long time so overall i might be saving money OR MAYBE I'M NOT but my skin is happier so i'm happy lmao i was spending so much on fancy face products anyway

GOD THERE WAS A LIST I FOUND A WHILE BACK THAT DETAILED THE FREAKING PROPERTIES OF A WHOLE BUNCH OF OILS AND IT WAS SUCH A GOOD LIST BUT I CAN'T FIND IT AND MY INTERNET ISN'T WORKING VERY WELL RIGHT NOW >:C anyway if you google you can find it, mountain rose herbs has descriptions of what their oils are good for when you click on them but then you have to click on them :C wah i'm sorry i wish my internet were working!!!!! but i would suggest looking at the blog posts for troubleshooting the ocm to see what people have had good/bad experiences with, i know crunchybetty has a good one :3

tALK TO ME IF YOU WANT TO HEAR ABOUT MY MOISTURIZER ADVENTURES ALSO actually no they're not exciting i just melt beeswax and add oil to it BUT IT'S AWESOME AND SUPER FUN >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D >:D

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