I haven't done a Works For Me Wednesday in a long time! But last week's Shampoo Free post which mentioned my success with the Oil Cleansing Method spawned some questions and comments that I wanted to address all in one sitting. Incidentally, Shannon's theme for WFMW this week is what doesn't work for me, so I'll play a little fast and loose with the theme by saying . . .
what doesn't work for me are traditional facial cleansers. They remove my make-up okay, but they also tend to remove lots of healthy, beneficial facial oils, too. Sorta like throwing out the baby with the bathwater, only we do not throw babies around here. (Although Big Sister has been known to throw things at the Baby as of late, but that's a whole 'nother post.)
Anyway, as I mentioned last week, it was actually my husband who persuaded me to try this method of facial cleansing. I'll bet you didn't know that football coaches can also be into natural living and good skin care, huh? Well, there's a lot about football coaches that might surprise you! Anyway, he came across this method and thought it made sense - the idea being that most facial cleansers create two damaging situations for your skin: 1) they remove the body's natural oils from the skin causing it to overproduce oil to compensate for the oil that was washed away, and 2) many include ingredients like fragrances that irritate the now vulnerable skin.
I'll let you read the article to learn more, but for now I want to address some specific questions that were posed to me:
1) How often should you use OCM?
Personally, I do an OCM treatment on my face every other or night, maybe every two nights. It's important to note that I use bareMinerals make-up and feel no need to wash this off my face at night. Maybe I should, but I don't, and I don't have any problems with break-outs or build-up. The Coach does a treatment about three times a week or so.
My sister has begun to use OCM to cleanse her face, too, and she does it about five nights a week. She wears traditional (non-mineral) make-up and on the nights she doesn't do OCM, she uses her trusty Clinique face wash.
2) What kind of skin types can use the OCM?
I would guess any skin type. I have combination dry/oily in the T-zone skin and it works great for me. My sister's skin tends to be more oily than dry, and she has found great success with this method, too.
3) My skin feels dry after I use the OCM. Why?
It's possible you are using too much castor oil. The castor oil is the part of the system that actually carries dirt, make-up, impurities, etc., away from your skin. Too much can be drying. If you find your skin is too dry, try changing up the proportions in your oil mixture. Instead of one part CO to three parts of your nourishing oil (we use EVOO), try one part CO to four parts or five parts nourishing oil.
4) Do you still use moisturizer?
I think you'll find if you do an OCM treatment at night, you don't need to put on a moisturizer before bed. I still put on just a tad in the mornings after I shower if I have dry patches on my face.
5) Have you had any break-outs since you started the OCM?
Actually, no. When my hormone levels fluctuate with PMS, I might have a blemish or two pop up (blemish . . . I'm terribly proper, aren't I?), but other than that, my skin is really quite clear. And sometimes even glowy. (Or maybe that's the minerals talking.)
If you want to read more, here's a few articles I can suggest in addition to the one I linked to above:
Cleaning Up With Oil: The Oil Cleansing Method
Suite 101.com: The Oil Cleansing Method
Aisha Wood: OCM - The Oil Cleansing Method
Don't forget to go by Shannon's to read all the What DOESN'T Work For Me Wednesday posts!
