The Oil Cleansing Method

Here's the deal; I have TERRIBLE skin. In my teens, I had gorgeous skin. Then I hit my early twenties and BAM, breakouts. They started small enough, a pimple here, a blackhead there, but by the time I was twenty four I had full-blown acne, complete with redness, inflammation, pain, and shame. At first I told myself that it was just a phase, that I wasn't eating well (blatant lie) and that it would clear up once I cut out things like chocolate and fatty foods (thank you, internet, you lying bastard).

It didn't go away. So I started using ______ (insert wildly popular, infomercial brand of acne treatment), but it only dried my skin out and left it tight and peeling. It did help with my acne though, so I stuck with it and started spending more time in the sun and tanning during the winter because I heard UV light was a great way to clear up acne (no need to lecture me about this decision, I already know how stupid it was).

Once I read the report on how carcinogenic tanning beds are, I fled in terror to my dermatologist. She put me on antibiotics (which I detest), and a strong medicinal acne treatment that came with some side effects and basically did the same thing that the infomercial brand did.

These treatments were all just bandaids for a larger problem, so now, at twenty nine, I'm trying something new. Because I STILL have acne.

Want proof?

All the harsh cleansers and toxic toners that I've previously tried do nothing but strip your skin of its natural oils, so your body goes into hyperdrive and overproduces it, resulting in a perfect circle of stupid. In an attempt to break out of the cycle, and cease putting potentially hazardous chemicals into my body, I'm going to attempt the Oil Cleansing Method, or OCM for those hip, acronym loving kids out there.

Ready to freak out? Okay, this is how it works:

YOU PUT OIL ON YOUR FACE!

Deep breaths, people. It will not kill you*.

There are a ton of recipes online, but the one I'm going with is a 70/30 mix of castor oil and grapeseed oil. Castor oil is fantastic at drawing out dirt and bacteria that builds up in your pores as well as having a slew of other beneficial properties. And grapeseed oil is currently being touted as the second coming of Christ (skin wise), so I have neither the time nor the prerogative to list out all of its advantages. Pro-tip, make sure that the oil you buy is cold or expeller pressed to avoid toxic chemicals that are found in other extraction processes. Also, don't eat it.

I plan on adding to this post weekly to document how effective this method is for me, so make sure to stop by again. Oh, and it should be noted that at the same time I'm attempting this, I'm also going vegan, which has been shown to clear up skin as well.

*Unless you have some bizarre oil allergy, in which case, it might kill you.