Yes. Kid you not. Before I started doing this a month ago, I still looked like a 13 year old and I’m 36. My other alternative was to use over the counter acne products. As you know, they take the HIDE off you. Back then, I had my make-up done by a professional who told me my “skin was just crying.”

I’d seen around the web lately, people talking about the “oil cleansing method.”  I spoke about using olive oil in s sugar scrub with oily skin HERE.   But that wasn’t for daily use.

So, a few weeks back, I took the plunge and started using the method described HERE.  I didn’t, however, use the sunflower oil as the moisturizer.  I used extra virgin olive oil.

The Routine

1.  Mix the oils in the percentages suggested for your skin type at the above website.  I have oily skin, so I used 70% olive oil, 30% castor oil.

2.  Dip fingers and grease face up like a pizza, especially cramming it into the pores where you have problems. (Wow, that was freaky the first few times.)

3.  Steam face with hot rags a few times.

4.  Gently wipe clean.

The castor oil is the cleaner.  The olive oil (or avocado or sunflower or the like) is the moisturizer.  This works on that old chemistry adage, “Like dissolves like.” Oily junk in your pores will dissolve in the oily castor oil.  Your great gramma knew this when she took off her makeup with vaseline, baby oil, or cold cream.   Oily stuff  resists dissolving in water which is why you then need a grease cutter, like soap, if you aren’t going to clean your pores with oil.

Results

The site says that you can FEEL the impurities leaving your pores in the castor oil as you steam your face.  This did not happen, but after all that steaming and oiling, every pore is ready to dump. Now is the time for squishing. I use a rag over my finger tips to avoid traumatizing a single pore. You can pressure like 10 at once. After the second day of a thorough face squishing, there was nothing left.

The site says that your pores might go all greasy for a few days after you start this method and the pores are clear. My skin didn’t go oily, but it did take a while to get used to the PLUMP feeling. It did the DEWY thing. It’s moist, soft, but not greasy.

The site says that too much castor oil will dry your skin out. THIS IS TRUE.* I thought that was crap. Oil is oil, right? NO. I switched to pure castor oil for a few days. It Was Horrible. Peeling. Breaking out. Itchy. Don’t do it. I tried 1/2 and 1/2 castor oil and olive oil. NO GO. I HAVE to do the 70/30 split. It took DAYS for my skin to recover from this experiment.

*I rubbed hubby’s feet with castor oil just to see if it had different properties somehow. It did. If you massage in castor oil, when you’re done, it’s not greasy at all.

My Suggestion

Go get a cheap bottle of castor oil from the pharmacy. Pour ~70% of it in a little container and throw it in your freezer. Refill it with olive oil. Shake before use. Try it for a week and tell me how it goes!