Frugal Living Day 21: Oil Cleansing Method

Over the past year or so, I've  been slowly trying to weed out all of my personal hygiene products for a more simple, natural and frugal routine.  I've recently been a convert to the "oil cleansing method" for washing my face. And I love it.

Not only is it majorly saving money, it's totally natural and healthy.  I don't have to worry about anything harmful going on my face and it feels amazing!

If you don't know anything about the oil cleansing method, Simple Mom has a great post explaining it all.  I won't try to re-explain everything since you can just click on that link and read it for yourself!

Basically, the principle behind it is that oil attracts oil.  Most everyone believes the myths that putting oil on your face will make you break out and make your skin oilier. It's actually the opposite. Putting oil (namely castor oil and olive oil in my case) on your face will draw out the impurities in your pores and help regulate the natural oils in your skin.  Using harsh and drying soaps on your face (which is what we usually do) actually makes your skin oilier because it's over-compensating to make up for the natural oils you've just dried up and washed away using the harsh soaps. Again, read the simple mom post for more info!

Here's how I do it (there are different recipes and methods)  I used about 2/3 olive oil to 1/3 castor oil in my solution and it's been great. I have normal to dry skin. If you have oilier skin, you should use more castor oil. I didn't measure exactly, just filled a little squeeze container that I found at Walmart up with the oil and shake.

Apply the oil to your dry face and massage in.  This does wonders at removing makeup! I also like to massage it into my neck.  While I'm rubbing it in, I get a clean washcloth and run hot water on it.

Then, put the hot wash cloth on your face until it gets cool.  This opens your pores and lets the oil do it's work.  Rinse the washcloth off and wipe the oil off your face. Done!

I do this before bed at night and just splash cold water on my face in the morning. I have found that my face is a bit dry in the morning and needs a bit of moisturizer.  Since I have fair skin, I'm on the hunt for a good natural moisturizer with a bit of SPF in it.  If you have any suggestions, let me know!

I don't have an exact cost breakdown, but I did find that you can buy pre-made oil cleanser for about $25 a bottle on Amazon.  The castor oil was about $3 at the drug store and the olive oil was about $4 and I'm thinking these big bottles will last me at least a year, so you are saving big bucks! Obviously regular face soap is probably less than $25 a bottle, but I think that the $7 I spent on the oil that will last me a year is still far less than buying the cheap store brand of face soap!


Here are some links to other blogs for more info on OCM:


Keeper of the Home
Sorta Crunchy
Simple Mom