Oil cleansing – why it works

I believe the cleansing stage of skin care has the potential to do the most amount of damage to our skin. Get this wrong and the rest of your routine will be about counteracting the damage you’ve done. Get cleansing right and the rest will fall into place.

Cleansing with oil enables us to remove dirt, pollution and make-up from our skin without the need for damaging detergents or alcohol.

The cleansing oil binds with the dirty oils on our face which is then lifted away with a warm, damp cloth. This leaves the skin thoroughly clean and refreshed but not stripped of its natural oils and protective barrier.

Detergents (foaming face washes and most soaps) and alcohol (most creamy cleansers) effectively dissolve oils away but cannot distinguish between the dirty oils we want to clean away and the oils in our living skin cells. This process of stripping away too much oil destroys the skins natural protective barrier so leaves the skin open to irritations and creates sensitivities. It also upsets the balance of oil production creating oily skin, dry skin or a combination of both.

A major benefit of oil cleansing is that it reduces the number of products we need to use. If we are not stripping the skin when we cleanse, there is no need to replace the oils we have removed. And no need to use additional products to heal any damage that was done.

Fewer products mean a simpler, quicker and less expensive skincare routine and healthier skin.

Perfect!