will this help with being oily ? I've been super oily for the past couple of weeks and I never use to be... Help !
hope this article helps.....
http://voices.yahoo.com/skin-care-oily-skin-8902385.html?cat=69
I'm no skincare expert, but I did work at L'Occitane for a few years, and had to take a lot of training classes for skincare. One thing I learned is that the best way to treat oily skin is the opposite of what most people think. Using a harsher cleanser will make your skin even more oily. Here are my recommendations:
1. Have you seen a doctor to rule out any hormonal issues causing temporary increase in oily? Have you recently started, stopped, or changed a birth control pill? If that's ruled out....
2. use a GENTLE cleanser to cleanse your skin, so as not to strip off too much oil, which, in turn, causes your skin to produce more.
3. Keep skin EXFOLIATED every day, so that you will not have dead skin cells clogging pores. This, combined with the extra oil, will cause breakouts. You can use simply a washcloth, St. Ive's Apricot Scrub (Walmart Generic works just as well), or make your own with baking soda (google baking soda skin scrub, a million recipes will come up.) Do NOT use a sugar or salt scrub, way too harsh. Don't scrub skin too much, as this will also lead to more oil production.
4. Use witch hazel as a toner, but stay away from other astringent pads. They are too harsh, and will make your skin oilier in the long run.
5. As opposed to astringent pads, use blotting papers, powder, or mild makeup cleansing clothes to wipe it off.
6. To bring your skin back into balance, this may sound scary, but TRUST ME. Use a cleanser that is 3 parts Castor Oil, 1 part Olive Oil, and a few drops of tea tree oil to kill the bacteria that causes acne. These 3 oils DO NOT clog pores. The castor oil draws out the dirt, cleans your pores, and does not dry your skin. The Olive Oil will mousturize your skin without clogging pores or causing breakouts. The tea tree oil kills a specific bacteria which causes acne - other cleansers or soaps do NOT kill this particular bacteria. The only other thing that does is benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl Peroxide will irritate your skin; the harshness will lead to MORE oil production; thirdly, it also causes faster aging.
7. Mousturizing your skin will balance it out and cause your skin to calm down, producing less oil. It may take a little while, so be patient. At first, your skin may seem oily or even more oily.....until the oil slows down, keep using the blotting papers, witch hazel, exfoliating to keep dead skin from clogging pores, and using the oil cleanser. Here is how to use....
After making the above-described oil cleanser, use your fingertips to massage into entire face. Hold your face over steam for 3-5 minutes or else put hot/warm wet wascloth over face...this will help to open your pores, so the castor oil can draw out impurities. Afterwards, wipe off with paper towel. Rinse face a little, but not too much. You will NOT break out from this, I've tried it, and I'm someone who can't put ANY lotion on my face without waking up the next day with pizza face.
Other tips:
- Olive oil makes great makeup remover
- once a week, do a castor oil mask - massage into face and leave on for 15 minutes. It helps to draw out extra impurities without drying the skin.
- I use this myself; I was VERY SKEPTICAL at first, terrified it would make my skin worse, clog pores, and be a disaster. To my surprise, it didn't clog my pores at all, and it calmed down the oiliness over time.
- Usually your skin reacts to harsh cleansing by producing more and more sebum. The key is to keep your face moisturized to "let your skin know" that it doesn't have to keep producing more oil to make up for what was lost.
- Avoid any toner but witch hazel. They are too harsh and will make your skin produce more oil.
****One last thing....I've also seen the same principle work with my hair/scalp. I've always had such AWFUL oily hair. If I washed it the night before bed, the next morning, it would look greasy again. If I washed it in the morning, by nighttime, if I wanted to go out on the town, I'd have to wash it AGAIN, because the oil would make it go flat (I have very fine, straight hair that falls under any weight). I tried the baby powder trick to get away with washing my hair every OTHER day, but the second day, although the baby powder would get rid of the shine, it would be SOOOO flat, it still looked awful. After a while I got so sick of fighting with my hair every day, I started wearing lace wigs for a while. I would wash my own hair maybe once or twice a week, since it didn't show. After 2 months, I realized my hair had calmed down. When I stopped wearing wigs and went back to my own hair, I only had to wash it every 2 or 3 days, and it would still hold body, look clean. I guess my scalp stopped producing so much oil, because it wasn't constantly being washed away. I imagine it's the same principle with the skin on your face as with your scalp.
Well, hope this helps!
