A few of you have been asking questions about what I've been using on my face and how I use coconut oil in my "beauty regime". Ha, that sounds fancy! Here's a little back story first...
Basically since I graduated from high school (8 years ago! gasp!) I have been fighting acne. Sometimes it wasn't too bad, then other times it was cystic, red glaring terribleness rising out of my face. I still have people who ask me what high school I go to <facepalm> I began seeing medical doctors, holistic doctors, trying essential oils, vitamins, a new diet, more sun, less sun, creams, face washes, antibiotics, etc. etc. Nothing worked. Sure, sometimes the bumps would go down a little, then they'd just come back and be worse than ever. All the doctors said I needed to give it time, it would be really bad then would be good! Hallelujah! Except the good part never came... It's been frustrating to say the least.
I've never been one to complain about my appearance or wanting a different sized body part or what have you, but my skin? I could handle having the baby smooth skin I see on so many people. Especially, people I know do not live as healthy a life style as I do. I just think to myself, "How can they have such great skin and be eating/drinking/doing that?!" I know I shouldn't compare myself, but I couldn't help myself. It's something that can change about my body that is just stubborn and refusing to comply.
This January, Jared and I decided we need to change our lifestyle to be more healthy. Last year we both were sick alot, could sleep honestly for 15 hours straight at the drop of the hat, didn't have the energy to do any of the things we loved and I had debilitating headaches about every other day. We knew something needed to change. So we cut sugar out. Sure, every now and then we splurge if someone makes a special dessert, but really I don't miss it. I began to feel so much better! Jared did too, but this is my experience, not his ;) I stopped having headaches (!!!!!) gained a lot of energy and started sleeping better. Go figure, sugar you sly creature! After quitting sugar, my face started clearing up too. It didn't last long but it didn't go back to how bad it had been. Progress.
After we had implemented a new diet (basically cutting out the processed junk and spending more time making clean food) and were feeling a zillion times better, I began looking into beauty products. I figured if I was making my insides clean, shouldn't I be keeping my outside cleaner too? (I may have become a bit paranoid about chemicals and additives etc. so, keep an open mind haha I'm just a little crazy!)
So I found online that you could wash your face with coconut oil, and as I have been oil pulling for a few months now and have discovered the magical amazingness of coconut oil, I figured I'd give it a shot. Here's the rundown (it's so simple, it's ridiculous!)
1 - Get your coconut oil and a wash rag and head to your sink. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature but don't worry, once its on your hands you just rub it around and it'll change to oil consistency.
2- Wet your face with your hands. If you're wearing eye makeup and washing it off (you can do this with the coconut oil too!) then wet over your eyes too.
3- Dip a couple fingers into the coconut oil and scoop out a couple fingernail size chunks (make sense?) Rub the oil in your fingers to thaw it out.
4- Rub the oil all over your face, rub it in good too, don't let it just sit lightly on your face. If you're washing off eye makeup, I usually rub it over my eyes after my face so I don't end up rubbing makeup all over my face in the process.
5- Wet your wash cloth (get used to doing this blind if you're washing off makeup!), wring it out, then drape it over your face. I usually do warm water but whatever makes you comfortable. Leave it there for about 15 seconds.
6- Using that wash cloth, run it over your face a couple times to remove the oil sitting on top of your skin. Don't scrub super hard. Just lightly rub it off.
And you're done! After your skin dries, if it feel tight you can rub a tiny bit of oil onto it as a moisturizer or use pure aloe vera.
A few extra tidbits:
If you feel like you need to exfoliate, just add a bit of baking soda to the oil before you put it on your face. It's awesome! I do it about once a week.
If you have an unruly zits that just won't go away, I have had success with tea tree oil in reducing the redness and size. Just dip a q-tip into the bottle and dab it onto the cold sore. Try this on your hand or somewhere else first to make sure you don't have a crazy reaction to it. Some people are sensitive to certain oils.
Again, I have only been doing this for a month and am not an expert on any kind of natural/beauty etc. But this is what I have found to work well for me plus it's chemical free!
I have read that you can use extra virgin olive oil, castor oil (mixed with evoo), avocado oil, jojoba oil, or sweet almond oil as well. I have included a bunch of links below that talk about it. Do some research too, google it, find what you like. This is just what I've found. I may incorporate some castor oil mixed in with my coconut oil at some point but for now I'm keeping it simple and trying it out.
You can buy coconut oil in some beauty sections of the store but it's way more expensive than the cooking kind and it's the same stuff just in a different bottle! I just get mine from Raley's, a grocery store here. I've heard the Trader Joe's organic coconut oil is great too. Basically just look for organic, unrefined, pure coconut oil.
I've also read that coconut oil could clog your pores, while I haven't experienced this, some may. Again, I am very new to this and trying different things but giving them enough time to actually show results. So if you find things that work best for you, I'd love to hear about them! Acne is an ongoing struggle for me and I would love to find the miracle concoction!
Here are some links to blogs that talk about the Oil Cleansing Method in more detail:
The Oil Cleansing Method
Wellness Mama
Overthrow Martha
Little Miss MBA
Thank Your Body
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