Facial oils are all the rage right now. There are mixed reviews about it online, so how do you know if adding a facial oil into your daily skin care routine is good or bad?
Let’s go back to the beginning of WHY facial oils were created to give you a better understanding.
I’ve been a licensed esthetician for 15 years and when I was in school, we were taught that in order to treat oily skin, you must strip the skin of oil because oil is bad!!! This thinking has been happening for decades.
Over the past 5 years, facial oils have become the topic of discussion for many bloggers, beauty experts and skin care professionals. With good reason too, because facial oils are highly beneficial to the skin when used correctly.
If you don’t use a facial oil correctly, you’re wasting your money on a product that’s not going to work for you skin.
Here’s some skin education for you to help you understand oil in our skin and why it’s so important for our skin. This information is also in my book and goes into further details, if you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend ordering one to gain more skin knowledge.
Let’s start with Oily Skin
If you suffer from oily skin, it’s annoying to keep product on your face, you’re constantly battling shiny and “greasy-looking” skin and your makeup never looks right. You’re always frustrated with your skin and constantly buy & try new products and makeup, which ends up costing you more money!
Today you’re in luck because that oil that you love to hate is actually extremely beneficial to your skin and is going to keep your skin’s barrier intact and minimize your aging process.
The myth that oily skin ages slower is actually true. Oil is important because our skin needs a balance of BOTH oil and water in order to keep it functioning correctly.
What is an oil gland?
Oil glands are in your pores, they are crucial for your skin to release toxins from inside the body.
Remember, our skin is the largest organ of our body and tied to all our internal organs. Our skin is a detox organ and our body’s first line of defense from harmful bacteria, germs, viruses and environmental pollutants.
This means that everything that goes into our bodies comes out through our pores, which are the oil glands.
Oil is sticky for a reason. It’s main job is to hold onto harmful things in our bodies and remove them, so we don’t get sick.
This may be another reason why you may be suffering from acne or breakouts. If there is an imbalance in the body, the toxins will attach to your oil glands and released onto your skin. The end result is breakouts. Fix the problem at the source and your skin will clear up for good.
More on that subject in another blog post!
Why am I so oily?
You’re oily for three main reasons; 1) you have oily skin; 2) you’re stripping your skin of oil; or 3) your hormones are shifting and your body is imbalanced and producing more oil.
If you have oily skin, don’t worry! There are plenty of options for you. Starting with today you are going to ditch all your oil-stripping products and switch to products that control your oil and NORMALIZE your oil glands.
This includes a facial oil designed for oily skin.
Sound odd?
Yep it does. Why on earth would you put a facial oil on oily skin?
Good news!
Facial oils work with your skin’s oil production and teaches your oil glands to slow down production because your skin’s surface is now coated with oil.
This happens over the course of 4-6 weeks, because it takes your skin time to adjust to new skin care products. You may experience either more oil production or less during that time. The end goal is to normalize oil production, please make sure to stick with this product during this time.
If you’re still excessively oily after 6 weeks or not noticing any changes then it’s time to reevaluate your facial oil. Not all facial oils are made equally and some may have ingredients that aren’t put in place to help you oil production.
This is the difference between buying products online or in stores vs. through a licensed professional who has higher quality products.
What about dry skin?
You’re in luck if you’ve suffered with dry skin your entire life, because you’re going to love facial oils! When dealing with dry skin, facial oils stimulate oil production so you’ll have more oil on your skin, but not to the excess.
Your skin will feel hydrated because it’s holding both oil and water in it. When your skin is dry, your oil production is low, which means less oil on the skin’s surface. The water content in your moisturizer will have to be enough to compensate for the lack of oil. Unfortunately, water is not enough to keep the skin’s barrier hydrated. This is why dry skin types never seem to have moisturized skin. It’s a vicious cycle!
Adding in a facial oil both morning & night will make a world of difference for your skin.
This brings me to my final point; HOW to use a facial oil correctly!
Correct application of a facial oil
We’ve all bought salad dressing and see the oil and vinegar separate when it sits on the shelf. The only way get your dressing to taste right is to shake the bottle before adding to your salad.
Think of our skin in the same manner. If we have too much or not enough oil or water, our skin will do the same thing. This results in either dry or excessively oily skin.
When applying our skin care products, the end goal is to keep the skin’s barrier intact and only use products that work with our specific skin’s needs.
The hardest part about finding products that work with the skin is finding a line that doesn’t have crap or harmful ingredients. This is where finding an esthetician or skin care professional that is educated in how the skin works comes into play.
Estheticians and skin care professionals will customize your skin care products and only select products and ingredients that work specifically for your skin’s needs.
I can’t stress this enough, because buying in stores or online, you’re just not going to get what you need for your skin.
When adding in a facial oil
It may seem frustrating to add in one more step to your busy schedule both morning & night. Please bear with me and stick with it, your skin will thank you!
Here’s the recommended facial routine for both morning and night:
Step 1: wash your face & rinse off the cleanser
Step 2: apply your serum
Step 3: apply 2-3 drops of your facial oil
Step 4: end with your AM or PM moisturizer
Remember, the salad dressing! Oil floats to the bottom of the bottle, the same occurs with our skin. Apply your facial oil first to float to the bottom, then top it off with your moisturizer (water).
The coolest part about this step is when you massage in your moisturizer, the oil and moisturizer blend together & mix like your salad dressing.
The facial oil begins to mimic your oil glands and overtime your oil production normalizes.
After 4-6 weeks you will notice your skin take on a gorgeous glow and eventually you won’t need to wear any makeup either! How awesome is that?
Any questions, please email me: samantha@www.skindeepil.com
To schedule a consultation with me or purchase my book Skin Deep, Demystifying Skin Care Solutions to Achieve Healthy, Glowing Skin, please visit my website.
XO
-Samantha
