help me with a regimen for oily face

[megincl]

my face is rather oily, definitely have frequent low-grade acne in different spots. after i wash, it feels dry, so i use oil-free moisturizer. right now i was with a face wash that includes tea tree oil. occasionally i use a mildly abrasive scrub. occasionally i also use astringent after washing. what would be a good regular regimen? what specific products would you recommend for it?

thanks,
megin

[**guest**]

My face is oily too. Sadly, the ONLY thing that has worked for me has not been 'natural'. I discovered Mary Kay and tried it. Oh my goodness, it worked wonders! I have super sensitive skin and the Timewise facial wash and the oil free hydrating gel are fabulous! They don't bother me one bit.

Using a scrub on acne prone skin is not recommended, by the way.

One thing that one of my customers tried for getting rid of shine and oil is to blot her face with a microfiber towel. She cut one of the towels up into little 'blotters' and uses them. I tried and I must say that I like it! It takes away the embarrassment of having a greasy, shiny face in public. Oh, and instead of a scrub, she uses the MK facial wash but uses a microfiber towel instead of a face cloth. heh heh.
So, not totally natural but it does work.

There's another company that does sell natural skin care/make up and I'm going to look into it.

Hope that helps some.
Liz

[alexisyael]

I have the same type of skin (tho mine also gets dry flakes/ patches in the fall/ winter, with oily skin underneath, if that makes sense -- it just started happening 3 or so years ago).

The best thing I have found is the oil cleansing method. It sucks all my black heads out, softens my skin, and makes it look less red and inflamed.

However, I do a few things differently: I'm using a massage oil blend that has lavender and chamomile EO in it (base oil is almond). Those are good for sensitive skin, which I also have. I use a LOT of oil, and massage it into my skin for a long time (the longer the better, really... up to ten minutes). I'm not too rough, but I do feel a lot of junk come out when I massage.

Then I do the steam with a washcloth, like they recommend and then wipe off the oil. Sometimes, tho, I also wash my face quickly with my foaming Dr Bronner's. It depends on how my face feels.

If I was being very good to my skin, I would do the OCM every night, and wash with just warm water in the morning. However, I'm not that disciplined, and I would say I mostly wash with water. That's better for my skin than any cleanser I've ever found. Of course, I still have some breakouts when I do that... but not nearly as bad as when I was using a TTO cleanser and scrub.

(Obviously I don't wear makeup -- if I do wear makeup, I wash with OCM or Dr B's).

I know it is a BIG leap to make for an oily skin person to try using the oil cleansing method. But I looked at it as a grand experiment. What was the worst that could happen? My face would break out? Yeah, what's new?

(My secret breakout buster is Vit E oil. It seems counter intuitive, but my gosh that stuff really works! I had red acne scars on the sides of my forhead that hadn't cleared up in months when I started using the OCM and putting Vit E oil on blemishes. They're mostly gone now! I consider that nothing short of miraculous...)

[megincl]

never heard of the oil cleansing method. can someone post steps or something?

thanks! sounds yummy, too!

megin

[alexisyael]

Here's the original thread: http://www.mothering.com/discussions...eansing+method

[KindRedSpirit]

I confess,I second the not so natural,but miraculous Mary Kay!

[hopeland]

Hi,
I pasted a link for an online discussion board for acne. I founf it very informative there is a regimen they encourage but also message boards with lots of different things people have tried. I have always had oily skin and not so bad acne. I notice that if I go to a tanning bed it clears up drastically. My dad was telling me that maybe a vitamin D supplement would help because sunlight produces vitamin D so in theory some cases of acne may be due to inadequate amounts of sunlight.

[litlwons]

Wanted to write that I just tried the oil clensing tonight after reading this thread and it is awesome.
I thought I would be left feeling greasy... but no way it feels awesome. My skin looked alive!
Thanks for posting this thread.

[EricaLeigh]

I love the OCM! A dear friend just got me Burts Bees Carrot Night Creme. A little goes a long way, & it is very rich (not oil free) but it has cleared up the recent acne scar & flaky dried out acne areas faster & better than anything I've used. I'm now a beleiver that oil free products cause the skin to produce more oil to make up for the lost during cleansing. Over producing & causing problems. I wasn't sold on the idea until I tried it.

[alexisyael]

[blessedwithboys]

def. OCM, then after, follow w/a bit of jojoba oil for "moisturizer".

[AngelBee]

I have a mix of 1in. Dr Bronners soap, 1in olive oil, and the rest water in a faomer bottle.

It works great!

[wynkenblynken&nod]

I used to use Mary Kay for the young oily faces. UGH! I kept getting pimples all over!

When I came here and saw the thread (on TLHC) I switched to what I had. I had very little olive oil at the time, I had left over vaselline and I had J&J Lavender Baby oil. I mixed them in the vaselline jar and I put my hair back, put a dollop on my face and rub it in. I run a wash cloth under very hot water, wring and place on my face. It steams my pores open. I do this a couple of times depending on how pimply I feel and then I rub it in again (and pimples off...NO NAILS!!). Then I wipe off with a wash cloth and after I've made sure there is no patches of thick oils, I splash my face with water. This usually leaves me a little TO dry so I put a drop of jojoba oil on each cheek and use a tad on the sides of my nose where it meets my face (and leaves scaly gross flakes).

I use the tiniest bit of mango butter on my lips and any left over jojoba on my eyebrows/eyelashes. This is my whole make up routine and if you drink your water, you won't need anything else.