The Oil Cleansing Method is a method of washing your face using natural oils such as coconut, jojoba, or grape seed oils. This became trendy among the ancestral health community, a lifestyle that seemed to support a natural way of eating.
If you are interested in the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM), before you start rubbing oil on your face, you need to know a few things.
Your main skin care goals should to keep your skin moisturized and keep it’s pH balanced. Balanced, healthy skin has a pH of 5. When you wash your skin, you are playing with its pH, making either more acidic or more alkaline. Too much alkalinity thins the skin, making it vulnerable to dryness and flakiness. For people who have eczema, sensitive skin, or extreme dryness, this can be a problem. Washing your skin with soap brings its pH up to 3, which makes skin highly alkaline and therefore vulnerable to thinning and other issues. Make sure you do your research on the pH of the oil you are using, and the it’s effect on the pH of your skin.
Some oils are too saturated for your skin. This does not allow your skin to breathe or eliminate waste. Yes, it’s important to support your skin’s lipid barrier, but some oil’s molecules are way too large for your skin to absorb. Another reason to do your research!
Oil can have anti-bacterial properties, which isn’t always great for your skin. Just like your gut, your skin must maintain a healthy microbiome, and some oils can really disrupt this.
In summary, please do your research! Also, spot test with any new oil that you are considering using. Your skin will tell you whether it’s right for you.
References
Fugo, Jennifer. 4 Reasons Why Coconut Oil is Bad for Your Skin. Skinterrupt. Retrieved from https://www.skinterrupt.com/coconut-oil-is-bad-for-your-skin/.
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