To Oil or not to Oil, the question has been answered

What: The OCM, Oil Cleansing Method. Notorious, i guess everybody is already familiar with the hot cloth and oil cleansing ritual.

Why:...because i have a little set of observations of my own. For the record, i have combination skin, large pores but no excessive oiliness.

Therefore...: I think there are not only advantages but also problems with this method. I figured i'm the only one who's got something to say 'against' this little treatment...or not? anyways i am still doing it, occasionally, and in the mean time deciding whether i should continue with it or not. I guess i'm going to have to maintain it in my beauty routine but only rarely, maybe once every ten days.

What: the oils i use vary. I usually like the extra virgin olive oil and castor oil combination, but i always add a few drops of almond oil (cold pressed, unrefined), avocado oil or my Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse. I don't use a fancy cloth, such as the expensive muslin cloths similar to the ones from Liz Earle or anything from a kit. I just have two face towels, one purchased from Ikea, that is not so fine, and another one from an interior decoration store, a little softer, with more delicate threads. Therefore there is just a small difference between the two 'cloths' but not something significant. I alternate the two cloths, when i need to wash one of 'em.

How: i used to do it once every three days, then once a week. i got really scared when i read some blogs where the ladies said they were doing it every day, sometimes even twice. i think it's too much for the skin.

....which brings me to the jist of this blog. the pros and cons:

Pros: -it is a natural exfoliation treatment that you can mechanically control. You don't aggress your skin as you would do with any other exfoliant, no matter how delicate the particles are. I use one from a Swedish pharmacy, i don't know its name, but the cream is extremely thick and the particles are very, very small. I think it's a perfect dupe for Dermalogica's Microfoliant or the new version of it that is currently being marketed in Sweden. I usually add three to five drops of almond or avocado oil to the exfoliant when i use it, just to make it milder for the face.

- it prevents breakouts...seriously. I never have them in a serious way, only a couple of small pimples here and there, and i never suffered from acne. But this method really kept those little pesky bumps at bay, which is great. I can only imagine what this would mean to someone suffering from cystic or rebel acne..a true blessing. It delivers your skin the necessary oils and cleanses it extremely naturally, only hot water and oils.

- leaves the skin nourished after the process, which no other exfoliant does, no other home-made mask or anything in the family. It is useful for the ladies who want to keep their treatments at a minimum and go totally natural. You basically don't need any thick night cream afterwards, if you're doing it at night, only a couple of oil drops if you feel your skin too tight.

-takes off all the dirt, dead cells and makeup. and i mean everything. my skin was never pink and plump, baby-like, as it was after each OCM session. you can see the real skin coming out, and you look your own age. No more superficial spots, no more grayness, no more washed off skintone, no more 'opaqueness'. Your skin does glow, and i take it it glows from inside. The blood circulation is activated by the hot water and the friction with the cloth, while the nourishing oil does a delicate and effective job at exfoliating your skin.

- a HUGE thing- if you have oily skin you can wave it goodbye. this method will literally change your skin type, and i mean it. It stops the excessive secretion of sebum and you can easily go from extremely oily to combination skin in just a few 'sessions'.

Cons: it is weird that i actually found those....

Basically i feel my skin gets too dry afterwards. it's not a nourishment problem but a dehydration one. My skin needs hydration because of the exposure to the hot water...and i need to use a hydrating cream, wash my face with cold water, use all sorts of tricks to restore the natural equilibrium...i even got to the point where i had to use vaseline to seal in the moisture...

Again, i don't have extremely oily skin so sebum was never a problem for me. I only needed something to really cleanse my pores and potentially minimize them, or if not, just 'tame' them a little. It didn't quite happen this way. I did observe fewer blackheads and less clogged pores in general but it came at the expense of hydration, which my weird skin needs it. Yep, the old 'oily but dry' dilemma all over again.
Add that to my biggest fear- wrinkles and premature aging. exposing your face to hot water or steaming for long periods of time can result in premature aging, drying of the skin and wrinkles. Therefore i stopped doing it once every three-four days and started thinking of it once a week, maybe ten or fourteen days.

-it is ADDICTIVE. If you don't do it in a month expect hell. My chin got inflamed and several huge pimples, almost acne-type, popped out, despite me not changing anything in my routine except for the OCM. It was a terrible experience, the pimples wouldn't go away with anything, not even aspirin, and i was left with tiny purple spots- scarring. I couldn't believe it!

.....so i think i will be using this once every two weeks and see what's that going to be like. I strongly recommend attention when using this method, because although it is indeed a very effective and beneficial cleansing process, it can seriously backfire if you're not doing to according to your skin type.

Coming clean

So this is my first 'serious' beauty blog post and i decided to give skincare a shot. I am a makeup addict who truly believes the basic key for a perfect, or almost perfectly looking makeup is skincare. If one's skin is 'perfect', then there are not going to be any problems with foundation, staying powder, concealing imperfections or controlling oiliness. But things aren't always this cut and dry.

I have been going back and forth in my relationship with cleansers, gels, moisturizers and oils for ages, actually, ever since i can remember i started paying attention to this kind of things (5th grade most probably). Apart from loving the consistency, scent and freshness of face creams i was also constantly looking for 'the one', the perfect holy grail moisturizer that would embark with me on a very serious relationship as many of my acquaintances have with their products. My mom is one of them- she's been using one or two moisturizers for about all her life, starting with her college years and up til today. Her skin is wonderful for her age, she only has a couple of wrinkles and i want to get to look like that when i'm 60...i really do.

from my personal experience thus my own routines and skin type i understood, luckily pretty early, that there is no such thing as a perfect moisturizer that will give you perfect skin because perfect skin begins with being clean. there, i said it. it's sad and even annoying when big companies market a ton of crappy, aggressive products, wrap them in beautiful packaging and sell them as promise fulfillers..at exorbitant prices, of course, and most of the times, at even higher costs- the frustration of failure.

I have oily skin, Erno Laszlo's website actually says i'm 'slightly oily'. Large pores, occasional oiliness, but no oily face in the morning, no actual zits. i truly feel sorry for everybody out there who has acne but i also believe thay're not doing the correct thing. i don't mean to be rude, or mean, or judge anyone on the basis of their habits or something like that. But the only correct and fruitful help you can get for your skin is a visit with a dermatologist. because it must be identified whether you suffer from the 'acne' acne, which is a bacterial infection, or it comes from inside your body- hormonal problems, stress, bad hygiene, use of incorrect products, etc.

My best friend, for example, has been suffering from 'bad skin' all her teenage years. She is 20 years old now and her skin looks terrible. It is not acne what she suffers from, but those pesky little red zits that just pop all over one's face all of a sudden, even if the rest of the skin looks healthy, hydrated and clean. she just has them, period. She never booked a visit with a dermatologist or even her physician to check up for any allergies, skin infections or stuff like that. She never invests in quality skincare products (and i don't mean expensive, uses tanning beds (eeew!), never uses SPF whenever she goes on vacation in summery places, consumes alcohol, has an unhealthy diet....and the list goes on. basically my friend does everything wrong for her skin and then complains she's got problems.

and MANY people do this. or worse, they indulge in self-medication or fall for the gimmicks of the cosmetic industry hoping for a miracle. it's like an obese man would buy a contracting belt and sit in front of the TV eating donuts, waiting to drop the weight asap. the problem is, many of the people suffering from bad skin or even acne, sometimes, have these issues only because they don't keep their skin clean. yeah, it's as simple as that. i know many many girls my age who have never actually been to a cosmetologist for a facial, for that matter. a simple blackhead extraction procedure every month could give you glowing skin if you only tried it. instead of splashing tons of foundation on top of irritated, clogged pores, and then wash your face with aggressive gels that only strip your skin off its natural ph balance and irritate it even more, you could do yourself a favor and give yourself, if you don't want to have it professionally done, a facial. SIMPLE.

i'm sorry i might sound rude or bitchy but i am the firmest believer in clean skin. CLEAN. not dry and squeaky, but blackhead-less, whitehead-less, and last but not least, hairless. i'm gonna talk about that in a moment.

i haven't had a zit in a long time, i don't even remember when. my skin is, of course, still a bit oily and has dilated pores that i can't shrink almost at all. but it's fresh, my pores are clean and i finally look my own age (i always used to believe dirty skin ages people...and it does). so i am happy.

i'm not advertising anything here, any products, anything, recipes or stuff like that. i'm advertising healthy manners. treat your skin well and it will glow in return. i am also UPSET when i see little girls, teenagers suffering from acne, complaining they want a strong 'it' product that would help them get rid of the pimples once and for all- they don't realize that they will have to live with their skin for the rest of their lives. this is my priority- to age gracefully, and as late as possible. i am afraid of wrinkles. really afraid. and when i hear of 14 year-olds getting on acne medication AND washing their face with products....bbrrrrr. i would never do that to my skin. actually, i'm even glad whenever i have a little zit popping out- it's a good sign my skin is still young, still 'working'. call me crazy but between premature wrinkles and pimples, i embrace the latter. we all know that as we age out skin loses the capacity of producing collagen, actually it produces it in lower and lower quantities until you end up looking like a 45 year-old pair of boots...oily skin has this great advantage- you don't end up having wrinkles that easy.

aaanyways. getting back now. FACIALS. CLEAN(S)ING. You get my point. and I'm going to try to stick to it, for that matter.

i have been sticking to my facial ritual for years now. i don't do it very often because my skin tends to get very dry and sensitive afterwards so i can't scrub or wax for about three-four days. but i do it as much as i can within reasonable limits. my favorite products are, of course, the blackhead extractor, and the steam bath aromatics (essential oils, herbs or tisanes, or especially designed products).





This little guy here is a miracle worker. Mine is from The Body Shop but you can use pretty much whichever brand you prefer; the Makeupalley ladies swear by the Tweezerman one but i think they're the same. Now, the key about mastering this little stick is the angle. I obviously (and unfortunately) can't post any photos of my skills with this tool for fear of grossing you out; it took me a long time to learn how to use it, because even if it looks simple, it isn't, and any little mistake can cost you a scar, damaged skin or even permanent signs on your nose or forehead, and we don't want this to happen.

The next product iiiiiis.....





....good ol' Dr Hauschka and his wonderful steam bath. an excellent product full of antioxidants, herbal essences that disinfect, detoxify and soothe the skin while softening the hardened dead cells and opening the pores. five stars product, although i can easily replace it with other herbs in case i don't have it around. among my favorite herbs to use are chamomile, small-leaved lime (linden), raspberry leaves, grated lemon peel or even plain red berries tea with some drops of tea tree or orange essential oil- the volatile oils will channel the evaporation of the antioxidants the red berries tea contain. if you don't have any of these or you just prefer using something else go ahead and leave your imagination fly.

I don't think it's necessary to get into the facial steam process since i'm sure everybody is aware of it (boil some water with the aforementioned thingies in it, place your head above the pan and cover it with a towel and stay there...for a while). i'm gonna talk a little on the extractor because many people have difficulties in using it. so this is what i do:

-the most important thing is that your skin must be very softened. steam your face for at least 15 minutes, stay there even if you feel water dripping off your face. don't forget to apply a thick eye creme or vaseline around your eyes and on the lips, especially if you have dry skin.
-for the space between your eyebrows and forehead, i just press the small loop of the extractor on the skin, a bit hard but not very, until i can see the dirt oozing out of my skin. gross, but it works. i work it downwards or in the direction of the pores (you can see that as soon as your skin is softened and the first ones are popping out)
-on the nose, now that's the hard part. i hold my nose with my left hand, place the small loop on the right nostril and with the same pressure start working the extractor downwards or upwards, depending on the direction of the pores. i press quite a lot, working it slowly, and sometimes using the tip of the loop for extra efficiency in case of stubborn blackheads
-on the sides of the nose, which is on the cheeks, just press the small loop against the direction of the pores, as work it. it's very easy as long as your skin is VERY damp and your pores are extremely open, like the dirt in them is softened. otherwise you'll end up hurting yourself and nothing more.

This is one of my beauty routines and i really love it. It's time consuming, uncomfortable, a little painful, results in redness, sensitive skin, you have to work fast to take all the dirt out of your pores otherwise you have to get back to steaming thus more, etc etc, but it is the only procedure that will truly empty your pores of all the gunk inside, give you fresh, plump baby skin, activate the facial micro-circulation and stimulate cell growth. once you've got rid of all the dirt, then new cells can form and your skin just breathes more easily. it is something i will keep doing for as long as i live because well, it's the only TRUE cleansing method. and i believe it is also the first true step towards a healthy, clean, gorgeous-looking complexion.

have a happy skin and stay tuned!