Thursday, September 10, 2009

OCM Update

Kirin recently asked how I was getting on with the Oil Cleansing Method. Well, at the moment, I'm not. You see, it was all going very well. I got a bit cocky. Bought myself some v expensive Bare Escentuals mineral make-up. Initially skin was wonderful, then two weeks in I broke out in whiteheads all over my neck, the sides of my face into my hairline and across my forehead. Being pretty certain (having consulted Mr. Google) that the make-up was to blame, but not 100%, I ditched both the minerals and OCM to allow my skin time to recover from whatever ailed it. Five or six weeks later I still have a lot of whiteheads and inflamed pimples, but since I all-but finished my PhD (yay!) my skin is much improved. I have been using a moisturiser by Green People (no acne-provoking ingredients - see here for what to avoid) and good ol' Corn Silk face powder (from Boots - used it for years, dunno why I stopped in the first place).

This is not to say that I have completely abandoned OCM. I liked the way it made my skin look and feel. And I just loved breaking my servitude to the cosmetics industry. Therefore, once my skin is feeling better I'm going to re-experiment, perhaps with lighter jojoba oil in place of olive (apparently coconut is a comeodonic nightmare, btw!).

3 comments:

Kirin Bir said...

Thanks for the update!
I used to use coconut oil to take my makeup off, but i stopped when i learned it was one of the most pore-clogging oils. It actually made me get pimples under my eyes and on my brow bone. Now i have been using OCM for exactly a month. My eyes cleared up as a result of not using coconut oil. My t-zone is fine, but my cheeks and neck went through a purging period (and still is). Right now i feel like my cheeks are clearing up, but my neck and under-chin area are still inflamed and really itchy. OCM is really drying for me, so i use a natural Papaya Enzyme peel to get rid of dead skin. I'm going to keep sticking with OCM though, because i've tried EVERYTHING and nothing works on my very acne-prone skin. There are so many different opinions online about OCM that you just really have to try it to see if it works on your own skin.

Djinn said...

Indeed - agree with your point about trying things out and seeing how they suit your skin. You have to be prepared to take the odd risk to reap the rewards. Good luck!

Katie said...

Hi I am interested about your experience with oil. I have bad skin too but I discovered that rosehip oil seems to help. I seem to be getting wrinkles AND spots now which is annoying as I hoped to have a few years spot-free before I started to notice lines! lol! I buy organic rosehip oil and I add a few drops of essential oils with anti-ageing properties to it. Its lovely as a nightly facial oil but useless as a makeup base. I heard camellia oil is supposed to be good too.