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Writer's pictureKelsi Rea
Feb 19, 20134 min read

I Wash My Face With Oil

I wash my face with oil.

Yep, I do.

(Just wait til I tell you about my shampoo…)



Yes, it’s completely true.  I use oil to wash my face and it’s actually not a new phenomenon!  The OCM (Oil Cleansing Method) has been around for decades and it’s completely natural, effective, not slimy at all, and it works! that’s the greatest part!  You can be all hippy-natural-frugal-green til your grass-fed cows come home, but if it doesn’t work, then it’s pointless to resort to rubbing oil on your face.

I was totally skeptical about it the first time I read through Simple Mom’s confession that she uses the OCM as her primary skin care routine.  However, since using it for about a year now, it’s totally changed the appearance of my skin and I very RARELY experience any major breakouts.  Here’s how it works…

By using the OCM, you are employing a chemistry rule of thumb that says that like dissolves like – in our case – oil dissolves oil.  By using all-natural oils to massage into your pores, your body’s natural oil production is returned to its intended state.  Normally, if we are using harsh cleaners on our face, we experience alternating times of extreme dryness and extreme oiliness.  This is because our bodies were created to MAKE oil.  Oil is not the problem.  Regulating your body’s chemistry so that a healthy amount of oil remains on your skin is the issue.

If you tend to use hard cleaners on your face, you know that tight feeling that comes right after you dry your face, and then the oil that seems to pool in your T-zone, yeah?  This is because those cleaners are washing away the sebum (natural oils) in your skin and drying you out, so your body flips on the “make-more-oil” switch and then, a few hours later, you have a less than attractive “glow”.   The OCM brings your body back to it’s normal level of oil production because it uses oils that help balance your skin’s natural pH.


So, how do you clean your face with oil?

To start out, you want to use a high grade castor oil as your base.  The amount that you use will vary, but castor oil is the non-negotiable.  (Don’t worry, you’re not ingesting it!)  Castor oil is  quite thick and is an excellent cleanser and strong anti-inflammatory, which makes it excellent for the skin.  However, its cleansing properties are so strong, that you need another moisturizing oil to counterbalance it, or you’ll end up with dry skin (go figure!).

To balance the castor oil, you’ll also want a high quality secondary oil.  My preferred recipe is castor and olive oil because the olive oil is a natural anti-inflammatory, it’s non-comedogenic (it won’t clog your pores) and is one of the most mild natural oils to use on your skin, even at full strength and very few people are allergic to it.   Want to try something different?  Avocado oil, jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil, apricot kernel oil or grapeseed oil also make excellent choices.

To make your cleanser:

Combine your castor oil and secondary oil into the following proportions: (it doesn’t have to be an exact science, so you can just eye-ball it!)

  1. Dry skin: 1/3 castor oil to 2/3 secondary oil

  2. Normal skin: use equal parts of castor oil and secondary oil

  3. Oily skin: 2/3 castor oil to 1/3 secondary oil

To use, gently massage the oil blend all over your face in firm but gently circles, as though you were rubbing in lotion.  Allow the oils to soak into your skin for a minute or two, and then dampen a washcloth in hot water.  Stretch the washcloth our over your face and gently steam your skin with the warmth from the cloth, which helps open your pores.  Once the cloth has cooled, gently wipe away the oils.  Rinse your washcloth in warm water and then wipe away the remaining oil.  It’s as simple as that.

Using the OCM is incredibly relaxing and moisturizing, but it may be a huge change when compared to what you are used to. We are trained by mainstream health and beauty that if there aren’t bubbles, it isn’t clean. Unfortunately,  the ridiculous amount of bubbles in most cosmetics come from the Sodium Laureth/Lauryl Sulfates.  The main functions of SLS is to work as a foaming agent and to give cancer to lab rats.

Yeah, I’d reach for the bottle of oil if I were you…

:: here are a few tips ::

  1. Mix up your cleanser in small batches.  This allows you to tweak your formula if you need to adjust after a few applications.  Plus, our body tends to produce more oil naturally when our hormones start to change, so have a few different blends made up in case you need to adjust.

  2. Add in some essential oils.  if you are acne-prone, add in a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender essential oil.  The tea tree oil is a natural anti-bacterial and is amazing at eliminating acne, while the lavender is calming and assists in healing and is an anti-inflammatory.

  3. Give it some time.  Personally, I noticed an immediate difference in my skin.  it was so much softer and I had an over-night decrease in acne and never had a problem with my skin adjusting to the OCM.  However, I’ve read several other blogs where people have tried the OCM and it took a week or so for their body to start producing the right amount of oils (their skin was used to over-producing).

Have you ever tried the OCM?  Read up more on this method at the sites below that got me started on it!

get the word out:






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