Olive Oil...not just for bread...

I have a confession to make.  I am obsessed with natural living/food/exercise blogs.  I spend hours reading about vegan cooking, nutrition, and juice feasting, ect.  It is a bit ridiculous, because I don't practice these things very well in my life.

I firmly believe nutrition and exercise lead to a more balanced life, so I am always wanting to incorporate more balance into my life in these areas...but I have a very long way to go, and much room for improvement.

Saying all of that, recently I have been curious about all the chemicals that come in contact with the largest most exposed organ of our body.  Our SKIN and for this blog post, more specifically my FACE!!

I read here about a different method and have been trying it out for the last 3 weeks.  Obviously, I am still in the experiment stage and will keep you posted on my thoughts :)  I will not go into the "how to" of the oil method bc if you are interested you can read about it.  Currently, I am only using olive oil, not the combination of castor oil/olive oil.

I have been using olive oil to clean my skin at night.  These are some things I like so far about it:

1.  It removes all of my make-up really well

2.  It is cheaper than most facial cleansers

3.  My skin feels soft, not oily after using

4.  I don't have to use moisturizer (another money saver :)

5.  It is chemical free and very gentle on my sensitive skin

6.  After washing the oil off, it is virtually odor free (Ryan doesn't like the smell of many other "natural" cleansers I have tried)

Things I am hoping for that I have not seen yet:

1.  The wrinkles around my eyes to look less noticable (maybe this is expecting to much haha)

2.  The pores on my nose to look smaller.  So far they look the same.

3.  Less breakouts.  As a self-conscious girl I struggled with my skin through out high-school and college and used many different harsh products(lots of benzoyl peroxide,  salicylic acid that left my face red and flakey)  The last few years my skin has cleared up and even before using the oil I was pretty content with it.  However, I haven't seen a difference.  I've read that people with bad skin problems have started using oil and it has cleared up.  I can't really say if that is true because I started with relatively clear skin.  I am just hoping it continues to keep my skin clear.

Things I don't like:

1.  The process takes a while.  You have to place a hot rag on your face multiple times a night.  Not sure how conducive this will be living in India.

2.  It is messy.  Oil feels greasy and leaves a film on the sink that you have be sure and clean.

3.  The smell during cleansing.  Yep, it smells like you should be scooping the oil off with some garlic bread.

So there you have it, my adventures in natural face cleansing thus far.....to be continued...

Have any of you used the oil method or have natural products you love, recommend??