Welcome to my new cleansing routine (olive oil!)

L-R  Tescos Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil 500ml - £1.89 

Pink Superdrug Facecloth - 99p

Superdrug Pump Bottle 100ml - 99p 

Superdrug 100% Pure Essential Tea Tree Oil - £2.99

No, you didn't read the title incorrectly; I am in fact using extra virgin olive oil as a facial cleanser and night time moisturiser & have been doing so for a few weeks now. Let me tell you...this is a MIRACLE worker. I will never be forking out for expensive, chemical laden cleansers ever again. Fact.

This all came about completely by accident. A few weeks ago I was having a massive winter skin dilemma; the skin on my face was cracked & dry but becoming increasingly spotty as well. I couldn't for the life of me get my skincare routine right in order to sort this out & so I did some Googling. I was attempting to look for skincare tips & tricks when I came across something about using extra virgin olive oil on the skin. After this, I did a lot more research (I suggest you do too!) & after seeing amazing things being said about it I decided I had to give it a try.



Firstly, here are some facts about using extra virgin olive oil as part of your skincare routine;


-It can be used on ALL skin types (oily, acne-prone, dry, irritated, itchy etc etc), the molecules of evoo are smaller than our pores and so they cannot penetrate them. Basically, it can not & will not block pores. It will never cause spots!

-The PH of oil is very similar to that of our skin & so it will help skin maintain a healthy ph balance.

-It will moisturise, renew, heal and soothe skin.

-It is natural, hypoallergenic & has the added advantage of antioxidants & the vitamins A & E.

-Usage on oily skin will not make skin more oily.

-Contains no chemicals & therefore your skin will not be stripped of any of it's essential oils.


There is so much more! Here are a few links which will provide you with some extra information:
http://www.oliveoilsource.com/page/beauty-and-olive-oil
http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

If you interested in this method of cleansing, please do a little bit of Googling of your own...there is so much information out there! Plus lots of reviews, all of which are good.


METHOD:
After all of this research, I decided I would just stick to using organic eevo (organic means less chance of any chemicals coming into contact with or being absorbed by the skin) & tea tree oil (for antibacterial purposes), rather than adding any other oils as is suggested by some people. There are many different variations ie mixing with castor oil or jojoba oil & there are lots of different cleansing methods so do some research & decide what will be best for you. The method I chose to follow is probably the simplest; this is what I do step by step:

1. Add one tiny drop of pure teal tree oil to palm of hand

2. Pour a 10 pence sized amount of eevo onto palm of hand a mix into the tea tree oil with finger.

3. Rub both palms of hands together so the eevo mixture is spread evenly.

4. Massage face (dry & unwashed of any make up) gently with oily hands, taking extra time on troublesome areas such as around the nose. Include eye area; the eevo will remove even waterproof mascara. I do this for as long as I want, usually a few minutes in order to remove all make up.

5. Soak a washcloth/facial flannel in hot water (not too hot, must be comfortable for hands & face), & then squeeze water out leaving flannel damp. Place over face & let steam for a minute or 2.

6. Repeat step 5 another one or two times, until face feels clean.

7. Pat face dry with clean towel.

After this, your face still may feel slightly oily but this is how it should be. You may need to just pat over your eye area with a cotton pad to remove excess eye make-up.

I have been doing this for just under 2 weeks & my skin is COMPLETELY CLEAR. It is no longer dry & my skin tone is more even than it has been since I can remember. After the first evening of doing this, I woke up to incredibly soft skin & the 3 spots that I'd had on my face were almost gone. I can not rave about this enough! Almost 2 weeks in I can see a considerable difference in the blackheads on my nose too; I had so many but I am now confident that if I continue doing this they will all disappear. I will never stop using extra virgin oil on my skin. I've stopped using other face creams and cleansers entirely, other than my Lacura Multi-Intensive serum. Other than that, I just put a few drops of eevo on my skin if it needs moisturising...It's so simple. I've been using it on my hands, feet, body & hair too! It also also ridiculously cheap; I haven't made a dent in the 500ml bottle I bought & it was only £1.89. All of that money we waste on those ineffective expensive creams & lotions....

As a bonus it is said to protect against signs of ageing as it renews your skin!

I hope this has inspired some of my fellow bloggers to give it a try too! If you have acne- give it a try. If you have dry skin - give it a try. If you have normal skin - give it a try. Why not? You literally can't go wrong! It won't break you out & you will have yourself some super soft, moisturised skin.

Have you ever tried extra virgin olive oil on your skin? If not, will you?
Let me know what you think! :)