I promised myself that one of these days I will post something
about my skin care routine. So just so you know, again, I have very oily skin.
I used to have terrible acne (thus the scars on my cheeks) and I do still have
some of those pesky things on my chin and at both sides of my jaw.
Let’s move on. First, I wear makeup to try and hide the
scars and the blemishes. So by the end of the day, just so I won’t encourage my
face to bring on a few more recruited pimple soldiers, I remove my makeup.
Though I try to make my makeup as thin/little as possible, I still have to use
a makeup remover.
Makeup Removal
I used to use Maybelline Eye and Lip makeup remover, but
after weeks of debating with myself and looking at online reviews, youtube
videos, etc., I finally decided to stop using it and instead try the famous oilcleansing method (OCM). Good thing there’s a local brand here in the
Philippines that are natural – Human Heart Nature. I use their 100% Natural
Cleansing Oil with Sunflower Oil. I bought mine in Shopwise, for P295 for a 195ml
bottle, I think, and mixed it with extra virgin olive oil, simply because I can’t
find castor oil anywhere in Shopwise – 2 parts olive oil, 2 parts sunflower
oil. Which I later changed to 1 part evoo, 4 parts sunflower oil because… see
the story below.
My OCM Experience
I tried the Oil Cleansing Method – to the letter. I used a
liberal amount of the oil mix (2:2) and directly applied it on my face (still
with makeup). Massaged it on while removing makeup for about 3 minutes (I just
estimate it by what I hear from the tv, so that’s about 2-4 commercials,
depending on how much gunk I can feel my hands were removing). Then I wet my
wash cloth with warm water and wipe it off, repeating the wiping thing 2 more
times to remove all the oil and give my face a mild scrub. For 2 weeks or so my
face was fantastic! The acne on my chin didn’t blow up too much and started going
away, they left no scars too. My pores were not too visible, and my cheeks had
a rosy glow. But the color of my face was way darker than my neck. I think it
was because of the oils and the warm water. It’s like steaming dimsum or
something. Nothing I can’t remedy with a little powder or foundation. So I was
happy. But after 2 weeks… I decided to stop because I couldn’t control the
breakouts on my chin which were because of the sunblock (we went to the beach
twice in 2 weeks!) and because I started using a green tea toner I whipped up
in the kitchen. But I cannot not
remove my makeup, and so decided to tweak my OCM.
My version of the OCM
I changed the proportions of my oil mix (1:4), stopped using
warm water and wash cloth, and instead did a weird thing! I used my daughter’s
Johnson’s Baby Bath with Milk and Rice Proteins. Immediately after massaging my
entire face with the cleansing oil and removing the makeup, I’d get 1 pump of
the milk bath and massage it directly onto my eye area and onto the entire
face. It’d get so sticky with the oil that I looked like I had a face mask on –
so sometimes, when I know I put on very minimal makeup, I’d leave the “mask” on
a minute or two longer before rinsing it off. Points for ingenuity and
weirdness! The effect? My pimples subsided, a little. My pores not very
visible. My cheeks still a little rosy. And my face color caught up a little
with my neck. A little.
Cleansing
I have a sort of holy grail product – something I tried and
keep coming back to when it comes to my acne. Kojie San soap. Yes, the one that
goes 2 bars for Php50. After my OCM and rinsing off the mask, I wash my face with
Kojie San. I directly rub the bar on my face and then massage it in a little
and leave it on my face while I continue bathing or washing up. So it sort of
dries on my face and I can feel the sting on my acne and blemishes, even on
some of my scars. The effect? My skin feels tight and clean, the scars on my
cheeks and chin lightened in just one week they weren’t too noticeable anymore,
and the bumps on my forehead (which appeared when I started OCM) were gone too.
But! There’s another but in there. Because it dried out my face too much, after
just an hour or so from applying bb cream or foundation, my face was an oil
field. I’d touch my t-zone and my fingers would be really shiny as if I
intentionally put oil on them. Eeek. And this is the one problem I stil have
now and haven’t found the solution to. So… help!!! Leave comments if you have
suggestions.
Toning
Yes, because I was a walking oil resource, I decided to just
go ahead with it and used a toner. I already
used up a 100ml bottle of Human Heart
Nature Balancing toner with Elemi and Orange extracts which I also bought from
Shopwise for Php99. (As you can see I bought almost all of those from Shopwise
because I just insert buying these when we do our grocery shopping. And
Shopwise does not have a decent cosmetic or face care section like Watsons
does. But they do have a shelf full of Human Heart Nature products. It was
supposed to balance out my skin, but I don’t think it did, because I still oil
up that soon.
Moisturizing
Even with a ton of oil my face generates, I still
moisturize. My go-to moisturizer is the Myra Vitawhite Whitening Face Lotion
with SPF 15. I know, it has SPF which may be contributing to my breakouts, but
no, it doesn’t affect my face that much, although I sometimes do think you’re
right. It’s the SPF that’s making my pimples angry. Anyway, I went back to
using Kojie San Face Lightening Cream. Went back because I used it before and I
didn’t break out. Still, I’m an oil production master. I hate it. Even if I use
Maybelline Baby Skin Pore Eraser as primer, I still oil up. Much!
There you go. My skin “care” routine. And oh, I started
using Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser for all sin types last July 17 (please
notice how I used “last” in that sentence, I sometimes silently correct others
who misuse it; I’ll write down a PS to explain what I mean) in place of Kojie
San so my face does not turn out to be that of a ghost (whitewashed!) and in
the hopes of lessening the oil. I still have to see what happens because I’m
still on my 5th day.
What do you do as a routine? Do you have different morning and night routines? Do you have suggestions for oily-faced people like me? Leave comments and suggestions below so I can try to try them out. :)
PS: Even if my post is already lengthy. Here’s that tidbit
on the use of the word “LAST”.
Please use the word “last” in reference to dates, terms,
days that may occur again, like LAST Monday, LAST Sunday, LAST year, LAST
Weekend, LAST week, LAST June, LAST June 12. But NEVER on SPECIFIC dates, terms
or years that will not happen again, like June 12, 1989. You only use it for
more generic terms that have a tendency to be repeated, that’s why there’s a
reference to the LAST time it happened or occurred. I hope you get what I mean.
Therefore, last June 12, 1989 is not correct; Last April 2014 is not correct because
there will never be another April 2014 (unless counting got reset because the
end of the world already came and time went back to zero).
