Out of all the things I've attempted (and succeeded!) in making has to be the oils. At this point, I see absolutely no reason whatsoever to use commercial moisturizers and creams.Ever gone shopping and saw this luxurious cream that was "now with jojoba and vitamin e!"? Something happens with those words and the price tag immediately shoots up from the mere mention. The funny thing is, read the back list of ingredients.. out of the 30 in-pronounceable ingredients, way at the bottom they mention jojoba oil.
What's the point of that? If you want jojoba, avocado, or vitamin e in your moisturizer why not just cut out the middle man and go straight to the source? Why not just use the natural oils themselves and spare your body of all the crap they put in moisturizers that don't actually do anything?
A great deal of my journey started with making my own oil blends. Turns out that after the initial *gulp* that 4oz of jojoba generally costs about $8 or so... when you invest and get a variety of oils there is almost no limit to the different types of things you can do with them. Plus, the amazing thing about natural oils is that a small drop or 3 goes such a long way that you use a lot less of it than you ever thought.
Starting on oils can feel a bit intimidating and there is definitely a financial investment involved. To ease things, you can start by getting only one of the oils and trying that.. or you can get Neutrogena Body Oil and see if you even like using oils! Start small and if you fall in love, you can always build upon that.
Just got my catalog from Mountain Rose Herbs in the mail yesterday, read through it this morning. I could seriously blow a wad with that company...in every sense. I don't drink as much tea as I used to, but I still love it and their collection of teas alone had me deliriously excited.
ReplyDeleteGoing through the pages of oils I was rather surprised at just how many they have...and spices too! Also learned a nifty factoid:
It takes over 10,000 POUNDS of roses to make one pound of Rose Oil, which means a single DROP of rose oil is made up of no less than 60 roses.
This certainly explains why some of those oils are as pricey as they are...and with that in mind, it makes the price that much more reasonable.
Now a question: as a sensitive skinned person, I've often found that oils tend to leave me irritated and pink...plus I tend to get oily skin in my T-zone (so I avoid anything with oil in it there)...am I missing some secret to all this or do I just need to find the right match for me still?
I just tried to edit my comment, and when i hit the backspace, it deleted all 4 paragraphs. Dammit!
ReplyDeleteI just ordered $30 from MRH and it took more self-restraint than i thought i had to keep the total down to that. My wishlist from there is more than a mile long!
Rose and Jasmine that expensive for the exact reason you say. It's crazy, but the flowers actually have little to no oil in them! I'm currently trying to figure out a way to infuse their scents in to oils though >.>
So when you say oils have left you irritated in the past, which oils do you mean? Essential oils can definitely irritate but the "carrier oils" like jojoba, vitamin e, etc are generally gentle enough to not irritate most skins. If you're not allergic to nuts, I recommend checking out Sweet Almond Oil. It's the most popular one out there because it is great on ALL skin types and seems to be one of the gentler oils.
As for the T-zone... when i first started reading about putting EV Olive Oil on your face i freaked out for the same reason you probably do, holy shit, my face will explode if i do that. From everything that i've read, here's how I think it works: When you have oily skin, you tend to wash it more often and not apply many moisturizers. Most soaps will generally dry the hell out of your skin and you end up with actually really dry skin... your skin freaks out and starts over-producing oils to compensate. In the end, you end up with even oilier skin. When you apply natural oils (esp. jojoba which is almost the same as the natural sebum/oil in your skin), it sends a message to your skin saying "hey! we got enough oil here, stop making more!". You skin then naturally starts producing less oils and you don't end up with clogged pores. I have a pretty oily T-zone and my forehead especially is prone to breakout... I haven't had any issues at all with using oils on my face. Also (and this really surprised when i first learned it) most of the oils that i mentioned above actually naturally treat acne.
Huh. Crazy that. Well I use a L'oreal face wash with no oils in it once a day, that's it. And I'm ashamed to admit I don't moisturize...mostly because they make my skin feel oily! LOL
ReplyDeleteI'll have to give the almond oil a try (I like the smell of almonds).
What's this blog thing? Never followed a blog before and not sure how it works... but that's some nifty info there about the oils and the T zone. I have an oily T zone, especially my chin. That AMAZING about the roses. I have bouquets from the wedding that are smelling up my whole house, it's pretty nice. I STILL haven't gotten those lavender oils you suggested but I have them bookmarked. I'm a slacker. Been a busy, busy couple weeks for me, family just left yesterday and I'm already back to work today, trying to catch up.
ReplyDeleteFascinating. The only oil I use right now is lavender oil. I didn't like the smell before, but now I'm used to it. It's great for soothing inflammations (or if you pop a pimple you're not supposed to :D ). If I have a persistent rash because of my eczema, I like to put the lavender oil on the rash and then some Aquaphor on top of it. I used to use tea tree oil as an antiseptic too. I was told you can't use 100% pure tea tree oil since it's too strong, so when I used to buy it, they would dilute it with something else (I forget, maybe another oil?).
ReplyDeleteHey Spike.. if you hang those bouquets upside down in a closet, you can dry them. Once they're dry, they'll actually keep for a long time. Than you can grab the dried petals and soak them in vodka (or better yet just pure ethyl alcohol) and make rose water out of it and it's a relaly cool room air-freshner :D
ReplyDeleteJanet.. that's true about tea tree oil that you can't apply it directly unless you get really high quality kind. I bought this one type that was just about as high quality as you can get and I've been applying it directly on the skin for a while with no irritation at all.. i got it from http://www.amazon.com/Tea-Tree-Oil-2-oz/dp/B000VXF9LG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1286469157&sr=8-3
Thanks for dropping by gals :)