DIY Time: Water Soluble Cleansing Oil

Sometime ago, I tried out the traditional Oil Cleansing method to de-clog and de-gunk my pores of impurities. As the traditional Oil Cleansing method requires steaming of the face through a hot towel, there was some waiting time involved. Also, as it’s a deep cleansing method, it wasn’t optimal as a daily solution.

Until I read about DIY cleansing oils while surfing around randomly in forums. Here’s my own take on it.

Which of these is not quite the same as the rest? 😛

You can use just about any suitable skincare grade oil you like, like organic extra virgin olive oil, castor, grapeseed, etc. So long as there’s an emusifier added to the mixture, which is usually PEG 7 Olivate or Cromollient. A cleansing oil, owing to the emusifier used, renders the mixture water dispersible. Instead of cleansing my face with a hot towel to steam open the pores, I use plain tap water to wash away the mixture on my face, after thoroughly massaging it in and leaving it on for a couple of minutes. While it’s not as potent nor deep cleansing as the traditional Oil Cleansing method, this works pretty well as a daily makeup remover, even for my waterproof mascara and eyeliners. I usually follow up with a gentle 2nd cleanser, to ensure that my waterproof sunscreen is thoroughly removed.

I’ve been using this for the better part of a year now, if not more. So far, my DIY mixture has worked pretty well for me without causing any problems. Other than Jojoba Oil, I usually play around with others as and when I happen to order them.

The photo above shows my current stash of the ingredients. The Olive Oil PEG 7 Olivate is from Milagro Trading, as is the blue glass dropper bottle that contains the DIY cleansing oil mixture. This is a Singapore-based site that is generally reliable with moderate turnaround time. If you’re not into international shipping, Milagro Trading also sells a small selection of skincare oils that can be used for your DIY Cleanser.

US sites

For the organic Jojoba and Apricot Oils, they were from http://www.iHerb.com (use my code UKE525 to get $5 off your 1st order), which also stocks a certain collection of skincare-suitable oils. The watermelon seed oil is from Garden of Wisdom, which sells a plethora of skincare goodies, both finished and raw ingredients a-plenty. Needless to say, these are generally cheaper on US sites than in Singapore locally, even with international shipping factored in.

For the emulsifer, the recommended usage is 1 – 10% of the entire mixture. Although I have disposable pipettes, I’m lazy and usually rely on my eye to measure that out, at approximately 7 – 10% 🙂 If the mixture doesn’t rinse off cleanly, I add a tad more emulsifier in the bottle and it works out well. Similarly, if it’s too drying, you might wish to reduce the emulsifier or add in a few heavier oils like rosehip. Castor oil is a popular ingredient in cleansing oil as it does deep cleanse. However, as I use this at my eye area, it’s an ingredient I steer clear of, as it can irritate and sting the eyes.

While I’m massaging the oil on my dry face, I make use of the time to do a Tanaka Face Massage, which I first learned about from vivawoman (http://www.vivawoman.net/2009/12/28/hisako-tanaka-face-contouring-massage/). This completely maximises the time required by the oil to cleanse my skin. As I almost always have makeup on on work days, this helps me to stick to my face massage regime, since I use the oil cleanser on these days.

So far, my skin condition has improved pretty much this year, which I attribute to proper cleansing of makeup and sunblock, as well as my skincare products and oral supplements. While my skin is far from perfect, there are fewer zits and white/black heads popping up. Even my regular facial beautician of more than 5 years has commented on my better skin (and stopped trying to sell me salon products). She’s even recommending me to step down from my 2-mask facial package to a simpler and cheaper one. I find that I can go for a couple of months without a facial and have pretty good skin, pitted scars from teenage days notwithstanding.

I really enjoy simple DIY that isn’t time consuming, but is beneficial to the skin. For me, the home made Cleansing Oil is one such way for me to indulge in my DIY projects, doesn’t cost much and is fun to experiment and customise to your skin’s needs.

PS: The truffle oil in the picture is there for a laugh. It’s strictly reserved for my shoestring fries and that alone!