Paula Begoun: Is the oil cleansing method totally whack?

I read about the oil cleansing method after I had already been using oils (jojoba and Argan) as moisturizers. The idea appealing to me, and it made sense to me that oil would heat up and excavate blackheads as well as traces of dirt and all makeup. A mixture of olive, jojoba, grapeseed or sunflower oil is recommended, depending on what seems to work well for your skin. The catch is that you need to massage it in for quite a while, at least five minutes, for it to work. So it does take time. After a while, you start to feel hard bits within the oil. That;s the nasty bits coming out of your skin. You then soak a towel and drape it over your face, after which you rub your skin clean. It worked really well for me for quite a while, and then apart from the blackheads which I had a problem with anyway, I started breaking out. I stopped using it. I am still not saying the oil cleansing method does not work, because it clearly did for me to start off with, but perhaps it is best to only use it occasionally.

Wow, thanks for sharing that. You can often learn so much more from the bad experiences than from the good ones, you know? Yeah, I was worried that it could cause breakouts. Sounds logical given you're just using oil, you know? Maybe oil can get rid of blackheads, but you still need to strip it off to prevent further clogging. That's my idea anyways. But yeah, I'd be very open to hearing other experiences from people for whom it was either a total failure or a grand success, this oil cleansing method.

No, the Oil Cleansing Method is not totally whack. In short, it works for some people and it fails horribly for others. Unfortunately, there is no real way to determine into which group you would fall were you to test it out, because it seems to have little to do with skin type. Some people with oily skin have excellent results with the Oil Cleansing Method, as do some with dry skin. And also, some people in both groups really hate it. The most common complaint is breaking out. That will stop when you return to your previous cleansing method. Worth a try? Well, that depends on how much you want to avoid the possibility that you are one of those people for whom it really does not work. Totally up to you.

To add, I am actually not sure who invented this method. Don't know if Paula Begoun brought it to recent popularity, though she does talk about it for sure. What I did read is that this method, cleansing your skin with oils, is something even the ancient Romans used. So it's not a new method. I like to think that oldies but goodies should be valued when appropriate. It's good though that in this day and age we have many other cleansing methods at our disposal!

The oil cleansing method works for me. Four months in, and I use simple olive oil and castor oil which are inexpensive, my skin is smoother and has so much fewer blackheads than before. I won't lie. The oil cleansing method takes some getting used to. It is a real adjustment and runs counter to what most of us were taught about skincare all our lives. I have seen how well it really works for myself though, and though I am not guaranteeing that it will do the same for you, well, many people are very happy with this method which is why it is so popular right now!

Not whack!!! I had terrible skin, very clogged pores, and though I could hide them with makeup I was afraid to show myself anywhere without a full face of makeup, even Walmart, LOL, and even under the wrong light the state of my skin became visible. In utter desperation I turned to the Oil Cleansing Method. I was not expecting much. I use just hempseed oil. It took me about a week to start seeing that it really did clear up my skin. I am now about six weeks in and the feeling that it is weird to clean your face this way has passed and I don't think I will ever go back to normal face cleansing which I was using before. The OCM has totally cleared my skin up and I am very grateful!

Wow, those are some really interesting replies! It's actually quite difficult to get a good overview of the oil cleansing method and whether it will work for your skin or not. I'm curious and kinda icked out at the same time. It's so very different than what I am doing at the moment and I am scared of ruining my skin, but also like I said weirdly intrigued. So my question is what would you recommend for beginners to this method, where can they read up on how to do it properly and what oils to use?