You’d think that I would have learned my lesson the first time I destroyed my face (part 1), but oh NOOOO.
In fact, I did it again.. Much worse this time.
Part 2
I spent about two months healing after my Jojoba Oil for pimple-prone skin experiment that ended with my whole face breaking out in tiny comedones and pustules.
My forehead hadn’t been that bad since the first time I tried Jojoba Oil in my university days.
I did chemical peels and used super gentle cleansers and serums to heal my face this time, and it started to look good again!
I was still convinced that I needed a face oil to make for the perfect skincare routine. I wanted to ditch chemicals, and thought that oils were the most natural alternative available to me.
I loved the idea of Argan Oil specifically, because it rated a 0 on the comedogenicity scale, which means that it doesn’t clog pores at all.
A non-comedogenic oil? That was enough for me to try it.
I started using it on and off every couple of days, and didn’t notice any breakouts.
By then my diet was extremely clean. I was drinking greens smoothies, and eating a ton of raw veggies with every meal. It was incredible!
I was also supplementing with all the right vitamins & minerals, really taking care of all my deficiencies.
My skin was glowing, my hair was shiny, my nails were strong, and the whites of my eyes had never been so white!
I was so excited about my natural food transformation that I decided to switch to using Argan Oil to moisturize my face after cleansing. (You can find out more about my favourite cleanser here.)
Watch this video about my experience with Argan Oil after a week or so…
I wanted Argan Oil to naturally transform my skin, and believed that it would!
The first two weeks were great! My skin was glowing, it felt moisturized, I wasn’t an oil slick by the end of the day. What else could I ask for?
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
Then something changed.
I started breaking out increasingly more. But unlike Jojoba Oil that made me break out mostly on my forehead and jawline, Argan Oil was making me breakout ALL OVER my face.
The pimples were deeper, more painful, and more red. They were also pretty difficult to hide.
Jojoba Oil made something snap inside me. I started picking my face more, popping pimples left and right. I wouldn’t leave my face alone.
So when these new Argan Oil pimples started appearing, I attacked them with brute force (pictured below).
I couldn’t believe it. My skin had just been clear and lovely, and now this???
You might be wondering at this point why didn’t I just stop using the Argan Oil..
The answer is that I didn’t make the connection for a MONTH.
I was so convinced that the Argan Oil was non-comedogenic, and therefore not likely to destroy my face, that I didn’t even consider that it was the CAUSE.
I thought that there was something wrong with me hormonally, or with my digestion and went to the doctor to get a total body check up.
I tested everything: my hormones, vitamin deficiencies, my digestive flora/bacteria…
It turned out I was healthier than ever.
If I was healthy, if I was eating right, if I was working out regularly, if I was washing my face with the gentlest of cleansers.. What could be causing the awful skin?
Argan Oil was the cause of my awful skin.
It finally occurred to me on a run, and I stopped using it immediately.
It’s been a little over a week, and my skin has healed once again.
I’ve stopped using everything, and am just washing my face with water, and my skin is happy about that.
Why didn’t Jojoba or Argan Oil work on my skin?
My skin doesn’t need oil. You might find that your skin doesn’t need it either.
My pores need to be open to expel excess sebum and dead skin cells, but it seems from my experiments that oils just clog my pores.
Most of us think that we need to replenish our skin with moisture after cleansing/drying it out. Makes sense but…
Rethink using oil for dry skin. Dry skin is lacking water, not oil.
We forget that out skin is so smart that it moisturizes itself with sebum anyway, no matter how much moisturizer/oil we apply to it.
It’s true that some moisturizers do contain natural hydrating ingredients like aloe or hyaluronic acid that help the skin retain water better, but the rest of the ingredients are filler ingredients like silicone to make the cream feel nice.
I’m going to let my sebum moisturize my skin in a new experiment. I resisted this idea for so long, and initially it terrified me. I’m going to wash my face with water, in what I call the Water Method (More on this later).
I just want clear, low-maintenance skin. Is that even possible?
I don’t want to cleanse, tone, treat, moisturize, and protect.. God, even writing that process down was exhausting.
If you have pimples, the quality of your sebum may be causing you to break out. But this is a complicated topic that you can read about here.
Since I eat healthfully, I want to believe that my sebum is good. It should be able to do its own thing without my interference.. Or the interference of a bunch of chemicals, right?
I even helped a good friend of mine cure CYSTIC acne with diet and gentle skincare (cleanser and moisturizer) – without benzoyl peroxide.
I wonder if her skin can still be great without any products whatsoever..
I used to believe in the cosmetic industry and loved buying products. But now I see that even the natural oils industry is still an industry.
Their marketing is so good that they’ve convinced me that putting oils on my face is a great idea! They tell us to cleanse with them, moisturize with them, treat with them…
But what if we just stopped using all the products out there. What if we used something that’s free, like water?
Who would make money off of us then?
Love,
Olena
P.S. I’ve shared my best 28 hacks for clear skin in my 28 Days Of Clear Skin video series. You can sign up to get every single hack in your inbox here!
