Cleaning my FACE with Olive Oil

Yep, I started the Oil Cleansing Method a few weeks ago and I'm completely floored how well it works!  Have you heard of it?  I found out about it from a mom's group on Facebook, someone mentioned it and I was intrigued.  I went to the trusty internet and found some really great links to read up on it. 

Basically, your face needs its natural oils to stay healthy and looking good.  Washing with chemicals strips away the oil and in turn, your face starts making more to make up for it.  Hence the dry skin/pimples cycle we are all probably familiar with.  So instead of chemicals, you use...oil.  The basic mixture is using castor oil and extra virgin olive oil, but there are lots of other oils you can use for different needs.  A good link I found was here, she tells you some good mixtures for problem skin and shows a video of herself doing it. 

My skin is usually just dry all the time.  I break out here and there, but I was constantly feeling tight and dry and itchy.  My quest in life had been to find the perfect moisturizer--something thick but not greasy, that stayed on my skin but didn't feel too heavy.  I didn't think it was possible. 

So I heard of the method and tried it one night.  I just used the olive oil at first, because I had it on hand.  You put a quarter size dollop in your palm, and use your fingers to rub the oil all over your face.  Really take your time and get it in the pores.  Then take two washcloths, get them super hot (but not enough to burn you, duh) and place them on your face to steam away the oil.  This is my favorite part!  I can just feel the pores opening and the oil dragging the crap away.  Then you wipe off your face, rinse the washcloths, and do it again.  You are left with bright, glowing, soft skin.  I don't even USE moisturizer anymore!  If I feel a bit tight, I take a tiny amount of my oil mixture and rub it in where I feel dry. 

OH MY GOD, you guys!  This is a life changer for me!  For one thing, I used to always "forget" to wash my face at night, waking up to smeared mascara and feeling pretty crappy.  But with this, I just love to take the time, I love how my skin feels afterward, it's like a mini-spa treatment I get to do by myself after the kids are in bed. 

Right now I am using a mixture of castor oil, extra virgin olive oil, and grapeseed oil, but I think I need to nix the castor oil.  I had been just using olive oil and grapeseed oil and after I added the castor oil it just seemed too harsh on my skin.  I think I'll just go back to the olive and grapeseed oils.

So basically, all you need is your oil, a bunch of washcloths, and hot water, and you will get this amazing skin!  I love it!  All in all I think it was pretty cheap, as the olive oil was $9 for a big bottle, which I used 4oz of, and a 4oz bottle of grapeseed oil was $4.  I think the avocado oil I looked at was way more expensive, like $12 for 4oz, but still!  With all the face washes I would try and moisturizers I had on hand, and they all cost $10 each...and didn't work.  I got a big pack of washcloths from Target, I think it was $5 for ten of them?  Or something cheap like that.  And I got a plastic pump bottle at Whole Foods that holds 8oz that was around $4. 

Seriously, read up on it!  It's awesome!  One of the crunchy hippy things I can really wrap my head around! 

My Weekend Alone. And then Labor Day Crazies.

Saturday morning Brendan took both kids with him to the cottage.  I stayed home.  I seriously felt like this:

I had SO MUCH FUN being by myself.  I went to the bathroom alone, I finished my own food without anyone coming up asking for a bite.  I cleaned my house and it stayed clean.  It was amazing.  I rearranged furniture in the living room and Ingrid's room.  I made the kids new buntings for their rooms.  I came to the realization that I will never paint Ingrid's room, so I may as well just deal with the green since her stuff goes.

 My days were so relaxing.  I could read, watch whatever TV I wanted.  I went to the antique shop, I had dinner and drinks with a friend, I took naps whenever I wanted.  It was so nice to catch up on me.  I hate when people talk "me time" but for real, after dealing with kids nonstop for days on end, it was really quite nice to remember I used to love reading on the couch in a cleaned living room, and that a bowl of Ben and Jerry's is a nice way to end the day.  (Okay, I admit, there was no bowl, it was right out of the carton...)

And then they came home.  I was immediately put back into my place as mom, doer/cleaner/helper/fixer.  No more relaxer.  They are so lucky they are cute, they don't even know!  We had friends over for Labor Day and cooked out and ran around in a sprinkler and tried to stay cool on the hot humid day.  It was super fun.  Otis did not want me taking pictures, but I thought this was a good representation of how crabby he can be.  He was yelling at me not to take his picture.  HA!

And now we have one more day until Ingrid starts school and we have no more slow paced mornings, where we have to be out the door by 7:30 instead of getting to lay around in our pjs.  Bummer.